T H E E M E R G E N C E O F P R I VAT E S E C U R I T Y A N D P O L I C I N G I N P O S T-A PA RT H E I D S O U T H A F R I C A

SEARCHING FOR SECURITY

CRIME IN SOUTH AFRICA

Total Population: 15.2 million (approx.)

Contact Crime (2012/2013)• Murder: 16, 259 (increase of 4.2%)

• Attempted Murder: 16,363 (increase of 10.1%)

• Sexual Offence: 66,387 (increase of 2.9%)

• Public Robberies: 60,262 (increase of 4.4% increase)

~ Since 2000, South Africa’s homicide rate has remained well over 4 times the global average~

(Source: South Africa Police Services; Africa FactCheck)

Trio Crime (2012/2013)• House Robberies/Home-Invasions: 17,950 (increase of 7.1%)

• Business Robberies/Business-Invasions: 16,377 (increase of 2.7%)

• Vehicle Hijacking: 9,990 (increase of 5.4%)

Other Crimes• Common Robbery: 53,540 (decrease of 1.1%)

• ATM bombings: 214 (decrease of 18%)

• Motor vehicle theft: 58,370 (decrease of 1.3%)

* Important to note that drug-related crime has increased by 13.1% *

(Source: South Africa Police Services; Africa FactCheck)

PERCEPTIONS OF POLITICAL AND POLICE CORRUPTION (2013)

Transparency International Global Corruption Index(1,000 people in urban areas surveyed)

• 70% of South Africans identify view government/legislative corruption as a “serious problem”

• 54% of South Africans believe that in the past two years corruption has increased “a lot”

• 83% of South Africans identify the police as “extremely corrupt”

• 36% of South Africans polled admit to having paid some form of bribe to the police

ARMED PRIVATE SECURITY SECTOR

• Registered Private Security Firms (2011): 8,828• Active, armed security guards: Approximately 370,000

Juxtaposed against…

• Active South African Police Officers: Approximately 158,000

Why is crime in post-apartheid South Africa so high?

Why is there such widespread distrust of South African institutions – particularly law enforcement?

Why are more and more South Africans turning away from the South African police and towards private firms for the provision of security?

What does the provision of private security tell us about the short and long-term prospects of South Africa as an emergent economy and for the developing world more generally?

BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA

BRITISH AND DUTCH COLONIALISM (1652-1910)

• Originally colonized in 1652 by the Dutch (known as the Cape Colony), South Africa became a British colony in 1802.

• In the first half of the 19th century, Afrikaans-speaking settlers moved

eastward and northward from the Cape Colony – partly in response to Ordinance 50 (1828) and the Slavery Abolition Bill (1833).

• Between 1810-1879, the British military pushed the frontier eastward in a series of military campaigns known as The Frontier Wars or The Xhosa Wars.

• The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in the 1870s resulted in the foundation of two “independent” Afrikaner/Boer republics: the Transvaal Republic and the Free Orange State

• Increasing tension between the British and newly identified Afrikaner/Boer population culminated in the Anglo-Boer War(1899-1902). The Boer republics were incorporated into the colony of South Africa

SOUTH AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE TO APARTHEID(1910-1948)

• 1910: South Africa granted independence as a unified nation.

• Series of land reform acts progressively disenfranchise the indigenous black African population:

Native Land Act (1913): Sets up reserves (later referred to as Bantustans) for black Africans based on their tribal affiliation. While black Africans constitute 80% of the population, these reserves zone black Africans to 13% of the total land area. Black Africans are prevented from owning land outside of the reserves.

Native Administration Act (1927): Establishes a separate legal system for the administration of “Bantu” law. The Act is designed to contain the development of a black political movement that could challenge white majority rule.

• (1948) Nationalist Party (NP) emerges as a conservative Afrikaner party and win the political majority on the platform of apartheid.

APARTHEID (1948-1994)

• Literal translation: “apart-ness” -- is the term used to denote the legal system of the political, social, and economic separation of races in South Africa. • Four racial categories emerge: White; Indian; Coloured; Bantu

• “Separate Development” – the key theoretical tenet underpinning apartheid policy: Founded in social Darwinist thought, separate development theory stated that due to fundamental differences between the races, it would be unfair to expect less advanced races (Bantu and coloured) to compete in the same environment as their white counterparts.

