people were securities is dangerous job
everyone has his own law to do things
every time people got knives but firearm
they got weapons shooting shooting I
asked my stress the police is for this
is for this
[Music]
fondly known as the tavern by the seas
Cape Town is South Africa's oldest city
and the second largest after
Johannesburg the port capital is
renowned for its scenic beauty and
culture but also has a conflicted
history apartheid South Africa system of
racial segregation ended 20 years ago
but inequality and violence continue to
plague the country last year the South
African Police announced the country's
worst crime stats in nearly a decade the
country averages 45 murders a day two
times as many as the rest of Africa and
more than four times the International
average but Cape Town and it's blooming
tourism industry show little signs of
this unrest except for all the electric
fences private security is a
billion-dollar industry in South Africa
a consequence of the country's social
inequality violent history and inept
police force to see how the Western Cape
earned its reputation as the most
violent province in South Africa we went
to the communities of kaliesha and
Mitchell's plane in the Cape Flats where
two-thirds of Cape Town's murders take
place we met with Philip a resident of
kaliesha and security industry employee
for him safety is a concern both on and
off the job buy they buy don't know what
I'm doing
because they think I'm collecting
recycling portals because if they can
know I'm working who they once were
positive Court will it prove the uniform
the destination of the portals
so I don't fossilize with much friends
they will know my routines they will
want to know how I'm working you know as
a security I'm protecting like people
from subparts people from big towns big
buildings big businesses you know where
you see flashy stuff where else you
coming from very very poor environment
you know it's big risk
it's big stress why they do the private
century in Cape Town is because someone
is breaking a window of the car or
someone is trying to break in in some
way you know Polly see they can afford
to do that's why they need the private
security there's a serious lack of
safety resources in the Cape Flats but
it's actually home to many guards that
work in the private security industry
which is one of the largest entry-level
employers in the country there's a high
demand for additional protection in
these areas but with a third of the
population unemployed few residents can
afford private security and even fewer
companies are willing to work there
Mitchell's plane a neighboring community
reports more crime annually than any
other precinct in South Africa
especially related to gang violence one
security company however is up to the
challenge of working there we went on a
patrol with a guard from soccerpro an
armed response company that does its
best to protect the families that live
in this crime-ridden area
this is now a major span which explains
a very dangerous area you don't go in
the evident of the necessary tools Sitka
Pro has been operating in the Mitch's
plane area for lost 20 years we do
commercial and residential alarm systems
of the reaction all of that relationship
like with families that live in the area
all we got to protect the families in
the areas most of our stuff is also
coming from this area that lives in this
area works in the area by the end of day
we all just try to save lives
so normally groups of people water doing
R&F in a tester on the right hand side
of nearby
see the other came in there that dollar
she made a leave now it's all for
fathers it's time for them to come into
the areas now and again bosses they
don't tolerate stuff like this they will
actually walk up to us a lot all of us
and we'll be standing with nothing to
better understand the reality Cape Town
residents are living in we went to speak
with Dan Plata
Minister of Community Safety for the
Western Cape well there's a couple of
challenges facing the Western Cape with
regard to safety and security we're
facing a major drug problem shootings on
a week to week basis killings of gang
members we need to get people to do
something else instead of sitting and
drinking and taking a sharp object and
stabbed or someone to death but it is
not possible for the police to man it's
in every street in in the captain
there's not enough police officers
available to do that but the private
security companies is playing a major
role within our communities across the
Western Cape they fall that gap they
roam the street when they see crime is
happening when they detect something is
not okay and kosher they report to the
South African Police Services with
nearly half a million registered private
security guards and almost 9,000
companies the private security industry
in South Africa is larger than the
country's police and army combined the
scale of the industry has everything to
do with the country's past after decades
of systemic racial oppression South
Africa held its first democratic
election in 1994 but it was an unstable
transition severe racial prejudice
continued under the black majority the
new government disbanded the South
African Defence Force a skilled army but
also a painful reminder of the forced
segregation of apartheid this shake-up
left many white officers without jobs or
demoted beneath their less experienced
black counterparts who are elected to
leadership roles in the government
army and police force often without
proper training or experience some of
these white former officers left the
government altogether and took their
skills to the private sector over the
years this continual shift has left the
country with an embarrassing police
force reports of police brutality in
South Africa have more than tripled in
the last decade faith in the system is
severely strained as only one in a
hundred cases filed against officers
actually results in criminal conviction
the South African police declined to
comment for this story the continued
public distrust of the police has in
turn sped the growth of the private
security sector it is also produced
companies whose responsibilities go far
beyond alarm installation to see this
type of business in action we went to
bastard alarms a local security provider
in the northern suburbs of the Western
Cape all these post offices are always
the first respondents so even before the
police or the ambulance arrived in the
