Hungry security guards protest in Krugersdorp

Employees have to stretch their pay cheque an extra 17 days each month to survive.

Bontle Rammule, Virginia Nasele, Rebecca Seotimeng, Velaphi Mabaso and Meisie Metsileng expressed their concern about their employer’s belated payments by striking.

Ockerse Street in Krugersdorp’ CBD, on the West Rand, was recently crowded by more than 50 angry Sidas employees who demanded answers from their supervisors about their continued delayed monthly payments, Krugersdorp News reports.

Ockerse Street in Krugersdorp was flooded with Sidas employees.

Sidas Security in Krugersdorp secured a municipal tender to protect the people of Krugersdorp. They provide security guards to many local businesses.

The employees, most of them security guards, said since November 2016 they had not received their monthly pay at the end of each month. They claim they only received their pay on the 16th or 17th of the following month.

This means the employees have to stretch their pay cheque an extra 17 days each month to be able to survive.

“What the managers do not realise is that we have children to feed and bills to pay,” Bontle Rammule, an employee, said.

“We are hungry, and since they are not doing anything to fix this, we are becoming even more angry. We didn’t receive any pay, and when we approached the managers they said we would be paid the following day, but the money didn’t come until the 16th of the following month.”

At the end of December, the employees had quite enough of the belated payments and, a week later, decided to protest.

“We did not want to go to work because we did not even have money to buy food for breakfast,” Andronia Motsileng, another Sidas employee, said.

“So we decided to confront the managers. They got into their vehicles and fled from the office.”

The employees sat on the pavement in front of the office and waited for their employers to return.

The employees also handed over a memorandum to Mogale City Local Municipality regarding these belated payments.

Joseph Pelena and Thapelo Rathebe stood among their fellow employees waiting for their employers to return to their office in Ockerse Street.

The News tried to contact the security company’s head office in Johannesburg via email and telephone, but no feedback has been received.

Their security website defines their employee-employer relationship as follows: “We understand that to a large extent, the ability of a company to be successful depends greatly on human resources. Our guards are well-supported by Sidas Security Management and equipped with everything they need to do the job, from their full corporate or combat uniform to the latest technological tools. Our guards benefit from above-average pay, specialised training and support, variety, a positive working environment and opportunities for promotion within the company.”

– Caxton News Service

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