Durban - Frustrated members of the eThekwini Municipality VIP security team are considering legal action against the municipality to force it to restore their duties as the primary security detail of the city’s VIP and councillors.
At least two team members, who were part of the tense meeting between City officials and the members last week, said this was a consideration after the meeting failed to produce any tangible results.
The members spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.
The Mercury reported last week of the tension between metro police and the VIP security. The City denied any tensions and said the two units were working well together.
Last week, about 150 members of the VIP security team held a meeting with council Speaker Thabani Nyawose to complain that their duties – including protecting council VIPs such as the mayor, deputy mayor and the speaker – were being usurped by metro police.
The VIP security unit was set up to protect VIPs and councillors who have been threatened, but members said that since 2016, they have seen their tasks being usurped by metro police.
The members said it had reached a point where many members came to work but did not have any duties.
“The members are considering to hire a lawyer to tackle this because the Speaker Nyawose failed to give us any satisfactory answers. It seems there is too much political interference in this matter and it is beyond the Speaker’s capabilities to resolve.
“The legal action will be primarily for our duties to be restored but other issues also need to be addressed.”
The source said the Speaker had told them that the issues raised will be ventilated in the labour forum in two months’ time. “We questioned how can that be when the labour forum has been unable to sit for the past four years because one of the unions does not attend and the labour forum meeting is therefore not quorate.
“The Speaker also told us there are discussions behind the scenes whereby this unit would be absorbed into the metro police. But this has complications because some members do not quality; what will happen to them?”
Another VIP security member said the members have to take the council to court. “We should be raising funds and take the municipality to court because we’re being made fools; nothing is going right for this unit.”
It emerged last week that one of their grievances was overtime pay that VIP security members were not able to claim as they did previously.
Some have lost assets because when they lost overtime pay they could not meet their obligations.
The metro police has come under scrutiny for very high overtime costs.
Municipal spokesperson Mswakhe Mayisela reiterated that there was no tension between the units.
“We can’t discuss internal processes, we know when to communicate with the media.”