When off-duty prison warder Senzeleni Nxumalo reported for weekend duty, little did he know he was to be fired for allegedly participating in an unlawful protest.
Nxumalo, 38, on Wednesday said his worst fear was that he would be homeless after being served with an eviction order from Modderbee Prison's residential quarters in Benoni.
"The area commissioner told me in my face that I could not be accommodated in prison quarters any more when he served me with a 48-hour eviction notice last Monday. But, I am hopeful the matter will be amicably resolved between prison authorities and the union soon," he said.
He said he was off duty when he decided to come to work. He hoped that the management would allow 323 warders who normally worked over weekends to resume their duties. The number was reduced to 260 in terms of the new seven-day work system, he said.
"I was caught up in the confusion after police were called in to disperse prison warders who gathered on prison premises to complain about unsafe working conditions as a result of weekend staff reductions," he said.
Nxumalo is among 130 prison warders who were dismissed at Gauteng prisons for participating in a work stayaway to support Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) demands. These included reinstatement of dismissed prison warders, and protesting against the reduced weekend personnel.
Nxumalo is destitute and penniless after being fired in December and fears that his Audi A4 is to be repossessed because he failed to pay a monthly instalment.
He said he earned R5 900 a month working as a sergeant. He said he had been offered a rent-free four-roomed house in the prison camp because he could not afford to rent a flat in Etwatwa township, near Daveyton in Benoni.
Nxumalo relies on his parents for groceries because his wife is not employed.
Instead of being recognised for his 13 years service as a sergeant in the Modderbee prison, Oupa Sibeloane was also fired after a lock-out.
He has not been paid since November 2004 after he was dismissed for allegedly partaking in the protest strike to demand reinstatement of other prison warders.
"I am scared that my house that I've had for 10 years will be repossessed because I have not been able to continue paying my bond," said Sibeloane, who is a father of three.
The department of correctional services has dismissed reports that prisons were plunged into chaos by the prison warders' strike since
the festive season. Their denial comes as another strike by warders in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga is planned for this weekend.
Popcru national spokesperson Pat Ntsobi on Wednesday said the police were deployed to work in Fort Beaufort, Middlesdrift, Umtata and Mdantsane, and other prisons in the Eastern Cape, because prison services had come to a virtual halt during mass protests by prison warders.
This comes after the past weekend's reported work stayaways by prison warders in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and 10 prisons in Kwazulu-Natal.
The union claimed that the weekend reductions placed the lives of prison officials, inmates and the public at risk.
Another planned strike is scheduled for Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga next Saturday and Sunday, Ntsobi said, as countrywide industrial actions in prisons intensified this month.
The ministry and Popcru were embroiled in a series of disputes after the union threatened strike action by prison warders in response to the department's decision to change from a five-day to a seven-day work system.
Ntsobi also accused the department of subjecting prison warders to mass dismissals for participating in the protest actions. He said that 130 prison warders had been dismissed in Gauteng and 92 in Mpumalanga following weekend stayaways.
But correctional services departmental spokesperson Graham Abrahamse described prison strikes as "minimal stayaways with no effect".
"It is totally incorrect and misleading for Popcru to claim that there were mass dismissals when few union members participated in the strike action," he said.
Abrahamse did say, however, that prison warders who failed to report for weekend duties would face disciplinary action.
He urged union leadership to return to the bargaining chamber, but Ntsobi insisted that the departmental chamber was ineffective because management representatives often negotiated without mandates.
The Democratic Alliance also came forward in support of the ministry for dismissing 72 prison warders who participated in the strike last weekend.
"This decision will hopefully send a message that anyone who embarks on strike action will face severe disciplinary action," DA MP James Selfe said.
"There is no doubt that the transition to the new work system will be painful for many warders who have become accustomed to relying on much-needed overtime pay, but the new system will in the long run only serve to improve the prison system for warders and prisoners alike." - Labour Reporter