Suspected criminal elements have before been linked to private security in SA. Now the watchdog overseeing the industry has explained to Parliament how it is cracking down on the sector to try to clean it up.
Debt collection and private security are themes that have before cropped up in criminal issues, casting some negative light on the two sectors.
But now Parliament has heard the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (Psira) has used debt collectors to recover money that service providers owe it.
Those registered with the watchdog are meant to pay annual fees that are based on factors including the size of a business.
Daily Maverick has previously reported that the private security sector is booming and that Psira admitted it had “a lack of sufficient capacity” and that its funding model was not working to its advantage.
Psira’s 2024/2025 performance plan said there were more than 2.8 million security officers registered in South Africa.
Of those, more than a half a million – 577,444 – were actively employed.
Debt collectors hired
During a police committee meeting in Parliament on Wednesday, 12 March 2025, a Psira presentation provided some more insight into its funding situation.
It showed that as part of financial risk management plans, it had “hired a panel of debt collectors to recover old debt over a three-year period”.
Annual fee payments were also tracked regularly and Psira was using emails,…
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