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The Democratic Alliance (DA) rejects the draft Private Security Industry Regulation Amendment Bill tabled by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

The Bill seeks to restrict the foreign ownership of security companies and gives the Police Minister the power to determine the percentage of ownership and control in respect of different categories of the security business.

Imposing restrictions on the ownership of security companies will discourage investment in the sector, jeopardising jobs as well as peoples’ safety. Perhaps the Minister needs to be reminded that we have one of the highest crime rates in the world – we need more crime-fighting bodies, not fewer.

The claims by government that the ownership of these security companies poses a threat to national security are not adequately backed up by concrete evidence. The DA challenges Minister Mthethwa to provide evidence to the Portfolio Committee on Police to support his assertions.

The fact is that people increasingly rely on the private security industry to protect them and their property because the Police Ministry is failing to adequately protect citizens. Indeed citizens spend R6 billion annually on the industry because the current government fails to keep them safe.

And it is not just private citizens and businesses that depend on private security companies. More and more government departments, state entities and even state security agencies and the police themselves use private security firms.

We will be submitting parliamentary questions to establish the extent to which government departments are using private security companies, how much is spent and what the ownership composition of these companies are.

Perhaps Minister Mthethwa will think twice when he sees just how reliant his own police service is on private security firms. These private security firms keep SAPS lives and firearms safe, and keep SAPS members out on the streets fighting crime rather than inside guarding their offices.