39 security guards lose their jobs following a liquidated company.
By: Wendy Mothata and Nokuthula Zwane
URBAN Genesis, a company that provides security workers who patrol the Wits main campus, has told 39 employees that their employment has been terminated.
The termination follows an announcement by Urban Genesis management that the company had been liquidated and a new company was taking over.
Enforce Security, the new company that is reportedly contracted to take over security around the Wits Braamfontein campus, said that workers would have to re-apply for their jobs.
Manager of Enforce Security Lucas Ngwako told Wits Vuvuzela that “the workers of Urban Genesis will have to go through the Enforce security employment process and they will get a job if they meet our criteria.”
“Management came to us Monday morning, telling us that it was our last day and that we should not come to work.”
Workers were told that they were not expected to report to work. One of the employees, Thomas Skosana, said “the management came to us Monday morning, telling us that it was our last day and that we should not come to work.”
Manager of Urban Genesis Greg Baptist told Wits Vuvuzela that he had spent a couple of hours on Monday morning informing the employees that the company had been “liquidated” , and that they had to re-apply for their jobs at Enforce Security. Site manager, Henderson Mphuthi, said that workers had sent a delegation, to Enforce Security to get a clear understanding of what was happening.
“We want to know about who will be paying us for the days that we have worked and our UIF and bonuses.”
“They came back to us telling us that we will have to provide certain documentation and information, however, this does not guarantee us to get our jobs,” Mphuthi said.
Currently, workers have been reporting to the site voluntarily. Workers have vowed to continue working until their questions about their income have been answered. Nthakhiseni Nengobela said “we want to know about who will be paying us for the days that we have worked and our UIF and bonuses.”
The university had not responded to enquiries by the time of going to press.
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