22 Apr 2015

Wayguard Security Company chief executive officer, Mr Phenyo Gothaang, has cautioned security companies against paying their employees late as this has the potential to work against both the employee and the company.

Mr Gothaang said this in an interview during launch of Secure Alarm Monitoring and Response products at Block 10 in Gaborone over the weekend.

He said he had observed with great disappointment that security companies had built a reputation of paying security guards late thus jeopardising employees’ socio-economic lives.  

Mr Gothaang said paying employees late might result in employees compromising their duty by not fully taking instructions and following laid down procedures as one would be preoccupied by the need for money to address personal needs.

He noted that if the scenario repeatedly played itself, productivity at work was bound to suffer and social life of the employees would also be adversely affected because some of the employees are renting home accommodation while some have families to provide for.

He said business entities were equally charged with the responsibility of taking care of the welfare of employees and not only show social corporate responsibility outside the company premises.

Mr Gothaang confirmed that since he assumed his position last November, employees at his company were now paid on time because he had created a buffer account for employees’ payments.

Established 40 years ago, Waygard Security has grown with time and kept with new technology and innovations thus the new launched component would be partnered with the use of sniffer dogs which would be used in crime scenes.

He said upon receiving a crime incident report, officers with sniffer dogs would be dispatched to the scene and if the intruders have already left the dogs would be used to track the suspects and make arrest possible within a radius of 500 metres.

Mr Gothaang said they have learnt that in the past, security personnel used to rush to the crime scene and when they saw no suspects or intruders they would go back giving the intruders a second chance to attack because in most cases they would be lurking somewhere close by watching the events as they unfold.

He said he was positive of possible arrest and recovery of goods if the suspects are on foot patrol provided the response to the alarm was done promptly.

Waygard Security CEO, said the company is a 100 per cent citizen owned company and would soon open a security training institute where courses related to security and related fields would be provided.

This, he said, would also address the perception that security guards are not trained adequately and are found wanting in most cases.

The institute, he noted, is only awaiting the green light from Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA) after the approval of the modules which they were currently scrutinising.

So far, four full time trainers have been identified and everyone including companies would be free to send their employees to the institute for training.

Waygard Security offers services such as security guards, VIP protection, dog service, risk assessment, training and consultancy while cash in transit would be added in due course.  ENDS