Call for insourcing after workers guarding Gauteng Legislature go unpaid for December

ActionSA has called for all government spheres and provincial institutions to adopt "frontline worker" insourcing commitments to help curb their exploitation by labour broker-type employers.

The party also called for the Gauteng Legislature and the Speaker to urgently move beyond temporary protection measures and commit to a defined insourcing pathway for all security and support staff currently at risk.

“ActionSA notes the statement by the Gauteng Provincial Legislature regarding its intervention after Mafoko Security Company failed to honour its salary obligations to workers contracted to provide security services at the Legislature. The latest failure of Mafoko Security to pay December 2025 salaries – after repeated instances of late pay and unpaid wages – exposes, once again, the deep and systemic exploitation of frontline workers by labour brokers, and underscores why ActionSA has championed the insourcing of security, cleaning and other essential personnel,” said ActionSA Gauteng MPL Funzi Ngobeni in a statement on Thursday.

“ActionSA has long maintained that insourcing is not merely a policy preference but a moral imperative to restore dignity and fairness in the workplace by ending the exploitative practices of labour brokers. During his tenure as Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, ActionSA President Herman Mashaba implemented one of the largest and most successful insourcing programmes in the country – directly absorbing 4 185 security guards and 1 879 cleaners into permanent City employment – thereby ending their precarious conditions and eliminating exploitative middlemen,” he said.

'Corporate Irresponsibility'

The Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) earlier issued a statement saying it had learned “with grave concern and deep disappointment” that Mafoko Security had failed to pay its employees their December salaries.

The Legislature said following the expiry of its contract with Mafoko Security on December 31, 2025, it entered into a new agreement with another service provider with effect from January 1, 2026. Accordingly, the Legislature said it no longer maintains a contractual relationship with Mafoko, except in respect of the resolution of outstanding matters.

“This unacceptable conduct has left hardworking security officers and their families in distress and resulted in a bleak and painful festive season for those affected,” the legislature said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The GPL places it on record that its last payment to Mafoko Security Company was made on 5 December, a payment which the Legislature reasonably and rightfully expected would be used to remunerate employees.”

Noting that it was not the first time Mafoko’s employees were subjected to such salary delay issues, it said workers such as these, who for years secured a National Key Point, must never be made victims of “corporate irresponsibility”. 

Ngobeni said: “Essential workers do not deserve the indignity of late pay, missed salaries or the uncertainty of outsourcing contracts that change with the political winds. They deserve decent, direct employment with the full protections of the labour laws. This is a principle ActionSA has delivered where we govern, and one we will continue to pursue vigorously in Gauteng and across South Africa.”