Ultimatum to end campus work outsourcing
THE Department of Higher Education and Training has been given 10 working days to stop the #OutsourcingMustFall unrest and campaigns in Tshwane.
The #OutsourcingMustFall movement protesters and staff of some institutions of higher learning in the city yesterday cautioned the department to act swiftly or face the full wrath of workers.
They protested outside the the department’s offices in the Pretoria CBD.
The outsourced workers, mainly from the Tshwane North and South Colleges as well as the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), said they were angered by the department’s inability to intervene in the contravention of agreements by the different institutions.
#OutsourcingMustFall national spokesperson Mametlwe Sebei said the movement was exasperated that after a year of discussions, there had been no progress on outsourcing issues at the institutions.
“We have been communicating with department representatives for a year. TUT is going against an agreement we had on insourcing security and cleaning services.
“Insourcing issues also plague the colleges yet nothing is being done about it.
“We came in peace today, but if it means we need to go back to making the department inoperable, we will do just that,” he said.
Sebei said even though the public protector’s report released a month ago recommended that remedial action be instituted against the Tshwane South principal for ignoring and violating the Public Finance Management Act and National Treasury Regulations on procurement, the department had failed to act accordingly.
He said the report concluded that MEC for Finance Barbara Creecy and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga had failed to implement the 2008 forensic investigation report.
“We call on the minister to correct dismissals of former Tshwane South College workers following unjust disciplinary hearings and for the workers to be returned to work and compensated.”
The movement demanded that insourcing discussions be resumed, and for Tshwane South and Tshwane North contract workers to be insourced. It also called for an end to TUT tenders for new security services.
In addition, the group demanded that all foreign nationals employed on a contract basis within government departments and parastatals be permanent in line with the Immigration Act.
TUT spokesperson Willa de Ruyter confirmed that a process to invite tenders for campus protection services was under way.
She added that the university’s insourcing task team, which included representatives of the outsourced service workers, was still looking at various possibilities of resolving the current situation.