ASSOCIATION NEWS

Update from SASA

It has been yet another extremely interesting month for the private security sector!

From the desk of Tony Botes, SASA National Administrator.

Here’s a summary of what’s been happening:

PSIRA (Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority)

1. Amended Act

The Government Gazette (45295 of 8 October) is a bulky document of 52 pages, containing only the amendments to the PSIRA Act, and must be read in conjunction with the ‘old’ legislation, which has also been updated periodically.

The changes are far too many to discuss in this article, but the dreaded ‘foreign ownership’ provision, which has been gathering dust on the desk of a number of presidents for many years, is now in force. It specifically stipulates that every security service provider (company) must now be 51 percent South African-owned and controlled.

The Minister of Police, however, has the power to vary this percentage as he sees fit, which could be both positive or negative, depending on the decrease or increase that might result from such variation.

2. Research under the topic ‘The role of the NBCPSS in the Private Security Industry’

We have noted, with serious concern, that PSIRA is busy with research amongst security companies and security officers under the topic ‘The role of the NBCPSS on the Private Security Industry’. For some unknown reason, it seems as though PSIRA is under the impression that either they should ‘control’ the NBCPSS (National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Sector) or that the Bargaining Council is a challenge to their statutory authority.

The basic facts are that PSIRA, which reports to the Minister of Police, is the primary and only regulator of the private security industry in the country, but only insofar as the registration of security service providers and security officers, and the enforcement of the PSIRA Act, Regulations and the Code of Conduct.

PSIRA may issue fines against any company or individual, but it has no powers of restitution. It can take action against those that breach their legislation and issue fines against the relevant company and its directors, when it has been established that the monies have gone into their own coffers, but it does not have the powers to force companies to reimburse employees for underpayments or other breaches of the Main Agreement.

On the other hand, the NBCPSS reports to the Minister of Employment and Labour via the Registrar of Labour Relations (a totally different government department), which was legally established in terms of the Labour Relations Act (LRA).

The Bargaining Council is truly democracy at work, equally represented by organised employers (registered employers’ organisations) and organised labour (registered trade unions), who:

• have a protocol agreement which sets out the relationship between the two groups, as well as the periodic negotiations in respect of remuneration and conditions and benefits of employment,

• conduct negotiations in a peaceful manner,

• handle all compliance complaints and disputes relating to the Main and Levies Agreements,

• handle all labour relations complaints (unfair labour practices, unfair dismissals, etc),

• adjudicate non-compliance matters and, following due process, issue compliance orders (which have the same standing as a High Court Order) for underpaid or outstanding monies due to employees, which – if not settled – are delivered to the relevant Sherriff of the High Court to execute as a warrant of attachment — all of these also including, if relevant, costs and interest

PSIRA does not have a mandate to get involved in these Bargaining Council matters and should rather be working with the Bargaining Council to eliminate the non-compliance, gross exploitation, and blatant theft so common in our industry.

SASA believes that these two bodies, working together, can make a massive difference in terms of eradicating the fly-by-night elements in our industry and we are totally committed to assisting in this process.

3. Uniforms

The recent promulgation on the prohibition of security uniform colours that, in any way, could be deemed to resemble any uniforms used by the SAPS (South African Police Service), SANDF (South African National Defence Force), Correctional Services, Metropolitan Police, or any other law enforcement agency that might be established in the future, is of serious concern.

Similarly, all types of camouflage are now also prohibited, with the only exception being those engaged in anti-poaching duties.

Furthermore, all uniforms must clearly display ‘Private Security’ on both the front and back, which is also a challenge, especially in situations where security officers are required to dress in suits and ties — how will this be possible or practical?

