By Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza, President of POPCRU
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) was founded in November 1989 at the peak of the liberation struggle with the aim of safeguarding and advocating for the rights of the country’s police and correctional officers who perform the vital work of fighting crime and enforcing law and order.
As a long-standing member and the President of POPCRU for the past 26 years, I am proud to reflect on the union’s journey and many victories thus far, even while acknowledging that there remains much more work to be done.
Over the past three decades, POPCRU has experienced phenomenal growth in terms of our content and membership, from just a handful of members in 1989 to an organisation that boasts more than 160,000 members today. As an organisation, we have even spread our wings beyond the borders of South Africa, helping to establish trade unions in countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Kenya and Zambia.
Additionally, we have many strides in representing the interests of our members concerning key issues such as wages, working conditions and training opportunities, ensuring that they are properly equipped to perform their duties.
Perhaps one of POPCRU’s crowning achievements, however, has been the launch of the POPCRU Group of Companies (PGC) in 2001, which was founded to generate and invest financial capital on behalf of our members. As the investment arm of POPCRU, PGC has proved extremely effective in not only advancing our members’ interests, but in driving sustainable socio-economic development and transformation for the benefit of all South Africans.
To highlight just two of PGC’s successes to date:
- Workerslife Group
PGC is the holding company of the Workerslife Group, a financial services group launched in 2016 with the aim of enabling the country’s police officers to access quality, affordable insurance products despite their often-higher risk profiles which result from their work.
Home to subsidiaries such as Workerslife Direct, Workerslife Assurance and Workerslife Insurance, this group is 100% black-owned and operated, employing over 300 people across 32 branches around the country. This investment is therefore not only significant to job creation, but also directly supports South Africa’s transformation goals, creating a meaningful, sustainable platform for black people to create and share in the country’s wealth.
Additionally, the group offers a wide range of long-term and short-term insurance products which provide POPCRU members, other unions, and the public and private sectors with vital financial protection against unexpected losses.
Over the years, the Workerslife group has insured more than 200,000 families across South Africa, while safeguarding more than one million members and their dependents.
- Safer South Africa Foundation
In addition to ensuring the financial security of POPCRU members, PGC has helped to improve the security of the communities in which members work through the launch of the Safer South Africa Foundation (SSAF) in 2012. Working in partnership with POPCRU members, as well as with various like-minded organisations, the SSAF currently runs several highly impactful programmes for empowering and mobilising under-resourced communities in the fight against crime.
This includes the flagship Community and Justice programme organised in partnership with schools, civil organisations and government with the aim of strengthening community crime prevention initiatives. This programme creates an integral platform for community members to get to know their local police officers, while educating learners on their rights and responsibilities in dealing with law enforcement agents.
Through the SSAF Safety and Social innovation programme, the foundation is further providing young people with the support and funding needed to develop new crime-prevention technology, supporting young entrepreneurs and innovators while stimulating cutting-edge technologies for a safer society.
Finally, recognising the power of the country’s youth as tomorrow’s leaders, the foundation recently launched the #Youth4SaferSouthAfrica multimedia campaign on online platforms, television and radio talk shows, as well as at schools. This campaign has proved enormously successful in creating the seeds of a new social movement for improving community safety, encouraging young people to get involved in community-based volunteer programmes and crime prevention initiatives.
Ultimately, these two examples demonstrate the effectivity of the POPCRU and PGC model for championing the interests of members while growing an inclusive economy and realising a better and brighter future for all.
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Think about the content that you want to invest in a created object, and only then will form. The thing is your spirit. A spirit unlike forms hard copy.
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