The Private Investigators and Security Guards (Control) Amendment Bill, approved by Cabinet on Tuesday, aims to address several key issues in the security sector.
It mandates that all security guards possess minimum educational qualifications and undergo thorough vetting and screening before receiving the necessary training to uphold the high standards required by the profession.
During a post-Cabinet briefing, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe said the Bill is designed to ensure that security guards are not only qualified but also capable of performing their duties effectively. Said Kazembe (via The Herald):
That is exactly what we are trying to do. At the moment anybody can wake up and set up a security company and we do not have minimum educational thresholds.
Going forward, we believe the security industry plays a critical role, but they have to be compliant with certain requirements or certain minimum standards, not everybody should just wake up and set up a company or become a security guard.
People cannot be faulted for suspecting that the armed robberies that we are seeing could be a result of the help of these security personnel or companies.
So we need a law that addresses those areas where we can account for them and ensure that they are trained or have requisite security background and are clean and cleared with the capacity to do the work.
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