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SSEO and SASA to merge

The Security Association of South Africa (SASA) and Security Services Employers Organisation (SSEO) are in the process of merging into one organisation. The new organisation will strive to meet the same objectives that the two parallel organisations have been targeting independently since their inception.

SASA’s role in the industry has been to promote good practices and compliance. The SSEO’s role has been to serve that purpose too. Additionally, the two organisations each assumed the task of representing and supporting members in respect of labour relations issues, such as wage negotiations and macro disputes, for example the recent irrational PSIRA fee increase, the new PSIRA Amendment Bill and the recent 'correction notice' to Sectoral Determination – something the association views as illegal.

“The two organisations are running in parallel at the moment, with most SASA members being SSEO members and vice versa,” says the national secretary of SSEO and current national administrator of SASA, Tony Botes.

“The amalgamation of the two associations will create a mega organisation with much greater power and influence, especially in the ongoing battle against non-compliant service providers. In my opinion this is by far the greatest threat facing the security industry at the moment.”

Botes maintains that the merger is necessary because the two organisations are focused on achieving the same goals and have similar roles in the security industry. Botes says SSEO will be merged into the SASA organisation and retain the SASA name and branding.

“The new organisation will retain the name of SASA, after all, one cannot just abandon the name of an organisation with a 50 year history of excellence,” he says.

According to Botes, the three main priorities for the merged SASA will be:

1. To be and remain the principal role player in the private security industry in South Africa,

2. To drive the campaign for total service provider compliance in the private security industry in South Africa, and

3. To drive the labour relations process with regard to periodic collective bargaining for improved remuneration and conditions of employment in the private security industry in South Africa.

Botes has been the primary author of remuneration legislation in the private security sector since 1993 and has been involved in wage negotiations in the sector. He was also the CEO of Ingulule Consultancy in the past, as well as provincial and national secretary and treasurer of SANSEA.

He has been the secretary of SSEO since 2001 after serving a term as chairman. He is currently in a dual role, still national secretary of SSEO, but now also national administrator of SASA. The two organisations will continue operating in parallel until The Registrar of Labour Relations of the Department of Labour approves the merger, which includes:

1. The new merged constitution, and

2. The name change to SASA.

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