Recruitment and training of police recruits are still on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
So says the South African Police Service (Saps), in a statement addressed particularly to the youth of this country.
The training, which had been scheduled to commence in January 2021, has not begun, and will be on hold until a formal announcement is made at senior national level.
The service had intended to train and subsequently enlist 7 000 youth within its ranks in a bid to capacitate and bolster crime fighting initiatives at all 1 154 police stations and service points in South Africa.
The recruitment process had already reached an advanced stage with recruits having undergone a rigorous process to determine their eligibility to serve as men and women in blue, when it was suspended.
The current challenges experienced with the Covid-19 pandemic, such as social distancing, restrictions and or limitations of large gatherings makes it impossible for training to commence.
The basic training of new recruits, involves extensive physical contact and with the current Covid-19 restrictions in place, it will not be possible in the current climate to subject new recruits to a basic training curriculum without increasing the risk of exposing them to being infected with the Covid-19 virus.
Following the declaration of a National State of Disaster and nationwide lockdown by the President of South Africa, communication pertaining to the recruitment process in Saps was addressed through a media briefing by the department during March 2020 and again in July 2020, where it was announced to the nation that the Saps 2020 Police Trainee Intake was suspended until further notice.
As a result, each applicant in the process was not personally informed of any delays.
It is also worth mentioning that Saps received in excess of half a million applications for recruitment and it would not have been possible to inform each applicant individually about the decision to suspend the process.
The role of the media in assisting the service in communicating such crucial information to applicants and the nation is thus commended and appreciated.
While the service is exploring and re-looking at a number of ways of ensuring that service delivery and the capacitation of staffing levels continues at all service points, members of the public are therefore warned against several hoax messages containing job listing adverts.
Members of the public and potential employment seekers are urged to be extra vigilant and not fall prey to any scam of this nature. It should also be noted that employment at the Saps is not for sale.
The public is hereby urged to contact their nearest police station and service point for clarity and information when in doubt. Alternatively, members of the public are advised to visit the Saps website on www.saps.gov.za to check all available vacancies under the careers section.
In conclusion, registered and prospective applicants for the Saps Basic Police Learning Development Programme (BPLDP) are urged to exercise patience during these challenging times.
For more information, applicants are therefore encouraged to keep in contact with their relevant Recruitment Offices to enquire on any further pronouncements in this regard.
