A total of 95 Cape Town metro police officers have been suspended in the wake of Wednesday’s protest, council spokesperson Pieter Cronje said on Thursday.
The officers face disciplinary and criminal charges after they drove in a cavalcade to the civic centre, causing morning rush-hour traffic jams on the N2.
They are objecting to a staff ”placement process”, despite what the city says are guarantees that it will not leave them worse off in terms of either salaries or conditions of service.
Cronje said the metro police force totalled about 700. The suspension of the 95, identified from video footage and still photographs, would not create law-enforcement problems.
”Where there are gaps we will deploy other elements of the three arms [law enforcement and traffic personnel] and of course, we’ve always been working with the South African Police Service,” he said.
The city also used private security companies.
He said that as far as the city could tell, only metro police, and not staff from traffic or law enforcement, were involved in the protest.
”We’ve suspended them pending disciplinary action … we want to move with speed, but not without due process,” he said.
The city was still investigating to see whether more participants could be identified.
The city said earlier it had laid criminal charges with the police, including unlawful strike action, violations of the Firearms Act, obstructing traffic, endangering the lives of people by forcing them to walk on a freeway and defeating the ends of justice. — Sapa