SECURITY AT WINNIE MANDELA MUSEUM STILL WAITING FOR SEPTEMBER SALARIES

While the focus is on the renaming of Brandfort which saw postponements first on 17 August and on 25 September 2021, the security guards at the Winnie Mandela museum have not been paid their September salaries.

Step Up SA News reported that a new security company Tabure SEC PTY LTD was appointed in July 2021 and it reduced security personnel from 5 to 2 and completely cut off women security officers meaning the two male security officers, one for day and one for night shift were searching female visitors and to date the status quo remains.

Its reported Tabure SEC has been on month-to-month contract with SACR since 2018 and the auditor general found the contract to be irregular but SACR is still forging ahead with impunity.

Step Up Sa News can confirm the department has been advertising security tenders for three years but does not appoint.

The Department held a virtual briefing on the 29 July and 32 companies attended the briefing session with only 16 companies bidding but interestingly, some of the 16 shortlisted companies did not attend the briefing session.

A security company owner who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization said it’s sad that they are taken for granted.

“They take us for granted and we use our hard earned money to buy bid documents, we incure administrative costs on top of that.”

Another source pointed the finger at the Director of Security: Mr Lerato Lengau and asked the relationship with Tabure SEC owners be investigated.

“Let’s trace this back to Macufe, Tabure was pushed by Lerato Lengau and in his capacity as Director of Security, it cant be a coincidence that the same company is considered month-to-month for almost three years. His relationship with Tabure must be investigated.”

“Maybe we must go to their offices and protest,” he concluded.

Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation in the Free State had not responded to questions sent by Step Up SA News including why a company appointed by them had not paid security personnel.

This is a developing story.