50% SECURITY COMPANIES NON-COMPLIANT – SPPRA

MBABANE – About 40 to 50 per cent of the work undertaken by security companies in the Kingdom of Eswatini is not executed in terms of procurement principles as set out in the Public Procurement Act of 2011.

The procurement processes used by central government to procure security services and the roles that each of the players were allocated in order for the industry to perform well, are questionable. The fact was that in the present procurement process and especially contract management, value for money was neither asked for nor offered and achieved, while government’s role in ensuring that this industry meets the requirements, remains not emphasised. As a result, the Swaziland Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (SPPRA) has recommended that the Government of Eswatini’s approach to procuring security services needs an overhaul and procuring entities and the industry itself need urgent assistance in making the reforms necessary to professionalise this industry and ensure that it delivers value for money.

This recommendation follows findings uncovered in the Eswatini security industry compiled by the agency entrusted with the responsibility to ensure that goods and services procured using public funds are done in accordance with the procurement act. SPPRA Research Officer Mthobisi Dlamini explained that the initial phase of the security industry report had been planned to review a small group of PSC’s (10) and procuring entities (six), but due to the conditions found in the first few participants involving possible incompetency, corruption and fraud among other things, the sample was significantly increased to 15 Public Security Companies (PSC’s) and 10 Public Enterprises (PEs).

The research was conducted through desk reviews and interviews with relevant stakeholders, including key players within the security industry, including individual security guards. Dlamini said SPPRA’s findings raised issues that in their view needed to be addressed in terms of economy, efficiency, accountability and value for money of the private security industry. “Of major concern is the value for money obtained by government from the use of PSC’s, whether citizen service providers in this industry are able to operate within the law and the role of this industry in regards to unethical conduct,” reads the report in part. It was also found that the private security industry was presently minimally regulated, with there being no specific legislation aimed at its monitoring, regulating and promotion. “The only (widely known) legislation currently utilised for this industry is constituted through labour laws, whose main purpose is to inform the public on work conditions such as remuneration,” said SPPRA.

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