ASSOCIATION NEWS
Update from SASA
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From the desk of Tony Botes, SASA National Administrator.
rivate Security Industry — Challenges for 2022 The coming year is bound to be the most difficult year for the private security industry, massively impacted by several factors that we have identified and probably many more than we can even imagine – or predict – as the year progresses. Covid-19 The pandemic, which has now been with us since March 2020, is showing no sign of abatement and is expected to continue impacting negatively on the national economy and even more so on the private security sector in South Africa. SASA has, in collaboration with ISIO (International Security Industry Organization), and CAPSI (Security Association of India), developed highly advanced Covid-19 protocols for the private security industry, as we believe that only we can enforce effective measures to minimise, and maybe even eventually eliminate, this biological threat. Unfortunately, our Department of Health has, so far, ignored our approaches of free cooperation in this regard, which is very disappointing! Our security officers face the brunt of the challenges from our population when they try to enforce adequate C-19 protocols and, as such, are also facing extremely high risks in performing these tasks.
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Consumer resistance Covid-19, and the economic catastrophe it has caused, has resulted in massive consumer resistance to existing statutory increases in remuneration and benefits, which were gazetted in early 2020, before the pandemic, and valid for three years, until the second quarter of 2023. Furthermore, instead of increasing their security complement levels to assist in combating the spread of Covid-19, many clients have, in fact, reduced the numbers of contracted security officers. To compound this, virtually every consumer has demanded rates lower than those in place prior to the pandemic, which leads us to the next point. Non-compliance Unreasonable consumer ‘push back’ has led to a serious increase in gross criminal non-compliance by many security service providers in an effort to retain their existing clients. Such non-compliance can only result in the security officers on the ground being cheated out of their statutory minimum levels of remuneration and benefits, which – in turn – must lead to an elevated level of job dissatisfaction and a sub-standard level of security. Neither of the regulators in the private security industry – PSIRA (Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority) and the National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Industry
SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022
(NBCPSS) – have the capacity to effectively police the more than 10,500 registered security companies, not to mention the number of illegal unregistered companies that have emerged during the past 18 or so months. Furthermore, mainly because of the consumer resistance to what they see as unaffordable prices for security services, there has been a critical increase in the use of: • unregistered ‘fly by night’ security operators • unregistered security officers (often undocumented foreigners, and some possibly with criminal records) • disguised employment relationships between the security businesses and their employees (independent contractors, also referred to as self-employed security officers, cooperative structures, unregistered ‘learners’ being used as fully qualified security officers, etc.) • security service providers, whether willingly or not, failing to pay over deducted provident fund, funeral scheme, and medical insurance premiums, as well as UIF (Unemployment Insurance Fund) contributions, all of which will have a disastrous impact on the security officers who might lose their jobs, become ill or even die.
securityfocusafrica.com
