INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Since the introduction of outsourcing in 2000 under the former vice-chancellor, Colin Bundy, insourcing/outsourcing has been a huge debate at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). On 11 June 2016, after a prolonged worker and student struggle, the Wits Council (2016) released a statement announcing: ‘… insourcing will commence on 1 January 2017 or as contracts end’ for 1 530 cleaning, catering, security, transport, waste, grounds and landscaping workers. The practice was highly divisive, and was contested both ideologically and in terms of the far-reaching and detrimental effect it had on the lives of workers (see Nkosi 2012).

Bundy had outsourced cleaning, catering and electrical and grounds maintenance to companies such as Supercare (established in 1959 and specialising in cleaning), MJL (an electrical maintenance service company, established in 1994) and Royal Mnandi (established in 1990, and working in the field of food services or catering) (see Table 4.1). The practice of outsourcing seeks to be a cost-effective solution for the institution requiring the services. At the time of the 2015 workers’ sit-in, for example, Wits management argued that insourcing would require ‘an extra 15 per cent increase in student fees otherwise Wits quality will decline … This would destroy Wits. Where would future students go?’ (Heiberg 2015). It was estimated then that the insourcing of all Wits outsourced workers would cost R150 million per year. Such calculations, however, fail to take to heart that outsourcing has major pitfalls and disadvantages for those who are hired by the outsourcing companies. There is no consideration of whether the outsourcing practices, encompassing service and remuneration are compatible with the values that the university professes to embrace. In the words of Workers’ Solidarity Committee (WSC) member Tokelo Nhlapo: ‘The university needs to confront the ugly truth that outsourced workers are treated like second-class citizens [on its campuses]. This goes against the values of the university’ (quoted in Nkosi 2012).

Because of its fundamentally negative impacts on workers, outsourcing is classified as an agent of capitalism – it contributes to the oppression of workers (see Robinson 2004). Outsourcing at Wits has indeed been a particularly painful system. For example, starting in 2000, 613 workers have been retrenched, and only 259 re-employed by outsourcing companies.