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It is my pleasure to let South Africans know that this afternoon ActionSA together with senior representatives of the South African Cleaners Security, and Allied Workers Union (SACSAAWU), held an historic meeting to consolidate the partnership towards the insourcing of cleaners and security personnel in all government departments throughout the country.

During my time as the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, the insourcing of cleaners and security guards was a key project of my administration. Instead of the employment of these key personnel being left to exploitative labour brokers, it was my administration’s view that we cut out the proverbial middleman and afford our people the dignity that comes with being a full-time employee of the City. 

By the time I left as Mayor, we had insourced about 4500 security guards, and almost 2000 cleaners, a project which was meant to be ongoing.

Our historic meeting with SACSAAWU this afternoon, therefore, serves to rejuvenate our commitment to this project nationally. 

We want the South African public to be aware that ActionSA is committed to restoring our people’s dignity, a right that is enshrined in our Constitution. With permanent employment comes the benefit of receiving formal employment letters, payslips, being paid on time, and other employment benefits that they currently do not enjoy as a result of being treated as casual workers. 

ActionSA is dedicated to a pro-poor agenda, because while some in our society, particularly those who have benefitted from the abuse of state resources with impunity over many years as public officials, ordinary workers in our country have been left out in the cold. 

To that end, we are excited at the prospect of a fruitful partnership with SACSAAWU to ensure that our collaboration will yield positive results to the benefit of millions of cleaners and security guards throughout the country.

Issued by ActionSA President Herman Mashaba