Some private security companies are insisting that job applicants provide their own firearms before they will hire them — a requirement that is illegal.
*Karabo Mokwena (24) had been looking for a job since he passed matric in 2000. When he was offered a job by Fidelity Springbok Security Services in Pretoria last year, he thought his prayers had been answered.
But in order to secure the job, Mokwena was expected to provide his own gun and promised an additional R300 tax-free in cash every month for doing so. ”I was told that the R300 for a firearm would be given to me [in] hand and [my salary] would be deposited in my bank account,” said Mokwena.
The Private Security Regulatory Authority (Sira) says the practice of guards providing their own guns is illegal and is done secretly. Stefan Badenhorst, manager of the Sira’s national investigating team, said the law requires employers to provide firearms if they require their guards to carry them.
Unions organising workers in the security sector say they have received a number of complaints from members about this practice.
Mzwandile Simon, national chairperson of the Security Sector for the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, said such reports are referred to Sira for investigation, but that the matter is often complicated because workers collude with employers in order to earn a few extra rands. ”Workers themselves allow this to happen and they hide it,” he said. ”It’s only when security companies break their promises to pay additional money for firearms that security officers report the matter to the union,” said Simon.
Workers who are asked to provide their own firearms to secure employment should report this to their nearest labour centre, said Snuki Zikalala, spokesperson for the Department of Labour.
Wahl Bartmann, MD for Fidelity Springbok Security Services, denied that his company requires guards to provide their own firearms, but undertook to investigate whether the Pretoria branch was breaking the law. ”The company policy does not allow that,” he said.
*Not his real name
‘Black people can’t shoot’