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City Press reports that the top brass at Unisa are set to get bodyguards amid allegations of mounting threats against them made on social media.
A process was set in motion last month to procure protection services for several executive managers, including principal and vice-chancellor Professor Puleng LenkaBula. An insider, however, advised last week that the procurement of bodyguards, which was initiated last month, had not taken place due to delays in supply chain management. The individual claimed: “It’s the [workers’ union] Nehawu people who’re causing the delays in supply chain management. Now must we wait for Unisa to protect us?” However, Unisa’s Nehawu (National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union) branch chairperson, Lunathi Hontoti, denied the allegation and indicated: “Nehawu stopped participating in tenders in 2018 because it became difficult to question processes and we elected to forfeit our seat on the tender committee.” Nehawu and Unisa have been at loggerheads since March. The disagreement is over salary increases, and the suspension and dismissal of five Nehawu members who were allegedly at the centre of a strike. In an e-mail dated 17 June and addressed to affected managers, the executive director for protection services, Major General Masego Botsheleng, said the implementation of personal protection for members of management was urgent and could not be postponed. In a second e-mail dated 21 June and addressed to the management committee and others, Botsheleng wrote that there was a critical risk to executives that needed to be addressed by all means, but specifically by involving personal protection services. This, she explained, was the result of the protracted strike by Nehawu and recent threats of violence against certain individuals, including some executive members of management.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Msindisi Fengu at City Press (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Unisa’s descent into chaos, at City Press (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page