Unsung Heroes: The Western Cape Government Security Support Team

The Head of Department for Community Safety, Adv Yashina Pillay, has commended the role of the Department of Community Safety’s Security Support Team towards their achievement of receiving the Bronze Award in the Barrier Breaker category at the Western Cape Government Service Excellence Awards in 2020.

They were honoured at a ceremony attended by the Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz on 1 December 2021.

The Department of Community Safety, through its Directorate: Provincial Security Provisioning, is responsible for rendering physical security services at Western Cape Government (WCG) buildings in the Central Business District of Cape Town. The main objective of physical security is to protect the assets of the WCG in as far as it relates to people, infrastructure and technology.

There has however been an increased demand for physical security services beyond access and egress control to address labour unrest, social conflict or vandalism directed at WCG institutions and its assets. This necessitated the transformation of the security service to meet these new demands whilst still delivering an effective access and egress control function.

The security challenges were unplanned and disruptive and often impacted on the ability of WCG Departments to deliver on its mandate and core business negatively affecting service delivery. To address the threats directed at WCG institutions and its assets, the Security Support Team was established. The Security Support Team provides a specialist security service as a contingency measure enabling Departments to continue to execute on their mandates to provide services to the citizens of the Province.

Some of their notable involvements were:

• Supporting the Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Security services were provided at Health facilities; Vaccination Sites such as the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC); 4 Dorp Vaccination Centre; Cape Medical Depot; Disa Court in the Tygerberg Hospital precinct and Athlone Stadium.
• The Security Support Team also conducted searches and instituted stringent access control measures during engagements by the Department of Transport and Public Works with the Minibus Taxi Industry.
• In order to assist the Western Cape Education Department in creating a safe school environment so that learning can take place, the team were deployed at various schools either experiencing, or at risk of, disruption.

Minister Fritz said,” we are very proud of our colleagues in the Security Support Team. We have been looking at ways in which we can take the services of our department out into communities; we have been looking at ways in which we can become more service orientated, and that is exactly what our Security Support Team has done, especially in assisting in these important ways during the Covid-19 global pandemic. I want to thank all of our colleagues in the Security Support Team and encourage them to keep up the good work. The successful deployment of the Security Support Team certainly demonstrates their valuable contribution towards the safety imperatives of the WCG.”

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