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Letter to the editor

Dear Sir/Madam,

SAFETY & SECURITY

SIRA, the Private Industry Regulation Act, came into operation on the 14th February 2002. Part of the Act stipulates that all individuals and companies even remotely involved in the security industry register with the Security Industry Regulatory Authority (SIRA). This includes the likes of the Electronic Security Distributors Association (ESDA) and even specialist magazines that cover the subject of security.

Individuals who do not register would be liable for prosecution. Conviction can lead to five years imprisonment for first time offenders, and 10 years imprisonment for second time offenders.

Registration comes at a cost of a non-refundable application fee of R4560 per company and R85 per individual. Thereafter, an annual fee of R570 and a monthly fee of R285 per company is payable. The company is also required to pay R0,80 per registered employee per month.

On behalf of the security industry, I would like to put forward the following questions to the Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula, as, to date, the only feedback we have on SIRA, is that the funds will be used to police the act.

What exactly will the funds be used for aside from policing the Act?

How does government intend implementing the actual policing of the Act?

Was it not taken into consideration that smaller companies may not be able to afford the non-refundable application fee, and a sliding scale be introduced?

Has anyone given any thought to the repercussions of SIRA coming into effect, in terms of unemployment? Surely, the generation of jobs should be a top priority on government's agenda?

The Security Association of South Africa's attempts to have these questions, and others answered, by SIRA, has proved fruitless. The result, big business is considering lodging an appeal with the High Court and championing the drive to get some straight answers out of the elusive authority.

While we recognise the need to regulate the private security industry, place control over security service providers, ensure the highest levels of training standards in the industry are in place and, prevent exploitation of employees, some of the conditions are clearly aimed at the guarding segment of the industry.

As distributors of electronic security equipment, we do not believe that undergoing a training course in guarding, a prerequisite before one can become a member of SIRA, has any benefit or relevance to our core business. We would like to ask the Minister what purpose having this security grading serves?

Finally, the Act has placed an explicit legal onus on consumers of private security services, to only use legitimate and registered security service providers. In light of this, we would also like to pose the question, what is being done to educate the consumer of the new Act as well as the role SIRA has to play, as surely, this too, will have an impact on insurance cover and the consumers' selection of service providers?

Yusuf Mather,

Member,

MS International, Johannesburg

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