Namibia’s entire security industry stands at a precipice of institutional failure with far-reaching economic consequences, employers and workers declared last week in an unprecedented joint condemnation of governmental inaction. The Namibia Security Labour Forum (NSLF), representing both security company owners and employee unions, launched a landmark collective agreement while issuing a stark warning: the 32-year failure to implement critical regulations under the Security Enterprises and Security Officers Act (SESORB) of 1998 is enabling rampant exploitation, undermining fair competition, and jeopardising national safety – ultimately imposing hidden costs across Namibia’s economy.
In a powerful media briefing delivered by Andreas Hausiku, NSLF representative and Head of Security for the Public Service Union of Namibia (PSUN), the forum announced the enforcement of a new, legally binding minimum wage structure. Effective from 15 January 2025, security officers will earn a minimum of N$13.50 per hour, rising incrementally to N$18.00 per hour by 2027, as mandated by Government Gazette No. 8562. “These are no longer proposals — they are the law. And we expect them to be enforced,” Hausiku stated, marking a significant step towards formalising an industry long plagued by informality and wage abuse.
However, the NSLF immediately pivoted to the deeper economic crisis, revealing that compliance with basic statutory obligations makes it impossible for ethical security companies to tender below N$30.30 per hour. This figure, they emphasised, is the absolute minimum required to cover the mandated wage, PAYE, Social Security, Sunday and public holiday premiums, leave provisions, uniforms, and optional transport. The forum issued a direct challenge to the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) and all state and private procurement entities: stop awarding tenders to companies violating this wage order. “Paying poverty wages while bidding for government work is unethical, illegal, and disgraceful. Enforcement must start now,” Hausiku declared, highlighting how current procurement practices actively subsidise illegal operations and distort the market.
The heart of the crisis, however, lies in a three-decade regulatory vacuum. Despite the SESORB Act being passed in 1998, the essential regulations required to enforce it have never been gazetted. “Yes, you heard that right. Three decades. No regulations. No teeth. No accountability,” Hausiku stated bluntly. This failure has catastrophic economic and operational consequences: no licensing standards for security companies, no accreditation for training institutions, no regulated weapons handling or vetting procedures, and no consistent disciplinary mechanisms. The result is a proliferation of “fly-by-night operators” who undercut ethical businesses, exploit workers with impunity – often paying wages lower than taxi fares and making illegal uniform deductions – evade taxes, and pose significant risks to national security and public confidence.
The NSLF disclosed that multiple formal requests for meetings with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security (MHISS) to address this crisis have gone unanswered. “The silence is deafening. The delays are indefensible,” the forum asserted. This institutional neglect creates an uneven playing field where compliant companies struggle against unscrupulous competitors who bypass labour laws and safety standards, ultimately reducing tax revenue and increasing the burden on social services when exploited workers fall into poverty.
The collective agreement and the call for tender enforcement represent a crucial attempt by unified industry stakeholders to self-regulate in the absence of government oversight. The NSLF also urged all end-users – ministries, state-owned enterprises, agencies, and private clients – to ensure guards deployed under their contracts receive fair pay, overtime, Sunday/public holiday rates, contracts, payslips, uniforms, and transport as stipulated. This call extends responsibility beyond the security companies themselves to the entities that hire them, recognising that the economic cost of exploitation is borne by society at large.
The forum’s demands are unambiguous and urgent: the immediate gazetting of the SESORB regulations, the establishment of proper industry oversight, and the professional recognition of security officers who protect vital national infrastructure, businesses, banks, schools, hospitals, and homes. “Security is not just a uniform. It is a cornerstone of public order,” Hausiku concluded, framing the issue as fundamental to Namibia’s overall economic stability and investment climate. The continued lack of regulation not only harms workers and ethical businesses but also represents a systemic risk. A security sector undermined by exploitation and lacking proper standards is ill-equipped to safeguard the economic assets and human capital upon which national prosperity depends.
The NSLF’s unified stance – bringing together traditionally adversarial employer and employee representatives – underscores the severity of the economic threat posed by the regulatory void. Their message is clear: Namibia cannot afford another day without enforceable security industry regulations. The cost, measured in lost tax revenue, unfair competition, exploited workers, and compromised national safety, is too high a price for the economy to bear. The ball now lies firmly in the court of the Ministry of Home Affairs to act decisively and end a 32-year failure that continues to undermine economic justice and national security.