BLOEMFONTEIN, Free State – Hundreds of former G4S Security employees stationed at the Mangaung Correctional Centre are fighting for their jobs at the newly renamed Grootvlei Maximum Correctional Centre. The Police and Correctional Services Union (POPCRU) has taken the Department of Correctional Services to the Labour Court, demanding the absorption of its members following the expiration of the private security firm’s 25-year management lease in June.
The facility has since transitioned to the direct management of the Department of Correctional Services. However, the transition has sparked a major labor dispute, with POPCRU challenging the Department’s handling of the former G4S staff.
At the heart of the dispute is Section 197 of the Labour Relations Act, which governs the transfer of employment contracts when a business is transferred as a “going concern.” A POPCRU spokesperson stated that the Department has failed to adhere to this legislation, which mandates that employees should automatically transfer to the new employer under the same terms and conditions.
Instead of automatically absorbing the workforce, the Department has reportedly instructed the affected staff to apply for their own positions. Union representatives have strongly condemned this move, describing the mandatory reapplication process as unlawful. A POPCRU spokesperson accused the Department of “bullying” its members and argued that because the facility was taken over as a going concern, no worker should have been forced to compete for their existing posts.
To protect the rights of its more than 400 affected members who previously worked for G4S, the union has escalated the matter legally. POPCRU representatives confirmed they have launched two separate court applications, which are scheduled to be heard in the Labour Court on July 9.
The legal challenge includes an application to enforce the Section 197 outcome, as well as a contempt application. The union alleges that the Department of Correctional Services has been entirely intransigent in implementing the legal requirements for the transfer of the former Mangaung facility.
POPCRU has vowed to continue fighting the legal battle until a desirable outcome is secured, insisting that the former G4S employees must be absorbed as ongoing members of the Department of Correctional Services without being subjected to an unlawful application process.
