3 SA Infantry (SAI) Battalion in Kimberley received another batch of trainee Gauteng crime prevention/traffic wardens for eight weeks of “military type” training.
The Northern Cape unit, along with the Infantry School in Oudtshoorn, are acknowledged as the premier training units for the SA Army Infantry Formation. In addition to basic military training (BMT) for the landward force, the Kimberley unit previously trained policemen and women during the Bheki Cele Ministerial period when adding to boots on the ground was deemed imperative to the extent SA Police Service (SAPS) training facilities could not handle the volumes of newcomers.
When welcoming the new additions, called by a 3 SAI communication officer “Gauteng crime prevention wardens (CPWs)”, the same words used to describe the added number of law enforcement officers by provincial premier Panyaza Lesufi in his February State of the Province Address (SOPA), they repeatedly heard “discipline and respect” emphasised as essential to their time in camp.
The newcomers, number not specified, were “handed” to the infantry unit by [Gauteng] Director Specialised Service Traffic Warden T Khoali ahead of eight weeks in uniform. They are being prepared to fight crime in Gauteng, the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) reports.
SA Army Engineer Formation unit 1 Construction Regiment welcomed what a regiment communication officer Lieutenant Betty Palathan called 400 “traffic wardens” for training.
Training in Gauteng, Northern Cape and probably also North West (4 Artillery Regiment) and Kimberley-based 10 Anti-Aircraft Regiment, will see the fledgling law enforcement officers go through a revised BMT programme with the emphasis on discipline by way of parade ground drill. Other training will take in firearm use, radio procedure, crowd control and first aid as well as search and rescue.
