SECURITY guards who work for the Chippa United boss, Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi’s security company are gatvol.
The group of about 30 security guards protested in front of the Cape Town train station claiming that they have gone for two months without pay.
They said Chippa only paid them two times in 2023, so they decided to stop working and demand their salaries.
Chippa blames PRASA for failing to pay him despite having invoiced them.
One of the protesters, Akhona Mlindazwe (33), said they are fed up with Chippa’s antics.
“We cannot continue working when we do not get paid. We do not feed our families with excuses from Chippa,” he said.
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Another worker, Thobela Nkone, said the security guards that work for Mpengesi are over 200 but only a few managed to gather to protest.
“Others do not even have money for transport to come to the protest because we haven’t been paid in a long time. He only paid us twice this year, in January and February,” he said.
Thobela said they have been working in March and April with the hope that they will get paid but after Mpengesi failed to pay them, they decided to down their tools on 3 May and protest.
Chippa Training Academy (CTA) spokesman, Themba Yawa, confirmed that they haven’t paid workers but blamed it on Prasa. Among other issues, Yawa said since May 2018, Prasa has not provided CTA with a payment date from the submitted invoice.
“Prasa has since in 2019 May failed to honor its contractual obligations in terms of the contract entered with CTA by not applying yearly increments on the invoice of the company,” said Yawa.
He said PRASA has failed to abide by the 2019 High Court ruling by Hlophe JP that provided a security plan. He said the ruling stated that Prasa must not procure outside of those that were currently providing services at the time.
“They have instead appointed a new service provider which is paid more than R5000 per guard as opposed to what they pay CTA,” Yawa said.
PRASA spokesman, Andiswa Makanda, confirmed that the protest incident at Cape Town station however she said Prasa paid out.
“PRASA is in no position to comment on the affairs of a third party. PRASA has made payments to the company according to the invoices submitted and other documentation that are required and in line with Judge Hlophe's ruling. PRASA does so on a monthly basis. We would like to implore the company to communicate to its employees truthfully regarding non-payment of salaries,” said Makanda.