premises we are they first so the armed
response officer must have the means and
the qualifications in order to handle
the emergency if it's a fire it's a
medical or if it's a positive braking
they need to have the necessary training
and skills to handle that if you are on
this bus officer you must have
identification
he's obviously carrying his pepper spray
his stone farm did you take the baton
out and it can extends out we see
ourselves as the last Boy Scouts so we
help anybody that that lives within our
operational area even though they're not
a paying client if you stuck next to the
road your safety is our concern this is
our community this is our neighborhood
so we need to take care of of any
situation that arises
bravo Bravo central mafia central to
survivor November meet each other in a
chase sometimes the police could be very
far away from the situation or from the
location so what we do then is we will
follow the vehicle to a certain area
where we are not area bound and then we
will contact the police saying the last
location was this way or that way
but the police are usually always on
party chase after the vehicle it's the
area that you're going into is every and
prostitution drugs why are you yeah I I
was a gang bang crowd being bankrupt
yeah did you have a business no I broke
yeah I do if I may also how did you get
broken was it the drugs just an action
with such a high demand and an imbalance
of skills and resources crime has become
commodified in South Africa the free
market for safety clearly benefits the
wealthiest residents in the country
where the average white South African
earned six times what a non-white
resident earns in certain areas some
residents are willing to pay multiple
companies to buy the peace of mind and
rapid response that the police failed to
provide 24/7 security monitoring is
common and entry-level positions are
often filled by employees like Phillip
who's all too familiar with signs of
danger see this
the panic we I'm scared of those guys I
don't trust those four guys five guys I
press there will come quick quick quick
here so first I must click click to the
to the point first so now he's going to
send me to another house to check
everything to that house that's one
thing I do is the Machine flat wound
Patrol and report anything you see a
report report report so I have to go
there to my chair there's a Pokemon
record every patrol I to maybe I made
them is taking a talk out you know most
they've gotten a glazed watches earrings
those boys are coming down from the
mountain yes everything god yeah that is
why we here for those things like that
talking to me in Khayelitsha where you
live what about private security Oh dad
dying every day they die because there's
a big malls they are making safe the
mall they get shot it's not ideal to
have people living with barbed wire
fencing and high walls massive security
systems it says to me something on the
safety front is not all together I think
private security companies will be with
us for quite a lengthy period of time we
would love to have such a vibrant South
African Police Services to fall all the
gaps and to fulfill all the roles and
responsibilities but reality is having
that that we do not have that luxury
unfortunately but it is not only for the
government to do it alone but for each
and every citizen to play his or her
part and role as well we met with Mark
Stewart a cape town resident and a
member of his local neighborhood watch
or role many civilians have been forced
to fill having a security company to a
vacant core is quite expensive you got
to pay a monthly subscription of about
three or four hundred and a lot of these
people they described by you know so
they depend on the neighborhood watch to
a certain degree owns beer car
[Music]
now what happens is when we see
something like this we approach the guy
because obviously we don't see this as a
major threat and if we suspect something
then we call it in
yes mister but Sookie when you community
of studio pan-african dresses a
bereavement as a taxpayer I expect the
police to take this responsibility but I
know that the resources are limited in
terms of it as a citizen of the country
I put it I've taken it upon myself to
get involved the private security
industry has its own shortcomings as
well despite strict regulation the size
of the market and the public's
desperation allows for Anette firms to
provide subpar services for subpar price
some companies have been accused of poor
training inadequate vetting superficial
background checks as well as failing to
pursue disciplinary action against
employees who break the law inside jobs
are often rumored but hard to prove with
such a demand for services the public is
left with little options you must
remember that this is a business first
and as soon as you start utilizing your
resources where you don't have an income
from you are taking away first of all
the sources from waits needed from
people at Spade now we're moving it to
an area where you are needed but nobody
is paying towards that then studies the
government's responsibility to make sure
that law and order are being uphold
within the country
as beautiful as it is troubled Capetown
really is a tale of two cities muggings
and burglaries continue to be a concern
but the fortification of wealthy
neighborhoods has only added to the
sense of segregation in the country the
concern for safety among South Africa's
elite doesn't come close to those living
in poor underdeveloped communities where
80% of the crime in the country actually
occurs Phillip guards a neighborhood
that saw only four murders last year yet
he lives in an area whose police
precinct responded to over a hundred and
sixty in that same time where he works
private security companies profit from
the perceived fear of crime where he
lives the crime is very real and the
profits go only to the criminals this is
my my home this is my small kitchen you
know when I want to entertain I don't
have TVs or all my things here on this
clothes this is what I put on when I'm
putting my putting my clothes preparing
to go to work you need safety here you
can't go without safety my name tags for
the way four o'clock in the morning my
train is 20 past four now I have to to
breathe in breathe out
ring to God and nothing will happen
today every day you have to pray there's
no day you won't play when you go into
it at that time on the mornings
finishing praying and then I go
[Music]