Provincial department tells service providers in a letter they won’t be paid for months
In an official letter by the acting head of the DCSSL in Mpumalanga written this month, V& Security was informed that the department is unable to pay invoices for services rendered from December, January and February.
SECUNDA – Disgruntled security guards forced the public and officials to clear out of the provincial transport department’s licensing offices and testing station in Secunda and the education circuit offices on Wednesday morning, 15 January.
Members of the public complained they were manhandled and threatened with pepper spray at the testing station.
Concerned parents whose children could not be placed at schools could not seek help at the circuit offices.
Security guards from V&M Projects locked down the offices and refused anyone access to these buildings. They threatened to keep this up until they were paid their salaries.
These guards, as most of their peers at other security companies that are service providers for the Department Community Safety, Security and Liaison in Mpumalanga, are paid on the 15th of each month. Most also earn bottom rates of about R20 an hour.
The guards said on Wednesday that they also received their December pay late. Many were relying on their January payday to ensure their kids are sorted to begin school.
“Our employer cannot give us answers. The phone is no longer being answered. We do not think they have any way of paying us,” said several of the guards.
Although it was business as usual at the respective offices the following day, the guards were not at their usual posts. They relinquished their lock down hold at the various buildings despite not yet being paid.
Mr Lucky Zondo, a representative in Mpumalanga of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) met with the security guards on Thursday, 16 January, where they were gathering under trees at the vehicle testing station in Secunda.
Mr Zondo said V&M is not the only service provider for the province that cannot pay their guards. Many of the service providers’ survival depends on the income they receive from their contract with the province.
Guards at several hospitals, courts and other state departments are in the same situation.
In an official letter by the acting head of the DCSSL in Mpumalanga written this month, V&M Security was informed that the department is unable to pay invoices for services rendered from December, January and February.
Due to financial constraints these invoices will only be paid in April.
Ridge Times obtained a copy of this letter. According to Mr Zondo, V&M is not the only company to receive such a letter. He said not only is non-payment by the province detrimental for the future of small service providers, but it also causes a ripple effect that takes away income from households.
Ridge Times contacted a director of V&M Projects based in Amsterdam, but he declined to comment. Mr Moeti Mmusi, spokesman for the DCSSL in Mpumalanga on Friday said he will investigate the issue before making a statement.
Also read:
https://www.citizen.co.za/ridge-times/153381/security-guards-not-yet-paid-various-offices-operating/
