Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

AfriForum files internal appeal after SAPS ignores PAIA application regarding private security at police stations

Soundbite: Jacques Broodryk (English)

Soundbite: Jacques Broodryk (Afrikaans)

AfriForum formally lodged an internal appeal against the South African Police Service (SAPS) today after the organisation’s formal application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) regarding the use of private security services at police stations was ignored. The civil rights organisation submitted its PAIA application to the SAPS in April of this year, seeking clarity on the number of police stations that use the services of private security companies to protect SAPS premises. More than four months have passed, yet the police remain silent on the issue.

This silence and seemingly deliberate withholding of information is extremely concerning, according to AfriForum. The organisation maintains that transparency in this regard is non-negotiable and that the public has the right to know the full extent of the SAPS’s dependency on private security services. This information is also of critical importance, especially given the government’s proposed amendments to regulations under the Private Security Industry Regulation Act (PSiRA) that threaten to disarm and weaken the very sector on which the SAPS relies.

AfriForum’s Chief Spokesperson for Community Safety, Jacques Broodryk, believes it is absurd that the government wants to push through regulations that will leave the private security sector powerless, while the SAPS cannot even secure its own buildings without the help of this industry.

“The refusal to comply with our PAIA application either shows the SAPS’s incompetence or is an intentional attempt to conceal an uncomfortable reality. If the SAPS has nothing to hide, why are they ignoring the request for information? What is it that they seem to be so desperately trying to keep from the public?” Broodryk asks.

AfriForum reiterates that many critical questions have now, four months since the original application, remained unanswered. At how many stations is the lack of resources and staff so severe that officers cannot even do their own access control? How much tax money is spent on outsourcing security functions that the SAPS is supposed to perform itself? And most critically, how can the government justify dismantling the private security industry while it itself relies so heavily on it?

“Ignoring PAIA applications is not only unlawful but also undermines public trust in the SAPS. This is not just about a single set of requested information – it is about accountability and transparency,” Broodryk concludes.

Broodryk warns that if the SAPS does not provide the information to AfriForum within the next 30 days, AfriForum will refer the matter to the Information Regulator (IR) to force the police to make the information available.