GroundUp reports that dozens of security guards have been sleeping outside the Gauteng Department of Health (DoH) offices in Johannesburg for four months.

They say they are owed money by security companies contracted to the department and want the DoH to intervene. The group of about 100 guards are sleeping in the heart of the city, where pedestrians and motorists pass daily. They are members of the SA Cleaners, Security, and Allied Workers’ Union (Sacsaawu) who were employed to guard various healthcare sites in Gauteng. They claim they were dismissed suddenly on 31 March without explanation or severance pay and claim they are owed provident fund contributions and bonuses. They started protesting outside the department in April and in May moved their protest to outside the ANC offices in Luthuli House and then outside the offices of the Star newspaper. Twenty-four of them were arrested. They then returned to the DoH offices to continue their protest. The protesters rely on donations for food. Sacsaawu general secretary Andries Diphapang Potsane, who is also sleeping outside, said they have handed over a memorandum of demands to the DoH. He said most of the security personnel had been underpaid, while some of them don’t have UIF or provident fund benefits even though contributions were deducted from their salaries. A DoH spokesperson said the service companies were no longer contracted to the department, which “cannot get itself involved in labour relations matters relating to employer-employee issues of other companies.” A Department of Employment and Labour spokesperson confirmed that the issue was before the CCMA.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Silver Sibiya at GroundUp

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