SANDF spends R6m on private security firms
The South African National Defence Force has spent R5.95 million on the use of private security firms over the past three years, says Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota.
He was responding yesterday to a written parliamentary question by the Democratic Alliance.
Lekota said that his department’s policy was not to outsource guard duties, but to use its own forces. However, Lekota added that his department would “continue to outsource in areas where it is prudent to do so”.
The defence force is one of many government departments, including the SAPS, which employs the services of private security firms at a cost of millions of rand.
Last week, in response to a similar written parliamentary question, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said that his ministry had paid R100 million for private security in 2005 and 2006.
Nqakula said that the SAPS had made use of private security to free fully trained police officers to perform their core functions, which was to prevent and combat crime.
“Private security is employed for access control purposes and to safeguard property,” Nqakula said in a written reply to a question by DA MP Donald Lee.
Nqakula said that an internal investigation conducted into the outsourcing of security services had found it was more cost-effective for this type of service to be performed by the private sector.
He said that the security firms had been hired on a contractual basis.
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16 Mars 2007 à 11:43 dans
- zsandf (anglais)
