By Kwanele Sibiya | 2025-04-03

FORMER NatCom Edgar Hillary says the request of Phase II salary restructuring exercise implementation by junior police officers is a genuine one.

However, the officers need to exercise respect and loyalty while making such a request because confrontation will never yield any fruitful results for them. Hillary was the guest speaker at the farewell function for retiring staffers of the police service held at the Police Academy.

During the event, the retired officers and support staff were presented with different types of gifts.
The former NatCom congratulated Masango for his appointment as head of the police service.
“The task should be easier if the officers under your command are loyal, helpful and executing their duties in an efficient manner.

“I am a little bit disheartened with what has been happing in the police service lately. I can’t believe that the behaviour which I see is conducive towards the respect and discipline required in the service,” Hillary said. He said the truth of the matter was that the junior officers had a problem (phase II salary restructuring exercise), but the way in which it was being treated, he does not think anything fruitful will come out of it.

He said he was sure that those in authority were aware of the junior police officers’ problem and it was being dealt with and they were dealing with it as time permits.
“It’s a genuine request, but those in authority must be allowed to deal with it as seamlessly as possible,” he said.
He said the money required in fulfilling the phase II restructuring exercise was a lump sum and he believed that government will try to find the resources to meet this request, hence he was pleading with the junior officers as one of the former leaders of the organisation to give it time and understanding.

“If you do things in a respectful and disciplined manner, you will be heard, but as things stand, the manner in which you have approached the matter, you have blown things out of proportion,” he said. Hillary urged the junior officers to re-evaluate themselves and be dedicated and loyal to the police organisation. He further pleaded with them not to cause unnecessary stress on the incumbent NatCom.

He added that if those who must attend to the Phase II request were not giving it the attention it deserves, then the officers could explore other channels.
“Like kwembula Ingubo Enkhosini,” he said.

Hillary said he was just trying to give the junior officers fatherly advice, emphasising that confrontation would never take them anywhere. On another note, the former NatCom urged the retired officers to continue executing their duties in their respective communities since a police officer does not retire. “Once a police always a police,” he said.

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