Lungile Ntimba
About 100 guards, who are members of the South African Cleaners, Security and Allied Workers Union (SacSaawu) have been camping outside the Gauteng Health Department office for over 12 weeks after their contracts ended.
The guards were employed to look after various healthcare sites across the province, and have been sleeping in the heart of the city since the beginning of April in protest over their dismissal and lack of severance pay, they said.
SacSaawu Secretary-General Andries Potsane said their dismissal allegedly came after the union handed over a memorandum of demands to the department and letters to the MEC complaining about the exploitation of security officers and cleaners.
“We handed over a memorandum to the Department of Health. We wrote letters to the MEC complaining about the exploitation of our security officers, and then we found out that the Department of Health decided to terminate the contract of service providers,” Potsane said.
The union is accusing the ANC as well as the Health Department of failing to assist the workers after they pleaded with the party to intervene.
“It is the government’s responsibility to protect them because these are the same security officers who are guarding the government properties,” Potsane said.
However, Gauteng Health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said the government was not responsible for the striking workers since the companies were no longer contracted to the department.
“The department cannot get itself involved in labour relations matters relating to employer-employee issues of other companies. The department has on countless occasions advised the group to raise their labour-related issues relating to the former employers at the department of labour and the CCMA,” Modiba said.
After protesting outside the Health Department, the striking guards went outside Luthuli House, then to the offices of the Star Newspaper before returning to the Health Department.
Potsane said that some members have been underpaid by R1500, while others have not received their Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits, nor Provident Funds, despite deductions being made from their monthly salaries.
In an interview over the weekend one of the protesters, a woman named Mam Mahlangu – said workers were never alerted when their contracts were ending, and only found out on the last day of work.
“I’ve been working for Allies Counter Force for 9 years, yet I do not have provident fund, UIF, bonus or anything,” Mahlangu said.
While Tshidi Sekgala from Soshanguve in Tshwane said she had worked for Ally’s Counter Force since 2015 but she had nothing to show for it.
“We tried going to the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) and the Bargaining Council but the companies didn’t show up. We have nothing to show after working for more than ten years,” she said.
Since the strike began, 24 protesters have been detained for a week and then released from custody. Their case has been postponed three times and they are expected to appear in court on 20 September.
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