Cape Town - Security officers at the Century City taxi rank working for Securitas, which is contracted by the Century City Property Owners’ Association, have been suspended after they were accused of pocketing money paid by taxi drivers to use the rank.
After Securitas conducted a polygraph test, the officers were found guilty of misconduct and dishonesty for allegedly stealing the money – said to be in the millions of rand.
A notice of their disciplinary inquiry, seen by the Cape Argus, stated that they were accused of misconduct on October 22 and found guilty.
Another letter to the suspended employees indicated that the polygraph makes them guilty of possible knowledge to misappropriate monies at the taxi terminal, and others were issued final warnings on November 11, valid for 12 months, for not disclosing information to the company.
When the Cape Argus visited the taxi rank, one of the taxi regulators, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, said each minibus taxi paid R30 a day.
He said some taxi owners opted to pay a monthly fee of at least R700 to R900. When asked about the suspension of the security officers, he said they did not know what had happened until they asked some of their managers.
“I last saw some of the officers the previous month. We were told that they were involved in corruption,” he said.
One of the officers said nine of his colleagues lost their jobs due to the allegations and two were to go for hearings soon.
He accused the security company of abusing its power, questioning why there was no action taken against the transport manager at the CCPOA.
He said the manager was supposed to fix the boom gates and install the pay point systems as found at the Canal Walk Waterfront, other malls and airports.
CCPOA safety and security manager Marinus Boshoff said the officers in question were working for Securitas and directed all queries regarding their investigation to it.
After many attempts to contact Securitas, it had not responded to calls and emails for comment at the time of publication.