AfriForum wins court bid compelling SAPS to send reservists for training

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Pretoria - Afrikaner lobby group Afriforum on Monday successfully compelled the South African Police Service (SAPS) to send police reservists bound to the Kameeldrift police station to their annual competency training. AfriForum brought an application in the high court in Pretoria to compel the SAPS to ensure that reservists in Kameeldrift complete their competency training, including firearm and ammunition control exercises. The lobby group said SAPS had refused to grant reservists competency exercises saying they do not possess the manpower and capacity. SAPS did not oppose AfriForum’s application. Ian Cameron, AfriForum’s Head of Community Safety, said the court ruling empowers reservists and ensures that there is a larger crime-fighting force available to combat crime.

“AfriForum brought this application and believes that it is of national importance, as the number of police reservists has decreased nationally by more than 80% between 2010 and 2018. This means that a loss of more than 60 000 people are at the police’s disposal to help combat crime.

"It is a great victory for us to turn this statistic around, especially in the Kameeldrift area – which has been plagued by a wave of crime lately – that mainly included farm attacks,” Cameron said.

Marnus Kamfer, AfriForum’s Legal and Risk Manager for Community Safety, said the ruling paves the way for similar applications on a national level and therefore benefits all reservists in the country.

African News Agency/ANA