The EFF in Tshwane has vowed to table another motion seeking to persuade the municipality to insource security guards after its bid to do so failed during a council meeting on Wednesday night.
Party regional leader Obakeng Ramabodu said: “We are going to table the motion again in the next council.”
He expressed disappointment over the rejection of the EFF urgent motion by ActionSA and the DA to support the insourcing of security guards.
In July last year ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba announced that his party wanted to establish a special committee to speed up the insourcing of security and cleaning personnel in the City of Tshwane and other spheres of government in the country.
This was during a gathering of security guards and cleaners at Princess Park in Pretoria. Mashaba said: “We believe that the establishment of this special committee, which will have representatives of both cleaning and security personnel as well as the ActionSA City of Tshwane caucus leader Jackie Mathabathe, will help expedite this process.”
In recent years, the City insourced almost 1 500 security guards after the council resolved that the City must abolish the hiring of private security companies and employ 4 000 guards in-house in a new directorate called the Asset Protection Unit, under the auspices of the Tshwane Metro Police Department.
Ramabodu said: “Despite the resounding success and positive outcomes observed from the first phase of insourcing, it is disheartening that these parties have chosen to disregard the crucial need for fair labour practices and job security for security personnel.”
He said the refusal of Action-SA and the DA to endorse the second phase of insourcing leaves 2 696 guards “in a state of uncertainty and vulnerability, subjecting them to continued exploitation and instability under contract employment”.
The EFF called on councillors to support the welfare and rights of security guards by voting for a move to insource them.
Ramabodu lashed out at ActionSA for its “opportunistic politicking” regarding the insourcing of security and cleaning personnel in Tshwane.
“Promising to establish a special committee and pledging commitment to insourcing during meetings with workers while conveniently seeking to position themselves as champions of workers’ rights is not only disingenuous but also a blatant attempt to deceive and mislead the very individuals they claim to support,” he said.
Pretoria News