To paraphrase Oscar Wilde in his play The Importance of Being Earnest: “To lose one potential recruit may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.”
The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) advertised on June 26 for applications from aspirant police officers. It said “successful applicants will undergo intense training”.
On August 25 it announced the beginning of its “recruitment physical assessment”, in which “thousands of dedicated applicants will be tested on their physical endurance and fitness. What’s next? Successful candidates will proceed to the next phase of our rigorous selection process.” At stake were 500 positions in the JMPD.
Assessments were carried out at the Ruimsig Stadium in Roodepoort on August 28. Two potential recruits, Marvellous Michael Nyambi and Zwelethu Tekete, became ill while taking part in the selection programme and died.
The department had said a minimum advance requirement was that “the applicant must be physically and mentally fit. A comprehensive medical certificate must be submitted together with the application.”
It has to be asked whether such certificates were submitted in advance of this physical assessment or, indeed, if there was any preliminary screening of candidates. And were the JMPD members conducting the assessment qualified for the job? Photographs also indicate that the candidates were not suitably dressed.
It all sounds dangerously amateurish, and prompts the question: if the JMPD can’t organise a recruitment session safely, can the citizens of Joburg trust it to do anything properly?
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