Johannesburg Launched Next Phases of Insourcing 

14 April 2019

The City of Johannesburg is finalising the insourcing of the remaining security guards and the cleaning services, as a part of its May 2017 commitment to insource these services.

In 2018, 2800 Security Guards from the various Departments in the City of Johannesburg were insourced. In this process the City of Johannesburg was able to increase their take-home pay by a minimum of 50%, while offering them employee benefits, stable employment and containing the City’s escalating security costs.

This program has been a major success, and has seen the City take control of the critical function of guarding its own infrastructure which has suffered from the theft and vandalism running into the hundreds of millions of rands.

I am pleased to announce that the City of Johannesburg is poised to deliver appointment letters to the remaining security guards, employed at the time of the announcement in May 2017, to be insourced effectively on 1 July 2019. 

The finalisation of this program is something of pride given how it has brought dignity to the security personnel in the City, improving their lives. Through engagements with the EFF this program has been successful in moving the profit margins previously enjoyed by politically connected security companies and using this to insource security personnel. Indeed, some security companies were said to be major funders of these political parties. This exercise ensure that political parties and security companies do not profit at the expense of vulnerable poor people.

Previously companies were paid R12 000 for each guard provided while the guards received a meagre R4000 per month. I have no doubt that some of these companies, which have abused their security guards for many years, were appointed in the past on the basis of their political connections.

The City is similarly concluding its assessment of cleaning services and is readying itself to proceed on the insourcing of cleaners. The same principle is being applied to this phase, which ensures a better take-home pay, employment benefits and containing the costs of escalating contractual services for ratepayers.

The objective is to see cleaning services insourced effectively on 1 July 2019, and the families of around 1500 cleaners benefiting from this program.

In the current times of constrained household income, families are under severe pressure to meet their cost of living.

The fact that insourcing is moving the considerable profits from a handful of politically connected companies, towards achieving tangible benefits to thousands of families, who will now enjoy more household income, demonstrates it success.

The fact that is achieved in a manner that contains the escalating costs of contracted expenses in Johannesburg, is something to celebrate as more funding can be directed to the service delivery needs of communities.

I would like to express my appreciation to the coalition partners in Johannesburg, the DA, IFP, COPE, Freedom Front, UDM and ACDP for their support in this program. The EFF must, similarly, be acknowledged for working with the multi-party government in this important initiative.

Issued by Luyanda Mfeka, Director: Mayoral Communications, Office of the Executive Mayor, 14 May 2019