Patrollers abandon school posts, demand salaries
Ninety-four community patrollers abandoned their posts at the local schools claiming that they are tired of working for free. They have been working for two months without being paid.
The safety of school children and the school properties in Mamelodi are at risk after 94 community patrollers abandoned their posts at local schools.
Pontso Gasane said they had been working for two months without any salary.
“We can’t continue working for free.”
Gasane said the Department of Community Safety owes them three months’ salary after they requested them to continue working after their contract expired at the end of March.
The patrollers signed a contract with the department to safeguard the schools and children from August 1, 2021, which ended this March.
“Our senior officials from the Department of Community Safety encouraged us to continue working voluntarily for April. They promised that by May we will be signing new contracts that will end next year March,” said Gasane.
Cemantha Sebaka said, “we continued to work with the hope we will get paid for working in April and sign new contracts”.
She said they were surprised to be told that their contract ended by March and they no longer appeared on the database.
“We were shocked that our names are no longer on the database and they are replacing us with new patrollers.
“We worked for free for two months. We have children that go to school, bills to pay and groceries to buy.”
Portia Sekgobela said they had sacrificed a lot while working for the past two months.
She said their families see them waking up early in the morning to go to work just to come back home empty-handed.
“We demand our salaries and the contract they promised us,” said Sekgobela.
“The departments of education and community safety need to come up with a plan and legit contracts and stop with empty promises.”
The patrollers said they “made sure that no dangerous weapons entered the school premises, including drugs”.
“Some of us are parents and our children go to the very same school we guarded for free. What will happen to the safety of our children?
“The school property is at risk because the criminals will see this as an opportunity to break in and vandalise it.”
Another patroller, Caroline Makgoro, claimed the department owed her nine months’ salary.
She said the department is still owing her one month’s salary from the previous contract.
“I only received three months’ salary and was told that they will pay me the rest,” said Makgoro.
Gauteng community safety department spokesperson Ofentse Morwane said that the deployment of patrollers in schools remained the responsibility of the CPF Board and the Gauteng Department of Education supported by the Department of Community Safety.
He said patrollers abandoned their posts in Mamelodi West.
“The department is aware that when the CPF Board called for this year’s deployment. It had requested its members to volunteer for two months as they normally do with their patrol activities,” Morwane said.
He said the matter has since been resolved as confirmed by Mamelodi CPF and the work of community patrollers in the area continues at this stage.
“It must be noted that these deployments are aligned to the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). Community members are encouraged to rotate to share opportunities,” he said.
ALSO READ: Mamelodi residents demand hefty sentences for GBV suspects
“There is constant communication with regards to the patroller programme, which includes the CPF board, local CPFs, GDE at the district level and community patrollers.
“The department is regularly updated on progress made concerning implementation of the patroller programme in various schools within the province.”
Morwane said there have been numerous interventions by the department led by MEC Mazibuko. The first one was convened with patrollers on June 2 to address the EPWP policy.
Another meeting was subsequently held on June 9 where new patrollers were assigned. Deployment was confirmed in all schools to address issues of safety in schools.
“The department will continue in its efforts to ensure a safer learning and teaching environment through deployment of patrollers.”
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
