VIPs' bling patrol

30 November 2015 - 02:13 By Graeme Hosken

Ordinary South Africans live in perpetual fear of being attacked by criminals but the cabinet and premiers have over 5 000 police officers at their disposal to call on for help. The police have 1 998 VIP Protection Unit officers, which equates to 24 protectors for every cabinet member. In contrast 346 ordinary South Africans must share one police officer. A member of a police VIP protector said the politicians thought of the officers as "bling", like a handbag. "We are something they can show off."Experts are now questioning whether President Jacob Zuma's cabinet of 74 ministers,deputy ministers and provincial premiers need the "overblown" protection units when their most likely threat is the same as the general public-crime.In addition, there is the Presidential Protection Unit, which guards Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, and their families.Then there is the VIP unit's 3376 members who guard the top politicians' homes and chauffeur them around.The VIP Protection Unit also has 273 government security regulator members and 716 operational support personnel. I t s 5374 members are equivalent to the strength of at least two South African Army brigades.Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene told parliament in March that R2-billion had been budgeted for the VIP Protection, Static and Mobile Security units.Information relating to threats to those protected by police VIP protection units is classified.The police and the Ministry of Police failed to respond to e-mails.Criminologists and private VIP protection companies have criticised the police VIP protection unit's size and budget - and the absence of independent oversight.Rory Steyn, CEO of VIP protection company Nicholls-Steyn and Associates, said the strengthening of the police VIP protection units, which were under-resourced, was not being done for the right reasons."It smacks of a political agenda."Steyn, a former police VIP unit commander and Presidential Protection Unit member, said the deployment of VIP protection resources should be based on credible threat assessments."The police's intelligence services are a mess and more concerned about internecine politics."The money spent on police VIP protection units should go to other specialised units fighting crime, which is the real threat."The biggest threats facing VIPs is exactly the same threat facing South Africans - crime."Steyn said the "overblown" VIP police structure and deployments should be reviewed."A minister and deputy minister probably require no more than a police driver."If a credible threat is detected an additional protection officer can be assigned for the period that the threat remains credible."Constant evaluation of the threat environment is essential. It's not a 'one size fits all' situation."Garth Fuchs of risk assessment company DeltaOne International, said that during Zuma's first administration, 2009 to 2014, R6.9-billion was spent on VIP protection and static security, compared to R3-billion during Thabo Mbeki's second term."The budget should be determined and justified through a detailed and comprehensive threat and risk assessment as part of the VIP protection plan."But all information pertaining to VIP protection services is classified, and there is no oversight committee to regulate and approve budgets and expenditures."He said the US's VIP protection model involved a high manpower and intelligence component."The US has 6500 Secret Service agents protecting the president, with a $1.8-billion budget for 2014."The US is actively engaged in wars targeting global terrorist organisations."South Africa has about 5000 personnel allocated to the police VIP protection services but it does not follow a foreign policy as aggressive as that of the US."Gareth Newham, of the Institute for Security Studies, said there could be sound reasons for increasing the VIP unit's manpower and budget "but we don't know because these details are not in the annual reports."An independent structure, like the auditor-general with a constitutional mandate, is needed to [oversee manpower and budgets]."..

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