Unions reject Mkhwanazi's claims linking workforce shortages to wage demands

TRADE unions have strongly rejected remarks by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who suggested that union interference, including wage increase demands, contributes to declining government workforce numbers.

- SIPHESIHLE BUTHELEZI

During a stakeholder engagement on crime prevention with Premier Thami Ntuli in uMlazi this week, Mkhwanazi criticised unions for making it difficult to hire additional staff, claiming that salary demands for officers limited government's ability to expand the workforce.

He linked these wage pressures to rising unemployment and fewer police officers being appointed, arguing that labour laws and salary increases had unintended consequences on staffing levels.

Cosatu KZN provincial secretary Edwin Mkhize described the comments as “misplaced, out of context, and (at risk of) creating unnecessary tension between the labour movement and law enforcement leadership”

While Cosatu acknowledged the “important work” done by Mkhwanazi and KZN police officers to combat violent crime, Mkhize said the staffing crisis was not the fault of unions.

“The reality is that the crisis of inadequate staffing and poor resourcing in the police and other sectors of the state is not the making of workers or their unions.