Paul Kirk
The total cost of providing bodyguards to politicians may amount to more than R250-million a year.
This week the office of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi confirmed that a total of 2 740 bodyguards are placed at the disposal of politicians. Mail & Guardian sources estimate that their salaries amount to about R200-million, while a further R65-million goes on overtime, land and buildings, administration, equipment and other running costs.
By comparison, Department of Finance figures show the Independent Complaints Directorate received R25-million this year. And the Institute for Security Studies has reported that the special investigative unit the elite Scorpions has a budget of a little more than R150-million for the 2000/2001 financial year.
The bodyguards are supplied by the police’s VIP protection unit and are distributed between national and provincial politicians.
The exact numbers of guards given to provincial MECs and premiers is not always made public. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Lionel Mtshali has consistently refused to divulge how many bodyguards he has.
But this week Superintendent Selby Bokaba, based in Selebi’s office, revealed that Mtshali has 31 bodyguards, more than any other provincial politician. Eight of these guards are termed “static protectors”, employed to protect his home, while 23 are “close protectors”, employed to travel with him.
Mpumalanga Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu is the next best guarded: he travels with 19 close protectors. He has no static protectors watching over his home.
The Western Cape, South Africa’s urban terror capital, has 500 members of the VIP protection unit. Twenty-seven are used to protect members of the provincial government. The remaining 473 are used by the presidency, Cabinet ministers and others persons entitled to police protection. Most are used to protect Parliament and MPs’ homes.
Gauteng, the crime capital, has 356 bodyguards. KwaZulu-Natal comes a distant third with 273, but is the only province that has had its bodyguard expenditure reported to the public protector as being excessive. Seventy-seven of these guards protect MECs. The rest are deployed on other duties, including guarding Kings House the historic building that is the traditional residence of the president when he is in Durban.
The public protector is currently probing the spending patterns of the KwaZulu-Natal executive council after receiving complaints from the Democratic Alliance.
One of these investigations focuses on Mtshali’s use of a Lear jet and helicopter to commute between Ulundi, Pietermaritzburg and Durban. When Mtshali flies, his bodyguards leave hours earlier in a motorcade to be at the airport in time to roll out the red carpet when their charge arrives.
The exact figure for the number of guards used by the president, deputy president and Cabinet ministers was not available this week. The president is accompanied by both a police escort and military personnel, making an exact headcount of VIP protection unit bodyguards difficult.
Bokaba says the security needs of politicians are assessed every three months. However, members of the VIP protection unit told the M&G that sometimes years can go by without any reviews of the number of bodyguards.
Rory Steyn is perhaps South Africa’s most famous bodyguard: he has served as a commander of a police bomb disposal unit and was the team leader of Nelson Mandela’s security detail.
Now in partnership in a protection company, Steyn says the currently followed practice of simply allocating a politician or executive a set number of bodyguards at the beginning of the year or their term of office is “archaic and wasteful”.
Steyn believes that the world of bodyguarding is an extremely fluid one and threats must be analysed on a regular basis.
“Reviews of security needs must be conducted at least quarterly,” he says, “otherwise you may simply be spending money without any need. Conversely you may not be getting enough protection, but generally you need to minimise wasteful expenditure.
“Internationally the provision of bodyguards is based on economic principles rather than just security,” he says. “In perhaps the most extreme example, the decision of what level of security to provide Bill Gates would be taken after analysing what effect his death or injury through a car crash, assassination attempt or any other incident would have on Microsoft share prices.”