Generally speaking, I am not one to deny anyone the right to work for their money - however, the car guards for me have become an irritation on the pimple of the arse of mankind! I am sick to death of people, who have probably never driven a car in their lives, much less have a valid licence, explaining to me how to park my car, and then how to reverse same said car, and then charging me for the priviledge!
I am in serious need of a respite from car guards looking in disgust at the R2.00 that I have given them and muttering under their breath about said coin - on one occasion, I requested the offending coin back, and he gleefully gave it back obviously thinking that he was going to get a bigger, more shining coin to replace it. I put the offending coin back in my pocket, it was useful later in the day when purchasing my bread and milk for the day.
My absolute worst is the car guard "looking after my car" in 'paid' parking facilities! How crazy is that - I must pay for insurance for my car in case it gets stolen, I must pay for the use of the parking and then I am expected to pay for the car guard to watch my car as well! Or how about the parking facility, where you pay to park the car, there is also a car guard and then the chap operating the boom, watches me walk to my car, switch the alarm off, put the key into the ignition and open the door to get in and then when I get to the boom, after I have put my prepaid card into the slot, insists that I turn the ignition off, remove the key from the starter and show it to him, so that he can ensure that I have not stolen the car! That for me was the final straw - I guess I don't have to really tell anyone what I told him to do with his boom! I refused to comply, and requested to speak the the security manager and he used the little bit of power that he thought he had and refused to open the boom or call anyone- I refused to move, switched off the car and started reading my book. Pretty soon, there was a long trail of people wanting to get out of the car park and in absolute frustration, he started letting them out of the "entrance" boom - without making them stop and remove their keys! Eventually about 20 minutes a very frustrated and red in the face man arrived to see what the commotion was - after telling him in no uncertain terms what I thought of the situation, I was allowed to leave.
So you see, car guards for me at the moment are an absolute irritation. No sympathy here from me at all!
Security authority swoops on car guards
Tumi Makgetla Johannesburg, South Africa
04 April 2007 12:19
Nine Zimbabwean car guards were sent to South African deportation facility Lindela on Tuesday and another three were arrested in a swoop on an illegal car-guarding business in Johannesburg by the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (Psira). Twenty businesses have come under Psira's scrutiny over the past 40 days as it targets unregistered car-guarding businesses in Gauteng. The operation has been carried out jointly with the South African Police Service and the Department of Home Affairs.
The high proportion of immigrants arrested on Tuesday throws into the spotlight immigrants' uneasy relationship with the private security industry. According to Lawyers for Human Rights, in the early 2000s, the private security industry reportedly employed 20% of South Africa's economically active refugees, yet a recent high court ruling upheld Psira's right to exclude recognised refugees from private security operations. A refugee can apply to become a security officer, but Psira evaluates these applications on a case-by-case basis, requiring applicants to prove that they have no criminal record, explained Stefan Badenhorst, who manages Psira's law-enforcement division. Unable to find jobs in the formal security industry, immigrants can more easily find a foothold in the less regulated segments of security, such as car guarding.
A 2003 study of 53 car guards along two main roads in Cape Town found that two-thirds of the guards were foreigners and 35 of them were self-reported refugees or asylum seekers, according to researcher Johnny Steinberg. Nearly 50% were from the Democratic Republic of Congo, with fewer numbers of guards from the Congo, Angola and Cameroon. Forty percent of the foreigners and none of the South Africans had tertiary degrees. Only 3% of the foreigners had only primary education or less, compared with almost half of the South African car guards.
Other studies suggested that the Congolese were also more punctual arriving at work than other groups of guards were, leading Steinberg to write: "The image conjured is both tragic and strangely out of joint: a group of middle-class people bringing their earnest middle-class values of hard work and careful financial planning to the task of guarding cars."
Illegal immigrants
The Department of Home Affairs has been involved in Psira's crackdown on illegal car-guarding companies because its investigations revealed that many businesses employ illegal immigrants, said Badenhorst. He explained that the investigations were part of the normal work Psira does to identify the many illegal security companies that are not registered as service providers with the authority. Psira can fine unregistered companies up to R10 000 or withdraw or suspend their registration for hiring illegal immigrants. If convicted on criminal charges, illegal security providers can face five years' imprisonment for a first offence and 10 years for a second offence. Clients are liable for up to 24 months' imprisonment for not verifying whether their security provider is legal, said Badenhorst, but this rarely happens unless a client fails to terminate a contract after being warned by Psira.
South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union sector coordinator Jackson Simon said the union brought the problem of illegal immigrants in the security industry to Psira's attention during last year's security-guard strike. He said that companies do not comply with labour legislation when employing foreigners, such as the sectoral determination on minimum wages. Some car-guard companies are formal businesses and well organised, especially at shopping centres, said Badenhorst, yet there are also many who operate on a more informal basis. These companies tend not to have formal contracts with their employees, meaning that guards are not protected by labour legislation. He said that car guards typically earn between R50 and R200 a day, compared with the minimum R1 600 per month earned by a grade-E guard
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