Two police trainees were removed from All Saints Police Academy in the Eastern Cape after it had been discovered midway through the programme, that they were pregnant.
An investigation is underway to find out how the pregnant women were able to make it past the recruitment process when they were pregnant. The pair were part of the 10 000 candidates who had enrolled for the South African Police Services (SAPS) 10 months training programme to become police officers.
It is understood that one of the women gave birth prematurely at seven months while the other woman’s pregnancy became known in May when she became sick on campus.
The Police, Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in the Eastern Cape said it was against the termination of the women’s contracts. Xolani Prusente, the unions provincial secretary said the trainee’s contracts have been suspended and they have been removed from campus after it was discovered that they were pregnant.
Popcru said the move is unfair and the women should be given the opportunity to complete the programme after maternity. The matter was escalated to the national office. One of the women was seven months pregnant when she gave birth prematurely and the other woman was four months pregnant when she found out that she was pregnant.
Prior to the selection process, candidates are expected to go through a stringent medical and drug test before they get to do fitness, psychometric and integrity tests.
Source: News24, Briefly, image from Briefly: Roger Sadres/ Gallo Images