I WAS DISMISSED UNFAIRLY FROM TSHWANE METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT

Albert Morioh Rakgatla during his days as TMPD officer

By Albert Morioh Rakgatla

I have been working for the Tshwane Metro Police Department since July 2002 as a Constable in Hammanskraal at the Pyramid offices under Commander Minaar doing operational duties.

In 2003 I was sent to Premos under instruction from Commander Minaar to undergo motorbike training for two weeks and was later transferred to the Task Team unit to work under the supervision of Superintendent Sibiya, whereby duties entailed crime prevention.

In 2013 I applied for the position of Senior Superintendent; a position wherein I had up until the same year been acting for a period of a year, but I was denied the position and not even shortlisted as a possible incumbent.

By acting in this position I was risking my life as many senior employees of TMPD had refused the said acting Senior Superintendent position and even though I was a junior employee, I assumed the position without fear.

I then started lodging grievances against the TMPD for unfair treatment and unfair labour practices regarding the way I was overlooked for the position of Senior Superintendent, but the TMPD then started fighting against me and transferred me to the Region 3 office where I was dumped without being assigned any duties or responsibilities, and I was just reporting for work and doing nothing in actual fact.

But trade union Imatu realised that I was doing no actual work in office; that I was not even supervised, so they (Imatu) recruited me to be their member and subsequently their shop steward.

As the union’s shopsteward I had to face the TMPD management on a daily basis regarding issues affecting employees and this ultimately resulted in me being suspended for 1 year and 2 months with salary, but I came back to work after my suspension was lifted by my employer TMPD in 2016.

I then lodged grievances against the representatives of the employer Richard Oppeldt and Gerald Shingange, but the City Manager’s office connived with Oppeldt, who was the Divisional Head of Labour Relations to ignore my grievances and put them in abeyance long enough to frustrate me.

I ended up needing mental medical care due to stress and depression.

During the lockdown period in 2020 I played a major role in protecting employees against an irregular fumigation process whereby the Church of Scientology of Pretoria was roped in to perform the said fumigation on TMPD offices and vehicles at the behest of representatives of Senior Superintendent Pitsoane and Commander Van der Merwe.

I was suspended for 5 months from work for raising my objections regarding the very fumigation process.

‘When my suspension was eventually uplifted without any charges or disciplinary measures being brought against me, I went back to work and as was the case before my suspension, I wasn’t given any duties and I was not supervised or given any responsibilities,” he griped.

In 2024 around August, an investigating officer Ms Lerato Nkoane served me with a copy of a charge sheet instead of an original one, and wanted me to sign it so that I would subsequently appear at the TMPD disciplinary hearing for a matter dating four years back.

I refused to sign the charge sheet but I instead advised Ms Lerato Nkoane to serve me with the original copy later on as per proper procedure, and she agreed to do so.

Now 3 months later on 13 November 2024, about 6 to 7 TMPD vehicles descended upon my workplace whereby the TMPD officials occupying the vehicles served me with a letter of dismissal from the TMPD.

It then dawned on me that a disciplinary hearing, of which I was not aware of in terms of procedure, had been conducted in my absence whereby I was found guilty in absentia.

I then enlisted the services of my attorney Pillay to engage with representatives of the employer regarding the apparent, irregular procedural flaws regarding my dismissal, but the TMPD nevertheless proceeded with its intention to dismiss me from work.

I then made an appeal against my dismissal at the Bargaining Council but lawyers representing the employer enticed the then TMPD Commissioner to substantiate reasons for my dismissal; disregarding the procedural flaws mentioned above and insisting that the procedure regarding my dismissal had been fair and procedural.