Female recruits at the police’s training academy in Ulundi have had their heads shaved — leaving one of them in need of medical attention.
Within three days of being shorn last month, the recruit “was so burned by the sun that her whole face was so swollen that she couldn’t see anymore”, said the 27-year-old’s father Antoon Young.
When his daughter sought medical attention she was told that because she was not yet a member of the police’s medical aid scheme she could not see a doctor, he said. She was instead sent to a clinic and given vitamin tablets.
“After that, all the other girls collected money for her to see her a doctor. The girls with her were prepared to pay for her,” said Young.
He said he was told that all the girls who refused to have their hair shaved off were punished with physical training.
Young, a retired policeman with 30 years’ service, said that in his career with the police he had never heard of female recruits having their heads shaved.
He became aware of his daughter’s situation when she sent him a photograph taken on a cellphone of her swollen face.
“I am of the opinion that she is suffering of sunstroke and that she needs urgent medical treatment as she is complaining of headache, dizziness and vomiting,” Young wrote in an open letter to the Freedom Front Plus.
“I am also of the opinion that her hair was shaved against her will and against police regulations.”
He said he had tried to contact police National Commissioner Bheki Cele about his daughter’s plight.
He said his daughter’s reaction to being shaved may have also been an allergic reaction to the sudden exposure.
Police spokesperson Colonel Vish Naidoo said there would be an investigation into the matter.
He could not comment further until investigations into the matter had been completed, he said. – Sapa