Kwa-Thema – The 108 school patrollers in Kwa-Thema remain dissatisfied with the contracts issued by the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE).
Although the patrollers received new contracts after the African Reporter intervened and sent an enquiry to the department, their concerns persist.
The cohort initially signed contracts to serve as patrollers at Kwa-Thema schools from April to September. Some members stopped reporting for duty at the end of September because they had not been paid and had no new agreement with the GDE.
At the beginning of November, they were issued contracts meant to cover October 2024 to March 2025. However, representatives say they were given only three days to sign and submit the documents.
“They asked us to resubmit all the important documents we had already provided for the first contract. This includes a deployment letter from the station commander, a criminal clearance certificate and SARS registration.
“How can we get all this in three days? And what happened to the documents we already submitted?” said one representative, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation.
The group also complained that although their contracts state they would be paid on the last day of each month, this has not happened. By November 25, they had still not received their October payment.
In response to our previous enquiry, GDE spokesperson Steve Mabona claimed that late submissions of documents caused the delays.
However, the patrollers argue this explanation makes no sense, as they submitted all required documents before taking up their posts in April.
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“And if they had issues with the documents in the first month, how did that affect the other months?” asked another patroller.
Mabona added that due to financial constraints, only two of the four patrollers from the previous cohort (April to September) would be deployed alternately every second month from October 1 to March 31.
The group says they have accepted this adjustment. They remain concerned, however, about not having any UIF contributions.
“The programme was started to combat unemployment, but they don’t really care what happens to us after these contracts end. Why would they not set up UIF for us?” a member asked.
The GDE has not yet responded to our follow-up questions.
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