This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
The Citizen writes in an editorial that it is shocking that, since 2017, more than 300 police officers in SA have committed suicide – a rate which makes the country’s law enforcement service the worst in the world in that respect.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) points out that although there are employee health and wellness programmes in operation in the SA Police Service (SAPS), these are largely reactive in nature, with experts only visiting officers in negative circumstances. “They never seem to conduct proactive visits to ensure that the members are coping with their work or personal lives,” according to the union. Policing as a career does expose officers to repeated trauma, both personal and as third parties, and there is also the constant pressure of fear. But, in addition to that, says Popcru, there is “stress caused by the lack of resources, staff shortages, unfair disciplinary issues and over-indebtedness, among others”. The Citizen agrees with the union that health and wellness should be made a regular and mandatory part of the training and assessment of officers – especially for those in high-stress deployments. “Apart from the human and compassionate reasons, the fact is that highly stressed and suicidal officers cannot hope to do their jobs properly.”
- Read the original of the editorial in the above regard at The Citizen
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page