Becoming big business in Africa and globally

As clashes between striking security guards and the police during the early stages of the Fifa Soccer World Cup threatened not only to disrupt the tournament itself, but also to undermine South Africa’s carefully crafted presentation as a safe place for tourists and international events, it became an opportune time to discuss the consequences of Africa’s massive privatisation and the globalisation of security.

In a report for openDemocracy, Rita Abrahamsen and Michael C. Williams write that security was a key concern prior to the World Cup, with South African and Fifa officials frequently reassuring players and fans alike that they would be safe during the football fest’s first staging on the African continent. Private security was a key part of this strategy, with the South African firm Stallion Security contracted to provide the lion’s share of basic security and crowd control at the stadiums and their surrounding areas.

Yet, quite soon security at four of the 10 World Cup stadiums was in the hands of the police. Outside the stadiums, the striking guards faced stun grenades, teargas and rubber bullets as they protested against having been promised R500 (£45) a match – only to be paid R190 (£20) by Stallion.

Were it not for the labour dispute over low wages and the stun grenades and the rubber bullets fired by the police, it is likely that few would have noticed the pervasive presence of the humble private security guards. Yet, the events surrounding the world’s largest sporting event helped draw attention to the increasing importance and impact of private security in Africa.

While much has been written in recent years about the activities of mercenaries and private military companies on the continent, the privatisation of everyday security has gone largely unnoticed. However, the fact is that across Africa (as in much of the world), everyday security is increasingly privatised, and the uniformed guards of literally thousands of companies have become a ubiquitous feature of daily life.

In many ways, South Africa leads the way in security privatisation. As a percentage of gross domestic product, it has the largest private security sector in the world. Currently, there are 6 392 registered and active private security companies in the country, employing 375 315 active security officers. By comparison, the number of police officers is 190 000.

In other countries, exact statistics are harder to come by, but in Nigeria there are between 1 500 and 2 000 private security companies (PSCs); and in Kenya, some 2 000 companies employ approximately 48 000 people. Given Kenya’s high dependency ratios, this means that the industry supports indirectly a total of 195 524 people.

Everyday security is not only becoming increasingly privatised, it is also increasingly globalised. As Africa’s security market is expanding, it has become the target of foreign companies seeing to expand their presence in so-called emerging markets. First among these companies is Group4Securicor, the world’s largest security company. With nearly 600 000 employees, G4S is the biggest employer listed on the London Stock Exchange and perhaps it is also the largest private employer in Africa.

The presence of international security companies in Africa, and the rest of the developing world, is likely to continue to expand. Profit and growth rates in emerging markets are significantly higher than in North America and Europe.

By 2015, it is estimated that emerging markets will account for 35% of a global private security market, forecast to be worth some $230 billion.

Although it lacks the spectacular qualities of mercenaries and private military companies, this quiet transformation of Africa’s everyday security landscape has potentially wide-ranging consequences. It raises crucial questions: about how the prevalence of private security affects public security, how the ability to pay affects who has access to security, and about the accountability and responsibility of private actors.

Almost by definition, private security is only available to those who can pay, and as such can serve to cement and reproduce existing inequalities between rich and poor.

However, more difficult questions arise from the substantial integration of the public and the private, the global and the local. In line with the growing impact of neo-liberal forms of governance, outsourcing, and New Public Management strategies, the past decade has witnessed a proliferation of public-private partnerships, where public and private security actors work together in the provision and governance of security.

This integration of private actors into public security structures and operations blurs the lines between the public and the private - and hence also the lines of accountability and responsibility. Through such partnerships, private actors may gain significant influence over security, how it is provided, what (and who) are defined as security threats, what security technologies are employed etc.

At the same time, according to many official accounts, the privatisation of security is in the interest of the public good: By privatising aspects of security, the police can get on with the more important and urgent tasks.

On this logic, for example, the protection of South Africa’s public police stations is outsourced to private security companies, leaving higher paid and better trained police officers to perform more important tasks than static guarding.

What is beyond doubt is that private security is a notoriously poorly paid occupation. The situation extends far beyond South Africa and the World Cup.

For several years, G4S was the target of a global campaign by the Service Employees International Union and the Geneva-based Union Network International (UNI), a federation of more than 900 unions in the service sector, to allow union rights and improve wages and working conditions for G4S employees. The campaign led to the formation of the "Alliance for Justice at Group4Securicor" and brought together workers at G4S and their unions across the globe in a demand for living wages, social protection and freedom to organise.

Finally, in 2008, the company signed a global agreement with UNI Property Services, stating that all G4S employees, in over 100 countries, have the right to organise unions and that G4S will follow international and national labour laws in its relations with workers.

Nonetheless, across the African continent and in other developing countries, poorly paid guards are increasingly the frontline of security, guarding the wealth of the few. Only on occasions such as the World Cup do they have the attention of the world, and only then because of their ability to disrupt our enjoyment.

(For full report click here)