By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) has found that the military-style camp in Mpumalanga was operating illegally.
This follows an arrest of ninety-five Libyan nationals at the Milites Dei training centre (MDDS) in White River, Mpumalanga.
The Libyan nationals are being charged with holding visas acquired through misrepresentation and insist they were receiving training to be security guards.
They made first appearance in the White River Magistrate’s Court on July 29, facing charges of contravening the Immigration Act. They appeared again on August 5.
Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority director Manabela Chauke says any person who is not a South African citizen and not possessing a permanent residency status is not eligible to be trained as a security officer in the country.
Chauke, briefed the media in Centurion on Wednesday.
He said that PSIRA’s investigations had led them to the discovery of a second training facility located 7.5km from the accredited training facility, and added that the training programme and its duration were found to be longer than the normal accredited security training.
Outlining the timeline leading to the arrests, Chauke said on July 18 they were informed by police of the allegations that the security company was conducting military training at the Mpumalanga farm.
“On July 19 we redirected our law enforcement team deployed in Mpumalanga to investigate the allegations. On July 21 we issued MDSS with the directive to cease training operations of the Libyan nationals with immediate effect. MDSS requested an opportunity to consult their legal representatives and they were granted this,” he said.
Chauke said the company confirmed the immediate cessation of training on July 23 and offered to cooperate with the investigations. He confirmed MDSS is registered with the authority and had been accredited to train security grades E to C from 2019.
“A routine inspection was conducted at the accredited facility 11 months ago. The location of the accredited facility is unchanged. However, the investigations discovered a second training facility located 7.5km away from the original accredited facility.”
He said the second training facility is the facility where the 95 Libyans were arrested.
Chauke said there was no authorisation, agreements and exemptions granted to the company by the national regulator for conventional arms control to provide military training to the Libyans.
Their findings are that the MDSS, its owners and its personnel contravened the code of conduct for private security service providers, he said.
He said the regulator has suspended the service provider, and criminal charges could follow.
The case was postponed to August 26 for further investigation, and all 95 accused were remanded in custody at the Mbombela Correctional Services.