ASSOCIATION NEWS

Update from SASA

February has been a relatively uneventful month in the private security sector, but it has been extremely active behind the scenes…

From the desk of Tony Botes, SASA National Administrator.

SASA Membership

Our membership year ended on 28 February, which means that our office is currently swamped with compliance verification for our Gold Members, and updating of details for all categories of members.

SASA has, for the second consecutive year – and mainly because of the ongoing economic situation in the country – decided not to increase the joining or annual fees. We trust that our reserves will comfortably carry us through until 2023 and beyond.

To those members, in all categories, who have not yet responded to our email communications, please make urgent contact with our Admin Department on admin@sasecurity.co.za or 0861 100 680 or 083 650 4981.

The year ahead…

The next few months are going to be filled with challenges of all sorts, but we can assure our members that we will be diligent in meeting these head-on, while keeping members informed at all times.

Wage negotiations for the 2023 to 2025 three-year period have already commenced, with the exchange of demands by both ‘organised employers’ (SASA, SANSEA/South African National Security Employers’ Association and CEO/ Consolidated Employer Organisation) and ‘organised labour’ (20+ trade unions), set to take place on 1 March 2022. Round one of the face-to-face meetings is scheduled for 17 March. We expect this to just be an exploratory meeting, with both parties motivating their positions and giving clarity on their demands and offers.

The actual negotiations will be scheduled to take place a fortnight thereafter, at which the two groups of 12-a-side will engage, hopefully professionally and peacefully, in a process to reach a mutually acceptable settlement in time for it to be approved by the Registrar of Labour Relations and their Minister for implementation as from March 2023.

We do, however, believe that this is going to be one of the most difficult wage negotiation processes in the past couple of decades, as all parties are facing massive challenges. These include serious resistance against any type of price increase from consumers and the retention of clients by security businesses as a result of the huge economic challenges facing our country and the rest of the world.

SASA is committed to working towards an acceptable collective agreement and we will keep our members informed of developments during the process.

However, that’s not all — there are challenges from within…

Neither PSIRA (Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority) nor the Minister of Police have responded to our attorney’s letter of demand that they cease and desist with regard to the new uniform and branding regulations. By the time this issue of Security Focus Africa is published, we will have served legal papers on the Minister in this regard. Only time will tell the outcome, but we have great confidence that our legal representatives (who include a well respected and highly competent Senior Counsel) will secure a significant relaxation of the regulations.

Still with PSIRA, and their proposed new annual and monthly fee structure, we have met with their senior management in an attempt to ‘flatten the curve’ in respect of both the company annual fees and monthly ‘per security officer’ levies.

PSIRA is facing massive debt write-offs with regard to failing companies, mainly those in the 0-20 employee group. Their figures specify some 10,145 out of a total of 12,392 registered security companies, employing 28,907 of a total of 442,723 registered and active security officers. This means that, in the lowest two groups (0-5 and 6-20 security officers), these micro-sized businesses, collectively, employ an average of 2.8 security officers each, with at least one in each company being a director. PSIRA is demanding that the larger companies pay much higher fees in order to subsidise the smaller companies and minimise its debt write-off. It must be pointed out that the abovementioned total of registered and active security officers quoted by PSIRA is close to 100,000 less than was revealed to the industry at the latest formal Gauteng Provincial Industry Compliance Forum (PICF) meeting. This difference, which will dramatically affect their budget calculations, needs to be explained.

PSIRA also needs to make provision for registration and other administrative fee revenues as well as fines they impose on defaulters in its latest business model — which we don’t believe can work in its proposed format. To this end, we have made a number of alternate fee proposals which would be acceptable to SASA and its partners, as well as a way for PSIRA to create a guarantee system to minimise write-offs. Despite reminders from us, and commitments from their senior management, PSIRA has not yet responded to our proposals, for whatever reason, and neither have they scheduled a new meeting to discuss our proposals of a month ago.

Keep in mind that these new fees are due to come into effect on 1 April 2022 and that the clock is ticking…

Benefits of SASA membership:

We are working on expanding membership benefits, which will be communicated to all members once finalised. Currently, these include:

• A strictly applied Code of Ethics

• Representation at national and local government level

• Industry exposure in the media as well as at major shows and exhibitions

• Contacts and networking opportunities

• Discounted training courses, events and seminars

• Access to a security library managed by UNISA (University of South Africa)

• Updates on new legislation and other industry-relevant information

• Access to security-related and affiliated associations in South Africa and overseas

• The SASA national website

• A central administration office

• Free digital subscription to Security Focus Africa magazine, the official journal of SASA

• A mentorship programme which is designed to guide and assist startup security companies with attaining the compliance standards required to qualify for Gold Membership

For more information about what SASA does and how it can assist you and your company, or to report any wrongdoings or concerns, please contact:

Tony Botes, SASA National Administrator, at:

Tel: 0861 100 680 / 083 650 4981

Cell: 083 272 1373

Email: info@sasecurity.co.za / tony@sasecurity.co.za

Website: www.sasecurity.co.za