01 Mar 2022

The Ministry of Justice, Defence and Security, through the newly established Private Security Services Licensing Board has embarked on a nationwide tour to consult stakeholders on the envisaged professionalisation of the private security services.

Speaking at one of the workshops in Jwaneng on Monday, the vice chairman of the board, Mr Peter Bailang said this was in accordance with the Private Securities Act 11 of 2015, especially the section that set out a requirement for private security personnel to be trained for the job.

“The intention is to professionalise the private security services sector to ensure it renders services to set standard among others, and one way of achieving this is to set a qualifications criterion for employment as a security officer,” he said.

He therefore said it was important to first consult stakeholders so they could make input. “We found it fit to consult security companies, employees as well as the clients so that we could use their input to formulate the envisaged standards,” he said.

Mr Bailang also said training of security guards would give the job the respect it deserved. “At the moment people see the job of a security guard as a last resort when one has given hope on almost all employment opportunities.

We might also get rid of the words ‘security guards’ for ‘security officer’ as a way of giving it a good image,” he said.

Mr Bailang also indicated that the board included different experts such as the police, prisons officials, teachers training and curriculum department among others so that they could give strategic direction in the formulation of the curriculum.

“We need such experts because we want to develop a curriculum that will be accredited by Botswana Qualification Authority. Training has to be standard across all security companies so that the security officers, like all other professionals, would be able to freely move across companies,” he said.

Apart from that, he said being armed with a professional qualification would be handy to officers in cases like negotiating for a salary hike. On the part of footing the bill for the training, Mr Bailang explained that it was subject to discussions.

“We do not want to dictate who should pay for the training, but just like any other profession, that is subject to discussions between an employer and employee. It can be agreed that an individual pay for themselves and be refunded by the company upon completion of training, or the company and employee pay 50 per cent each, or just any other way that they can agree,” he said.

Mr Bailang also indicated that by giving security guards professional training, it would enable the private security services to perform some duties currently performed by the police, such as cash-in-transit without having to request for police escort.

He also indicated that according to the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), the security sector was one of those with potential for employment growth.

He also pleaded with security guards to equally play a part in ensuring that their profession was respected.

“Such habits as absconding from work at month end and sleeping on duty, especially during night shifts are very common. So to earn respect you have to desist from such,” he cautioned.

Earlier when welcoming the participants, Ms Dineo Segona from the office of the Deputy District Commissioner advised them to be thorough in their contributions as they would help form a national document meant to help private securities become professional.

She said there was some concern that some security companies lacked knowledge of basic requirements, which could be addressed by professionalisation of the sector.

Various participants appreciated the board for consultations, saying such professionalism would help them to offer quality service as well as make their products high quality such that they could use to bargain when seeking contracts. Ends