• The theory of separate development allows for the development of existing legislation regarding the black African population: • Bantu Authorities Act (1951)• Bantu Education Act (1951) • Removal of Cape Coloureds from Voting Role (1953)

CONSEQUENCES OF APARTHEID

• Black Africans living on reserves are forced to revert back to subsistence farming or to enter the migrant labor system

• The migrant labor system, in which young men and women travel to work on the mines, sugar plantations, or as domestic or construction workers in the urban areas contributes to a breakdown of kinship structures across South Africa

• Due to the pass laws, any black South African working in an urban area must leave the city at 6pm. These laws contribute to the formation of sprawling slums or “townships”.

GUGULETHU TOWNSHIP (CAPE TOWN)

SOWETO TOWNSHIP (JOHANNESBURG)

POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA (1994-PRESENT)

• Negotiations between the NP and the African National Congress (ANC) result in the first inclusive democratic elections in 1994.

• The ANC wins a majority seat in Parliament and Nelson Mandela is elected president.

• As the primary political party the ANC embarks on a campaign to the legislation associated with apartheid and to address the socio-economic imbalance between white and black South Africans

• The ANC immediately confronts the fear that South Africa will go down the path of Zimbabwe: the newly elected black government will forcibly remove white South Africans from their land and deprive of them of their businesses, homes, and financial assets.

• Crime (violent and non-violent) begins to escalate dramatically -- why?

BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT ACT (2003)

“ aimed at changing the imbalances of the past by seeking to substantially transfer and confer ownership, management, and control of South Africa’s financial and economic resources to the

majority of its citizens. It seeks to ensure broader and meaningful participation in the economy by black people to achieve sustainable

development and prosperity.” (BEE Commission Report, p. 2)

• Many black South Africans feel that they have yet to benefit from BEE and other governmental schemes designed to correct the wealth/poverty gap.

• BEE was applied to the South African Police Services resulting in the early retirement or outright termination of white officers who were replaced with ANC party cadres.

PRIVATE SECURITY: THE ‘DOGS OF WAR” OR SOMETHING ELSE?

PRIVATE SECURITY FIRMS

• Major security firms include: ADT; Chubbs; GS4; IPPS; TYCO International, United Technologies Corporation; Top Security

• Services include: • Manned Guarding• Assets in Transit• Armed Response• Installation and monitoring of security devices in residences and

business Includes: security fencing (barbed and electric) ; motorised gates and garages; burglar proofing; security doors and gates, car alarms, vehicle tracking systems

AN INDUSTRY OUT OF CONTROL?

• Since 2001, civil society organizations and various political actors have pushed for the oversight and regulation of private security firms throughout South Africa

• Activists and politicians alike allege that private security firms contribute to 1.) an increase in the illegal traffic of firearms and ammunition and 2.) an increase in the occurrence and frequency of violent crime. There is no evidence to support either allegation• (Natalie Jaynes, “Flying Below the Radar: The Armed Private Security Sector in

South Africa, 2012)

• Implicit in many of these critiques, is a clear concern with the degree to which South Africans are no longer relying on the state to provide security.

THE PRIVATE SECURITY INDUSTRY REGULATORY AUTHORITY (PSIRA)

Passed in 2001, the Private Security Regulatory Act aims to

“regulate the private security industry and to exercise effective controle over the practice of the occupation of security service providers in the

public and national interest and the interest of the private security itself.”

Relatively little research has been conducted to date on the effectiveness of PSIRA

Instead…

The same activists who lobbied for the creation of a regulatory apparatus are now accusing PSIRA of staggering levels of corruption.

Recent allegations include: budgetary mismanagement; exorbitant salaries; and the receipt of bribes

The same activists who lobbied for the creation of a regulatory

apparatus are now accusing PSIRA of staggering levels of corruption.

Recent allegations include: budgetary mismanagement;

exorbitant salaries; and the receipt of bribes

RESEARCH PROGRAM:THEORY AND METHOD

The traditional definition of the state, courtesy of Weber, is an entity which claims a “monopoly on the legitimate use of violence”

In the case of South Africa, the state can no longer claim such a monopoly. Distrust in political parties and government institutions – particularly law enforcement – has and continues to increase.

The emergence of a private security industry does not indicate the imminent failure of the nation state. Rather, the emergence of this industry points to the private sector’s ability to provide vital protective services. Whereas government policing has generated corruption and widespread public distrust, private security firms have contributed to creating the secure and non-violent conditions necessary for socio-economic development

FieldworkArchival• Policing strategies and crime reports (urban and

rural) during apartheid• Directives to reform law enforcement in the

transition period (1992-1995)

Interviews• Private Security Firms: CEO’s; Administrators; Field

Officers• Members of PSIRA• Members of Parliament• Members of the South African Police Service (Pre

and Post Apartheid Era)• Private Individuals and Companies Contracting

with these security firms