Supersize traffic cop has no one but himself to blame, says bargaining council
Jun 12, 2010 10:51 PM | By NASHIRA DAVIDS
A traffic officer's size 54 trousers have forced him off the road and into early retirement.
BIG LETDOWN: Former traffic officer Geoffrey October in his living room in Strand near Cape Town Picture: ESA ALEXANDER
'The uniforms I was issued with only went up to a size 48 and I would have my uniform tailored to fit me'
Geoffrey October's 150kg frame and unhealthy lifestyle became the subject of a bitter labour dispute with provincial traffic authorities in the Cape.
Two months ago he hauled the Western Cape Department of Community Safety before the public sector's bargaining council because he was denied temporary incapacity leave when he fell ill with diabetes, gout and high blood pressure.
He had to take two months' unpaid leave, losing R23000 in salary.
Chasing down speedsters and patrolling the roads, making arrests, conducting road blocks - and even walking - had just become too much for the 58-year-old grandfather.
"I have a heart problem and it became difficult for me to do simple things like climbing in and out of the vehicle. The pain and suffering was another story. Even the uniforms that I was issued with only went up to a size 48 and I would have my uniform tailored to fit me," he said.
But the arbitrator, Stephen Bhana, agreed with October's managers - that temporary incapacity leave was discretionary and that the illness was due to obesity.
Labour lawyer Susan Stelzner, a director at Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs, said Bhana had acted fairly.
"In this case the arbitrator was satisfied that the employer exercised its discretion fairly having regard to a number of factors, namely, that the condition was not work-related and did not develop as a result of the employee's working conditions, but rather the illnesses related to obesity which had developed largely as a result of his own behaviour and lifestyle," she said.
October, who was a traffic officer for over 15 years and worked at a weighbridge in Somerset West, had no choice but to retire.
He now weighs just under 140kg, and said his family were all "big people" and it was difficult to lose weight. "Maybe if I had a better exercise programme that would have helped me ... but I've always been big, all my life. In the late '80s I stopped playing rugby and that is when I started picking up weight," he said.
His weight ballooned to 150kg and he took 17 pills daily to keep diabetes and high blood pressure at bay.
During the bargaining council hearing, Aileen Mosetic from the Public Servants Association - the union representing October - argued that it was the department's responsibility, through its Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), to help him shed weight.
But Cynthia Leetz, the acting director and EAP manager, hit back, claiming that she tried getting him to join a gym and even had him see a psychologist. She testified that she "tried her best to assist him" but that he could "have done more to help himself".
October said the department asked him to get a quote for membership at a local Virgin Active gym. "But the gym wanted the contract to be signed at its premises by one of my seniors. I informed them about this, but this did not happen. I assumed this was because they didn't want to help me."
October signed himself up at gym and ate a healthy diet. He lost several kilograms, but his weight stabilised at 138kg.
Marjanne Senekal, associate professor at the Department of Human Biology at the University of Cape Town, said losing weight was difficult for people like October.
"The question is, how successful was he in implementing and maintaining the necessary lifestyle changes. Research shows us that compliance is generally poor, especially in the long run," she said.
Senekal said the latest South African Health and Demographic Survey found that 13.1% of South African men aged between 55 and 64 were obese as were 33.9% of women in the same age group.
National police commissioner General Bheki Cele this year banned overweight police from wearing XXXXXL sized uniforms and kicked off a new SAPS fitness programme.
October is now waiting for doctors to give the green light for a gastric bypass operation to reduce the size of his stomach.
"What makes me so sad is that when I was in need, officers that I had known and been friends with for so many years turned their backs on me when they moved up the ranks - that hurt," he said.
davidsn@sundaytimes.co.za
Sunday Times
Comments by Sonny
Obese Cops and Traffic Cops are a disgrace to the uniform they wear!
How will this guy jump over a gate to arrest a suspect or catch a donut?
Imagine what a burden he would become to a medical aid such as POLMED?
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