Striking guards cause fury at Vosloorus hospital

Management at the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital (Natalspruit Hospital) in Vosloorus have been chased away by hospital staff‚ who are angry about a strike by security guards who work in the health facility.

When TimesLIVE arrived at the hospital on Wednesday‚ nurses and other medical staff had stopped working and were removing management personnel from the premises‚ demanding to know why the guards had downed tools.

Guards hired by private firm Sidas Security Guards stopped work on October 18‚ claiming they have not been paid.

But the absence of guards at the entrance and other parts of the hospital has put patients and other workers at risk.

“Since we started working here in 2014‚ our employer has struggled to pay us on payday. This time we decided to stop working because we have had enough of it‚” said one of the striking guards‚ who did not want to be named.

“We want our money first and we will go back to work. Every day we come here and sit at the entrance of the hospital waiting to get paid. If we get paid‚ we will immediately go back to work.”

The security guard added: “Things are really getting bad in the hospital since we stopped working. One [psychiatric] patient committed suicide and we have been told of children who have disappeared without being documented by hospital administration.”

The guard said when they enquired about payment‚ their employer said that the health department had not paid the employer.

“We have nothing to do with our employer not being paid. We signed a contract with the company that we will get paid on the seventeenth of each month. We just want our money‚” the guard said.

While the guards sat peacefully at the side of the hospital’s parking lot‚ furious hospital workers were removing management personnel from the premises‚ accusing them of failing to provide a safe working environment.