City of Tshwane security guards have vowed to shut down the municipality’s Tshwane House headquarters if their demand to be insourced as permanent workers are not met.
The security guards announced their intention to cause havoc and mayhem at a meeting held on Sunday between them and the leadership of ActionSA at Princess Park in the Pretoria CBD.
ActionSA’s Tshwane leader Jackie Mathabathe told the gathered security guards that ActionSA understands and supports their demand to be insourced.
” We have done a feasibility study regarding the insourcing matter and the outcomes of the study will be presented to us on 30 April 2024,” said Mathabathe.
“The feasibility study will guide us on the way forward regarding this matter,” he said.
“We are a law-abiding party and everything we do is within the confines of the law to avoid getting into trouble,” he said.
Mathabathe emphasised that the feasibility study will back up the party’s decision to advocate for the insourcing of City of Tshwane security guards including cleaners.
“There are members of certain political parties who have vested interests in private security companies and are doing everything in their power to stall the insourcing process of the Metro’s security guards,” he said.
“The one thing I am very much upset about is Mayor Cilliers Brink’s dismal failure to speak to the issue of insourcing during his State of the Capital Address on Thursday 18 April,” lamented Mathabathe.
He said insourcing is part of the coalition arrangement between ActionSA and the DA in the City of Tshwane government and must happen.
Mathabathe said instead of talking about insourcing, the mayor spoke about cameras, technology and armed response for the purpose of securing the City’s assets.
“Do you want to replace our people with technology?” he asked rhetorically.
He warned Mayor Brink that insourcing is priority number one and must and will happen.
Mathabathe indicated that bringing an urgent motion in Council regarding insourcing will delay the very process which is at an advanced stage as championed by ActionSA.
“An urgent motion will take a long time before it is adopted by Council as it will have to go through various stages,” explained Mathabathe.
He stressed that within eight days ActionSA will receive the feasibility study and that study will be used to make a compelling case for insourcing.
Deputy Chairperson of Tshwane municipal security officers Christopher Rangwaka expressed disappointment that ActionSA is still reluctant to vote for an urgent motion in Council on 25 April regarding insourcing.
“We are appealing to all people and political parties who support insourcing to come and join us for a night vigil on the evening of 24 April outside Tshwane House, ahead of a Council meeting which will be held on 25 of April” he said.
“At the moment many of us are in serious debt due to failure by the private security companies we are working for to pay us on time,” he said.
” If the motion to insource us is not passed in Council on 25 April, then going forward no one is going to be able to work at the Tshwane House premises because we are going to enforce a complete shutdown,” vowed Rangwaka.
Spokesperson for regions 1 to 7 of security guards of the City of Tshwane Hlengiwe Ngwenya reiterated her earlier call for ActionSA to vote for the urgent motion regarding the insourcing of security guards.
” Mr Mayor, please rethink your decision to hire armed response and cameras to replace security guards,” fumed Ngwenya in reference to Mayor Cilliers Brink.
Ngwenya said the cameras and the armed response initiatives are a waste of money and emphasised that companies who own these armed response guards and surveillance cameras are owned by white people.
According to Ngwenya, this is a racist and white monopoly decision by mayor Brink.