Durban Metro police officers claim discrimination over work shifts and overtime

METRO police officers in Durban claim they have been discriminated against for refusing to switch to a five-day work week, resulting in unfair overtime allocation despite the department spending R20 million monthly on overtime payments.

Officers allege colleagues who switched shifts are receiving both overtime and omnibus payments, while they are side-lined despite claimed manpower shortages. The officers, who did not want to be named, said they faced discrimination and victimisation for over 10 months, with no overtime.

The officers who are from Isipingo, Chatsworth and Umlazi, claimed officers who were working overtime were also paid "omnibus" payments.

These officers, they claimed, worked the two-day, two-night shift which they had opted for last year.

“Metro police are claiming to have manpower shortages, but we are being sidelined for overtime work,” they said.

Colonel Booysie Zungu, spokesperson for metro police, said: “Durban Metro Police is currently facing a challenge of manpower shortages. As a result, an average of R19 million to R20 million is spent on overtime each month.

“It is important to note that overtime expenditure varies throughout the year. Festive season and Easter periods cannot be compared to normal operational months, as these peak times require additional personnel on the ground to ensure safety and service delivery.

“The city is actively working to address these challenges by prioritising the recruitment of additional officers. Our head, Commissioner Sibonelo Mchunu, has implemented stern measures to restrict the deployment of members to unfunded mandates. We are also enforcing the payment of tariffs for the deployment of officers requested by private entities for private events.”

Zungu said to strengthen the workforce, they had recruited over 60 former members and SAPS members, adding much-needed experience and capacity to the unit. 

“However, there is still a need to allocate sufficient resources to the unit to ensure that it can effectively discharge its law enforcement mandate in an ever-growing metropolitan city,” he added.

He said they were not sure on when they would recruit more officers, and it would depend on budget availability. 

“We recruit every year, but it is important to remember that  the population is increasing every year,” he said.

One officer, who is a Captain from Isipingo, said the discrimination was affecting their livelihoods, while only certain officers were benefiting.

“The heads of metro police say that they are paying millions in overtime, but they are discriminating against some of us who chose to decline the five-day work week.

“These issues started a year ago when they decided to change the shift. They insisted that everyone change to five-day shifts, and they would be afforded overtime. But the overtime would lead them to work for 12 days before getting a weekend off.

“Due to the nature of  our work, a two-day two-night shift with overtime during the week or weekends is acceptable hours. Those of us who refused, and fought through our unions, were then unfairly treated and not given any overtime,” he said.

Another officer, from Umlazi, said those who chose to remain on the two-day two-night shift were given an omnibus payment of about R3 500 each month to cover any extra time, including their danger allowance.

“The omnibus amount covers Sunday pay, night shift allowances, holiday allowances, and extra time worked. They added it into one amount of R3 500 a month and pay those who did not choose the five-day shift.

“We found out that those who chose the five-day shift were also receiving the omnibus payments and they were receiving overtime pay. This is resulting in the high overtime payments each month. 

“This is unfair labour practice, as only a certain group of people are afforded overtime, and there is no justification to it,” he said.

An officer from Chatsworth said they were hoping that their unions came to a resolution.

“It has been more than 10 months now. There are a lot of members in the same boat. Those of  us who used to get about R8 000 to R10 000 in overtime pay are now being given R3 500 only, while others are benefiting from the R3 500 and overtime. 

“Whenever we call meetings, the heads of departments dodge the meeting and send representatives who cannot answer our questions. Officers who chose the two-day two-night shifts are sitting at home for four days and are not given overtime, but the department is saying that there are staff shortages and they are struggling to pay overtime. This needs to be investigated,” he said.

In response to a query from POST regarding the metro police officers claims, Gugu Sisilana, spokesperson for eThekwini Municipality, said: “These issues are addressed through appropriate channels within the management structure of the metro police directorate.”

THE POST