The Star reports that security guards working as essential staff for Fidelity Security under Covid-19 regulations have lamented the inhuman conditions they are subjected to.
The guards in Lonehill claimed on Monday that they were sleeping on inflatable mattresses and boxes following long nights keeping clients of the company safe. The guards said they used water buckets to bathe in before going to their different place of work in the leafy Lonehill suburb. The guards deployed at Lonehill Shopping Centre, Pineslopes Boulevard, St Peter’s College, Crawford College Lonehill and neighbouring estates, also claimed the Fidelity management did not provide them with food. The guards’ ordeal allegedly began after the metro police arrested the security manager for loading 44 security officers into the back of a closed truck. The manager, who was arrested for contravening Covid-19 regulations, then decided to stop transporting the guards home and arranged accommodation for them at vacant office space offered by one of Fidelity’s clients as a temporary place for them to sleep. According to one guard, they were allowed to go home, but could not afford the transport costs. Another guard said the conditions were almost as bad as those of a crowded prison. Fidelity CE Wahl Bartmann said he would put an immediate stop to the arrangement. “We take responsibility. These are our people, and nobody will sleep on a client’s property unless approved by head office,” he said.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Gift Tlou at The Star
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