Efforts to Derail Insourcing Will Fail

6 March 2018

Following the announcement of the Insourcing of security personnel in Johannesburg, certain security contractors have begun replacing security guards with family and friends to benefit from the insourcing project.

It is most regrettable that such efforts are being made, at the expense of long-serving security personnel, in an effort to corrupt the system. It speaks to the nature of some of these contractors, no doubt reflecting the motives behind their original appointment in the previous term of office.

Our commitment, made last year, was that security personnel in the City, working at the time of the announcement, would be insourced to work for the City. Already a number of measures have been taken to ensure that it is only these qualifying security personnel who will benefit from this process.

The City is calling upon security guards who have been unfairly treated in this process to come forward so that the implicated companies can be reported to the Private Security Industry Regulation Authority (PSIRA).

Despite the ongoing attempts derail the efforts to insource security personnel, I am pleased to say that the timelines have moved forward. Already the City has initiated the recruitment of the head of the security structure, and the advert for all personnel will go out on 14 March 2018 and will run for two weeks.

This process will achieve nearly 4000 security guards being insourced into the City, increasing their remuneration and benefits while costing the City no more than what has been expended on over 100 security contracts in the City, costing nearly R700 million per annum.

This process is widely regarded to be amongst the largest scale insourcing projects ever undertaken in the public sector. We will, without doubt, face challenges in this process but we will continue to be driven by what is fair and just, rather than what produces lucrative profits for the few fortunate enough to win these tenders.

Those who have benefitted from these lucrative security contracts will not be able to derail our efforts to do what is right for nearly 4000 security guards who have safeguarded infrastructure in our City to the benefit of our residents.

Issued by Luyanda Mfeka, Director: Mayoral Communications, Office of the Executive Mayor, 6 March 2018