Five #OutsourcingMustFall protesters held

At least five workers taking part in #OutsourcingMustFall protests in Pretoria were arrested.

Pretoria - At least five workers taking part in #OutsourcingMustFall protests in Pretoria were arrested on Tuesday.

The protracted protest is by outsourced general workers at the Tshwane University of Technology, supported by their City of Tshwane counterparts. They are demanding permanent employment and a R10 000 a month salary.

The workers are mostly cleaners, security guards, gardeners, as well as caterers. The protest intensified on Monday when workers emptied litter bins and threw rubbish in the streets in the city centre.

Their spokesman Mametlwe Sebei said it was unfortunate the city had decided to resolve the strike through “heavy-handedness and police repression”. He was referring to the arrest of their members by metro police. “The indiscriminate arrests and brutal assaults of the workers cannot have any other aim than to intimidate us,” he said.

“The police have been all over the city searching for us and even came to the office of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa.

“We are continuing with the protests, and the number of participants is growing day by day. The growth in numbers of workers wanting to join the movement shows their determination to not sit by and watch capitalism grow,” said Sebei.

Tshwane University of Technology, meanwhile, said it had provided its final response to the memorandum of grievances submitted by the representatives of the affected workers.

“Although the representatives of the affected workers were invited to participate in talks with the task team on two occasions, they staged a walk-out on the first day and violently disrupted talks the following day,” said spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter. She said the university had reached an agreement on the insourcing of outsourced services after negotiation with the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union; National Tertiary Education Union, and the central SRC.

“This agreement constitutes our final legal position on the insourcing of outsourced services,” she said.

Metro police did not respond to questions about the arrest of the protesting workers.

goitsemang.tlhabye@inl.co.za

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