The SA Police Service (SAPS) has confirmed the main features of the notice it withdrew on Tuesday, which shows it will not relax its rules that entry-level applicants with visible tattoos will not be considered for appointment.
In a Government Gazette published on Thursday, the SAPS said it would not recruit those whose tattoos were visible when wearing their uniform. The age limit for new recruits had been raised to 35 years, up from 30, and only South Africans will be employed. Candidates with dual citizenship will have to “renounce their citizenship with the other country” before they can be considered for employment.
Candidates must also be proficient in English and at least one other official language, and be in possession of a matric certificate.
In the withdrawn information notice, reported on by Business Day on Tuesday, the police service said tattoos were bad for its image as they had historically been associated with former prisoners, gangsters and motorcyclists.
“The service cannot afford the risk that communities view members as associating themselves with any specific group, to the perceived detriment of others who do not belong to, or associate with, such groups,” reads the notice.
“It may also be necessary to consider that rules of this nature do not only relate to the fact that an individual may choose to have a tattoo, but also to the fact that the presence of tattoos influence perceptions of members by communities that we are required to serve and may, in turn, affect the ability of members to perform their duties.”
The information notice was published in the Government Gazette on Monday and withdrawn on Tuesday without any explanation, though the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said the changes were announced without consultation.
The issue of tattoos and the SAPS’ image arose in 2022 when a Cape Town man went to the media after he was barred from joining the police because of a tattoo on his forearm.
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