Between 2005 and 2010 the number of active registered security businesses grew by 61%. Of the three main services offered by the security industry, the armed response division showed the largest increase at 264%. This is according to information from the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority.

In 2005, there was only one active registered security company in the Northern Cape. By 2010, the number of such firms had grown to 91. The Free State and Limpopo followed with large increases of 259% and 161% to 255 and 981 firms respectively.

The proportion of private security companies located in the three provinces that drive the country’s economy — Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape — dropped from 72% in 2005 to 63% in 2010. By 2010, Limpopo had replaced the Western Cape as the province with the third largest number of private security firms.

In the period under review, companies offering armed response services rose from 743 to 2 701, or by 264%. Cash-in-transit firms grew from 856 to 2 183 (155%), while those guarding businesses increased from 3 410 to 5 752 (69%).

- Kerwin Lebone