15 Dec 2022

Individuals and the business community must play their role by investing in security, Minister of Defence and Security Mr Kagiso Mmusi said this during the business engagement seminar held under the theme; Investing in Security; the Key to Profound Dividends.

Even though the state had responsibility for safety of all its citizens, he said communities and individuals had critical complimentary roles to play as well.

As part of the state ensuring safety to its people, he said during the past 16 months they had to deal with a serious problem of cash-in-transit heists and blasting of ATMs.

“To this end, government intervened by providing physical armed escort of cash-in-transit vehicles.

I must say we have done well, and I can report to the nation that these have since subsided, but there are still isolated incidents where criminals tried and failed,” he said.

Minister Mmusi congratulated the law enforcement agencies for a job well done and encouraged them to keep up the good work as the job was not done yet. He also urged security companies to deliver good quality service and said one of the most critical approaches to improved security was to demand high levels of competence and quality service from security service providers.

“As paying customers, the business community should demand value for money and not accept poor service delivery, and this will put pressure on security service providers to up their game, which will help the industry to improve,” he said.

Integral Protection Security director, Mr Mmoloki Nsinamwa commended the minister for providing quality service, especially during the past months where there were cash-in-transit heists and blasting of ATMs.

He said for private security service providers to improve their efficiency and effectiveness, the directors and employees needed to have security qualifications and recruit qualified personnel, adding that capacity-building of the employees was needed.

He said recruiting guards with no proper security vetting and training was a danger to the clients.

He urged all security companies to subscribe to the Private Security Licensing Board, which was formed to control the private security industry,

Other key players from the business communities advised that it was up to the companies operating in the same area to form clusters to ensure safety of their goods and even surpass the sophistication of criminals. ENDS