The South African Police Union (SAPU) has withdrawn from all talks related to the restructuring of the public service, until its members' complaints regarding transfers and redeployment have been properly addressed.

SAPU provincial secretary, Joos Engelbrecht, said this week that the union's national executive took the decision after complaints from its members across the country.

"As a first step, we will be withdrawing from the so-called Departmental Task Team (DTT), the inclusive body comprising organised labour and SA Police Service Management, which was created to deal with the processing of members' complaints regarding transfers," Engelbrecht explained.

"We feel it is fruitless to continue participating in the DTT, as it is a useless body which is being undermined by the SAPS management. The DTT has failed to resolve thousands of complaints from members," he added. However, Engelbrecht explained that SAPU was not opposed, as such, to the restructuring and transformation of the public service.

"The union has, in fact, gone on record as saying the process of restructuring and transformation should be speeded up, in order to improve service delivery," he said.