MAKHADO – A strike is looming at the Department of Correctional Services countrywide, as there is a wage dispute between the department and prison warders. On Monday (16 February) everything was at a standstill at the Makhado Correctional Services as warders gathered at the Correctional Services' main entrance for three hours.

On Monday warders assembled at the main entrance until 09:30 when the Provincial Treasurer of Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), Mrs Alugumi Nekhavhambe handed over a memorandum to the prison management containing their grievances and demands. Nekhavhambe revealed that the strike is looming because the department has stopped contributing to the medical aid scheme and that workers are not paid their overtime money.

"Now the medical aid scheme law is threatening to liquidate the warders medical aid scheme," she said. Mr Lesley Shavhani, chairperson of the institute for Makhado Correctional Centre, said that Correctional Services students who are coming from the College, were never converted to the level of Correctional Officer grade III after completing their probation period.

The Provincial Treasurer told Mirror that towards the end of 2003, the department owed the medical aid scheme R40 million and by January 2004, the amount was R56 million. She said Popcru's efforts to hand over their memorandum in Pretoria in June 2003 and again in Cape Town was in vain as the department maintained it did not have funds.

In the memorandum handed over to the management by Popcru at Makhado Correctional Service Centre, the following were stated as warders demands: immediate repayment of members overtime allowances retrospectively, intermediate re-instatement of member's medical aid allowances retrospectively, intermediate translation and re-imbursement of correctional students who were affected by this malpractice.

The department is to institute an investigation around the financial systems, especially an investigation around the circumstances that have led to the financial crisis.

Mirror contacted the Correctional Service Provincial Spokesperson, Mr Titus Sekwakwa who declined to comment due to the fact that he has been moved from interacting with the media. The memorandum contained a 5 working days' time frame to the management to respond to the demands of workers.

Nekhavhambe said that if the management fails to meet their demands, warders as members of Popcru would intensify their actions.