While it is a reality that some service providers do, in fact, have uniforms that are in genuine conflict with those of the SAPS and other bodies, the industry – as a whole – now has to source alternative ‘permitted’ uniform colours. Keeping in mind that the 180-day window has now passed, the financial and logistical challenges of this regulation have extremely serious implications for our industry, which could very well result in the demise of companies unable to afford the changeover. While the legislation does provide for security companies to first contact the information officers of the relevant law enforcement entities to obtain their permission, and then to apply, via PSIRA, for an exemption, the concern is that any lack of efficiency at government departments will probably result in massive delays.

However, the good (or slightly better) news is that PSIRA will receive all applications for exemption (which must be accompanied by colour photographs or sketches of the current or proposed uniforms). PSIRA will then collate the above and, together with their recommendations, submit them to the relevant entity. PSIRA has also, at a recent meeting at their offices, verbally confirmed that, once an exemption application has been submitted and receipt acknowledged, a ‘stay of prosecution’ will apply, pending the final outcome of the application.

NBCPSS (National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Sector)

1. Compliance and disputes

The NBCPSS (National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Sector) has now been accredited by the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) to handle labour relations disputes, in addition to prosecuting companies that exploit their employees by not adhering to the conditions (including minimum rates of remuneration, hours of work, statutory benefits and conditions of employment) of the Main and Levies Agreements.

This means that the NBCPSS will now have to – sooner than later – roll out a structure to handle these matters nationally. While it will be a challenge, it will also reduce the CCMA’s workload by more than 20 percent. The prosecution process, which includes restitution orders against transgressing companies, has been highly successful so far, and we wish them well for the future.

SASA has committed to do everything in its power and legal limitations to identify and report companies which are criminally exploiting their employees, both out of greed or/and to gain an unfair advantage in the marketplace.

Competition is always a good thing, as it keeps service providers on their toes, but it is totally unacceptable when those criminal (and I don’t hesitate to use that adjective) companies wilfully exploit their security officers by making use of disguised employment relationships, fail to pay statutory minimum levels of remuneration, make employees work excessive hours, and fail to participate in the NBCPSS, statutory provident fund and/ or medical scheme.

A number of companies are actually deducting the provident fund and medical scheme contributions and then pocketing the money instead of paying it to the relevant service providers. This is blatant theft, and these companies must be eliminated from the industry. Unfortunately, some of them have ‘friends in high places’ and, despite formal complaints from SASA, have still not faced the might of the law, which also raises questions as to how high the level of corruption in our industry has grown.

2. Legal challenge

A large group of companies has challenged the Minister of Employment and Labour on the establishment of the Bargaining Council, which they claimed was not representative of the entire private security industry. The facts of the matter are that this group, which was unable to be registered as an employers’ organisation for whatever reason, tried to join the NBCPSS as part of the ‘organised employers’. It was unable to do so since it was not a registered employers’ organisation, which is a specific condition of the Labour Relations Act (LRA). This matter was recently finalised in the Senior Court of Appeal, where their application was dismissed.

It must be made very clear that the current employer organisations, of which there are now three, would welcome any employers’ organisation to join the Board of the NBCPSS, subject to them being legally registered and having sufficient representivity to qualify for a seat.

At no stage did either the Council or any of the parties to the Council, object to their registration, lobby against some or in any way influence the Registrar of Labour Relations not to register the organisation. We, in fact, want the NBCPSS to be as inclusive as possible.

SASA Annual General Meeting (AGM)

We are planning our 2021 non-elective AGM for the afternoon of Thursday, 18 November 2021, physically in Gauteng and with the option of attending virtually via Teams. It is critical that we have as many participants as possible (the quorum is 40 Gold Members), and we need to make some important decisions, so please diarise it now. The notice of meeting will be distributed shortly, and you are kindly requested to respond to it without delay.

If you cannot join – either in person or virtually – please consider appointing any one of the attendees – or any one of the current Exco – as your proxy, which will hopefully enable us to reach the quorum figure.

That’s all for now colleagues! Best wishes from all of us at SASA and keep safe!

Membership benefits

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 the University of South Africa (UNISA).

• 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, official journal of SASA.

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

For more information about what SASA does and how it can help 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