The high cost of escorting cash
Innocent Selatlhwa - Pini Bothoko | Monday November 28, 2022 06:00
According to the Minister for Defense and Security Kagiso Mmusi, his ministry, particularly the police have been stretched and had to sacrifice some of their services to cater for safe transportation of the money.
“The country has experienced an upsurge in cases of robberies where in most cases there was use of fire arms and thereby posing danger to the lives of both members of the public and law enforcement officers. In 2021 we experienced a surge of cash-in-transit heists recording 15 incidents where security motor vehicles transporting cash were attacked at gun point and millions of pula stolen," the Minister said.
He added: "I regret to inform you that cash in transit have now been replaced by ATM blasting where 17 ATMs were blasted and money stolen by perpetrators since the beginning of the year to date.
This was against three blastings for the whole year in 2021. In our efforts to address this challenge, law enforcement agencies partnered and collaborated with the private security industry players and banking stakeholders with positive security outcomes." In their mission to curb the scourge last month, the police arrested four Batswana men in possession of 128 explosives gels and least 50 metres of detonating cable reportedly enough to blast 25 ATMs. Mmusi could not put a definite figure to the cost of escorting these cars. He admitted it was huge. He, however, said it was justified. “The escorting of cash in transit escorts has cost us millions of pula thus far.
This has led to us sacrificing a lot in our daily operations. For example, stock theft has risen as operations like Kgomo Khumo have been affected. We, however, had to prioritise protecting Botswana’s money from the robbers,” he said. Mmusi also said one of the reasons they requested for employment of 1,000 Police officers was to help address the situation. Mmusi said it was of grave importance to protect the money so as to create an environment conducive for investors.
Even though the minister said they would be looking into the possibility of arming private security, he said only a few companies have expressed their desire to have their security personnel armed. He said they reasoned that the guns could place them in danger from their own employees using the guns to attack them. Mmusi announced that they would continue to prioritise police capacitation through ensuring appropriate resourcing and training.
He said during the Transitional Development Plan period, government has committed to building 27 police posts and staff housing at different areas; employing additional 1,000 police officers as well as introduction of unmanned aerial vehicles. While the government is spending so much to assist the security companies, it has come to the fore that there is prevalence of violations of the Employment Act in the industry.
“This is an industry that is predominantly labour intensive and findings from our inspections reflect concerns such as non- payment of workers’ salaries, severance, leave and overtime payments, late payment of workers, non-use of protective clothing, non-availability of guard houses and ablution facilities,” Mmusi said.
However, he stated that subsequent to the inspections, security companies contravening and violating the Act are fined. Mmusi further revealed that between May and October 2022 two compliance inspections were conducted and the contraventions fines accumulated a total of P443,700. “Out of this P231,530 has been collected and the ministry is planning to hold a workshop or training for security service companies and guards as a measure to sensitise them about their work ethics and regulations governing the sector,” he said.