The sun was beating down on them, traffic was buzzing but the women of the Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and Emergency Services Management (EMS) belted songs with gusto as they undertook a gruelling 8km march from the Florida Fire Station to their headquarters.
More than 800 placard-waving and singing women in uniform brought traffic to snail’s pace on Tuesday, 28 August 2018, along the usually busy Ondekkers Road that connects Roodepoort to the Johannesburg CBD.
The group was marching during the last days of Women’s Month for “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities and Progress for All” within the City of Joburg.
Mother of two Happy Mathebula, who has been in the bike unit of the JMPD since 2008, said she was marching to empower other women. “We need to share the load and fight crime as a united front,” said Mathebula before leading her colleagues atop a siren-blaring Honda NC 750.
Vicky Venter, the Station Commander of EMS in Hunter’s Hill said she was marching to bring the spotlight on the abuse of women. “Women in the workplace need to play more strategic roles.”
The march slowly and melodically made its way to the Martindale JMPD/EMS headquarters, with water points in between.
“The City needs to listen to its female employees more. There are not enough women in management positions within the City of Joburg,” said Wendy Mallane from the Martindale Licensing Department.
Amanda Kok, who is based at the Roodepoort DLTC and has been working for the City for 24 years, said more upward mobility should be aimed at women within Joburg.
Women need to be acknowledged and treated as equals to men, said Ntombi Luke, an admin assistant who is based at Florida EMS.
Receiving the memorandum of demands at Martindale, JMPD Chief David Tembe acknowledged that more was needed to be done by the City to make the Public Safety Department the department of choice among aspirant female workers in Joburg.
“Since joining the City, I have maintained an open-door policy. If you have grievances as a result of gender discrimination, don’t hesitate to file a complaint and I promise to get to the bottom of the matter. Female officials in the Department of Public Safety are just as capable as their male colleagues to keep our communities safe and to fight crime,” said Chief Tembe.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Group Corporate and Shared Services, Cllr Ntombi Khumalo, who stood in for the Executive Mayor, Cllr Herman Mashaba, urged women to continue to fight for equality in the workplace.
“It’s our responsibility to make the workplace a better place. Fairness and equal treatment should rule the workplace,” said MMC Khumalo.
