Special constables’ promise for greener pastures
Pini Bothoko | Monday August 21, 2023 06:00
Due to lack of progression amongst special constables, the BPS has come up with reforms expected to improve the situation. Amongst the reforms, more special constables will be absorbed and also the age gap for recruitment has been increased to 40 years old. Initially, the law was very clear that special constables could not be recruited for training if they were more than 35 years.
But the institution revealed it has made relaxations in terms of age. This was revealed by the Acting Police Commissioner, Phemelo Ramakorwane when appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently.
“I admit that special constable recruitment has been a concern for this committee for years but we have since made relaxations in terms of age. We have taken a decision to absorb special constables who are more than 35 years because most of them qualified.
The majority of them are degree holders hence we've taken a decision to even recruit those who are 40-years-old because we recognise them especially that they would have served diligently for years,” he said. Ramakorwane further stated that they are also considering pleading with the government to allow them to absorb all special constables for recruitment. Additionally, he said this financial year they have reserved 900 slots for special constable recruitment to the BPS police training college with the remaining 100 positions set aside for the market.
He said for years they have been having an annual 300 recruitment trainee posts despite having thousands special constables employed on a fixed contract but the recruitment number has since been increased to 1,000. In the past, the BPS revealed that more police constables were struggling to join the mainstream service because of inferior qualifications but in the past recent years the institution has been encouraging them to further studies so that they can join the police academy.
Then, the institution engaged the Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning to help with the situation a move that police constables received with open hands. Meanwhile, Ramakorwane applauded the public for their continued support in helping the police fight crime. But he expressed concern that despite those efforts, missing person cases, influx of illegal immigrants, murder, rape, defilement and road deaths remain the country’s nightmare. Ramakorwane said despite their interventions, cases of missing persons remainsl a concern.
He stated that even though in some cases it would be children’s ill behaviour with the habit of going out for a weekend without informing their parents, cases of missing persons is on the rise as some people would be found dead. Additionally, he said the influx of illegal immigrants in Botswana also remains a problem especially to villages situated along the borderline and contributes to cross border crime. Although the police always ensure that illegal immigrants are deported, desperate Zimbabweans continue to find their way back into the country. On other matters, Ramakorwane pleaded with Batswana to stop harbouring illegal immigrants in their homes and illegally hiring them at cattleposts.
He stated that some Batswana hire illegal immigrants and fail to pay them, which sometimes force them (illegal immigrants) to pay themselves by selling the properties of their employers and in some dire situations causing harm to their employers. He said in their respective police stations, the police have been holding kgotla meetings and crime prevention fora to sensitise the public about the problem but their pleas fall on deaf ears. Furthermore, Ramakorwane stated that love relationship disputes that usually lead to murder are on the rise despite their efforts to sensetise the public on the matter pleading for leaderships' intervention at Parliament level.
He added that women and girls are living in the deepest fear of rapists who continue to violate them as they please hence keeping the police on their toes. “We are trying to sensetise the public about these offences nonetheless, the offences continue to spiral out of control. Cases of defilement also remain a concern as young girls continue to drop out of school with high numbers. However, nurses serving in clinics through the teachers’ intervention are able to report these cases to us especially when they fall pregnant,” he said.
Ramokorwane stated that road deaths have been the country’s nightmare with the A1 highway the most affected. He said motorists’ attitude towards key road safety issues such as over speeding, drink driving, risk overtaking remain major road safety concerns. He stated that most of the road accidents are due to bad attitude by motorists and they do sensitise motorists on road safety during road campaigns, but it is important that people change their behaviour on the roads. Commenting on the commissioner's remarks, PAC members applauded the police for their efforts to bring cash-in-transit heists and ATM blasting to a halt promising the commissioner their interventions in pleading with members of the public to respect the sanctity of human life as murder cases remain a problem. For his part, PAC chairperson who is also the Member of Parliament for Francistown South Constituency, Wynter Mmolotsi said for some time now, cases of illegal gold mining and smuggling have been on the rise with perpetrators targeting the unused gold mines in Francistown, Matsiloje and surrounding areas.
Mmolotsi stated that illegal mining happening at these places is a concern to national security hence he pleaded with the police to declare those areas a red zone and take down everyone who enter those areas illegally.
“We are overwhelmed with influx of illegal immigrants in Francistown and they have been mining gold illegally for some time now. Why can’t you have permanent camps in those areas to deal with the problem? Moreover, these people live amongst us and the police are aware of that fact but they are not doing enough to remove them. Some of these illegal immigrants are the ones who defile our teenage girls and run away without trace,” Mmolotsi said.