STATE OF THE INDUSTRY
State of the industry A review of SA’s private security industry in 2019 and expected trends for 2020 By Ingrid Olivier, editor, Security Focus Africa
“C
omfort is not the road history has marked out for us. There is a Chinese (attributed) curse which says ‘May he live in interesting times’.” “Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind. And everyone here will ultimately be judged… on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.” Those words were spoken by Robert F Kennedy during his ‘Day of Affirmation Address’ at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, all the way back in 1966 when he was a junior United States senator. Fifty-four years later, his speech (considered by many to be one of his best) is still relevant as we find ourselves in the midst of interesting, dangerous and uncertain times. Many of the legacies of 2019, both good and bad, are expected to continue into 2020, not only a new year but a new decade that
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many hope will be a turning point for the country in a hundred different ways. That the lights stayed on over the festive season was largely due to seasonal industry closures, which means load shedding – and possibly a junk status downgrade – is on the cards again. The country’s energy crisis is going to be one of the major challenges facing South Africa in 2020, believes Dr Stuart Theobald, chairman of research and consulting firm Intellidex. In an article titled “Here’s our view on what to expect next year” (13 December 2019), he writes that Eskom and the public sector wage bill are both “crucial to the longer-term outlook for our country. Depending on how they are managed, the mediumterm scenarios range from dismal to reasonably positive.” On the back of another poorly performing quarter, which Dr Theobald attributes largely to load-shedding along with “fundamentally weak drivers of economic activity”, South Africa heads into 2020 with “extremely weak business and consumer sentiment levels.
SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA BUYERS’ GUIDE 2020
“The year ahead has the potential to fundamentally change this,” he adds, “But it will require leadership, decisiveness and, most importantly, actual implementation by government.” South Africa is a unique and diverse country with a rich mineral base, an impressive constitution and bill of rights, and a courageous, resilient population. It’s also a country beset by rampant crime, despite its private security industry being one of the world’s largest: according to PSiRA (Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority), there are currently 2 365 782 security officers registered, of which more than 498 435 are employed by just over 9 000 registered and active security businesses. That’s in stark contrast to the police force, which numbers 1 officer to 383 people according to BusinessTech – “far removed from the international standard of 1 to 220.” Going forward, the private security industry will be dealing with a number of mission-critical issues.
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