Popcru to march to Union Building demanding 10 percent wage increase

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) confirmed that it will go ahead with its march to the Union Buildings on Tuesday after the union rejected government’s three percent wage offer.

Popcru is expected to start the march at Church Square in Tshwane, before proceeding to the National Treasury and then the Union Buildings.

Popcru’s spokesperson Richard Mamabolo says, “Workers have not received increases over the past two years and the inflation rate is at 7.8%. Part of what the government is offering is a gratuity of R1000, meaning the government will not be contributing towards the pensions of workers. So, those are some of the reasons why we are rejecting the offer. We have said that we will meet on everything that is above inflation rate. We were demanding a 10% increase.”

Below is Mamabolo’s full interview on SAfm’s First Take programme:

VIDEO: Some public sector unions say their members reject the 3% wage offer


Other public service unions are currently seeking a mandate from their members on the 3% offer. The deal includes a R1 000 after-tax cash gratuity payable to more than 1.3 million public servants.

POPCRU represents 160 000 police, correctional services and traffic officials. The workers union says some of their demands are historic and need urgent action.

In 2021, the South African Police Service (SAPS) published its annual report for the period April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, detailing how many police officers there are in the country and how much money they earn.

The report stated that the department had 182 126 employees, a decrease of over 5 200 employees compared to the 2020 report, with 21 396 commissioned officers, 122 075 non-commissioned officers, and 37 840 Public Service Act employees.

These figures give South Africa a police-to-population ratio of 1:413 a reduced number of members.

How much SAPS employees earn

SAPS employees work across a range of sectors from protection and security services, visible policing, detective services, administration, and crime intelligence, with salaries ranging and averaging at R206 000 for the lowest skills level.

However senior management and executive employees average a salary of R1 435 000, while the average salary across all levels is R416 000.