The Head of Department for Community Safety, Adv Yashina Pillay, commends 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.