Disgruntled security guards march to Tshwane House
Even though the metro has stated that they are under no obligation to insource them, the guards intend to continue protesting until their demands are met.
Traffic in the Pretoria city centre was brought to a standstill on Tuesday morning when security guards demanding they be “insourced” by the metro marched to Tshwane House.
The marchers gathered at Princess Park, Arcadia before marching to Tshwane House.
The situation was monitored by TMPD and SAPS officers.
The guards demand that they be employed by the metro directly instead of being indirectly employed via private companies.
“These companies can’t pay us; they are relying on the municipality to pay them so they can pay us,” said the group’s chairperson, Joshua Modao.
“Instead, they can easily remove the middleman and deal with us directly.”
Modao said they wanted a 2018 resolution by the Tshwane metro council to be carried out.
Under this resolution, 4 000 guards would be “insourced” to work directly for the municipality in phases.
The guards claim to date only 1 302 guards have been absorbed by the metro.
“We feel we are being neglected by the metro,” said Modao.
“We are fathers and mothers, but they don’t recognise that. We are playing an important role. We are making sure that the City’s property and assets are protected. We feel exploited.”
In addition to this, the group wanted a formal meeting with either the city manager or mayor to discuss grievances such as late payments.
The protest was not the first for the guards. Last month, they held a similar march to Tshwane House.
Even though the metro has stated that they are under no obligation to insource them, the guards intend to continue protesting until their demands are met.
“If we need to apply for another march, then that is what we will do. They are the executives, we are the workers. We know what’s happening on the ground, they don’t; so until our demands are met, we will carry on. We don’t want to align with any political party, we are all security guards.”
The group has given the metro seven days to respond to its memorandum of demands.
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