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PRIVATE SECURITY: ‘LAST THIN BLUE LINE’ AGAINST CRIME
CT crime fighters lauded DESIRÉE RORKE @dezzierore
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Helen Zille speaking to delegates. PHOTO: CARINA ROUX
remier Helen Zille described local private security companies as the Crime Fighters of Cape Town – “the last thin blue line” so to speak. She addressed industry players at the South African Intruder Detection Services Association (Saidsa) symposium held in Observatory recently. Some 209 representatives from security companies across the City attended the event. Zille echoed the concerns of Saidsa chairman in the Western Cape, Pierre Gouws, when she urged the industry not to fall capture to criminal elements. Gouws is also the owner of District Basset, a private security firm active in Kuils River, among other areas in the northern suburbs. “The security sector impinges on everything in our country and it is therefore critical to defend this industry against capture by criminals,” said Zille. Gouws said the industry currently has to be very wary of criminal elements sneaking in to create havoc. “In addition, more pressure is placed on our shoulders by industry red tape and the ineffectiveness of the police,” Gouws added. Zille said the risk of criminal cap-
ture of the security industry is as real as that which has threatened our very democracy of late. This threat applies not only to private security companies, but also to police and the national prosecuting authority. “And in the absence of public safety, our communities are the ones that suffer. Community programmes are derailed and criminals have free rein,” she said. Zille referred to one of the Walking Bus initiatives in Cape Town that was recently “hijacked” by gangs in the respective area, to be used to recruit new members. “This initiative was supposed to safeguard children walking to and from school by recruiting volunteer parents to walk with the children, but was instead infiltrated by gang members,” she said. In other areas the City was unable to roll out its fibre optic programme, as it was not safe for installers to work there. “Workers were approached by criminals who demanded protection money. The areas thus remain without internet connectivity – a crucial service for the children who live there.” Moreover, she said, the police remain massively under-resourced in the Western Cape and hugely outnumbered by private security forces. V To page 2.