THE PRIVATE SECURITY SECTOR IN AFRICA

This report provides three country case studies on the private security sector in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and South Africa. It examines the growth, regulatory frameworks, and impact of private security companies (PSCs) and private military companies (PMCs) in these nations, highlighting a general trend of ineffective regulation across the continent and the emergence of security as a commodity available primarily to the wealthy.

• South Africa possesses the largest private security industry among the studied countries and is reasonably well regulated. As of 2006, there were 4,763 active registered security businesses employing 269,901 active registered security officers, with numbers increasing to over 300,000 by 2007.
• In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), regulation of the private security industry is minimal, informal, and arbitrarily implemented. There is no comprehensive legislation, only a minimal regulation against the exploitation of guarding companies (Arrêté Ministeriel no 98/008, 1998).
• Uganda has 58 registered private security companies (PSCs) with approximately 17,000 registered employees. The industry is regulated under the Police Act of 1949 and the Control of Private Security Organisations Regulation of 1997.
• The growth of the private security sector in these countries is driven by state failure or inefficiency. In Uganda, it was fueled by economic liberalisation in 1998 and a low police-to-population ratio (1:1,473). In the DRC, it grew due to post-conflict transition and the arrival of international organisations. In South Africa, the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process acted as a catalyst.

APA

Gumedze, S., Kirunda, S. W., de Goede, M., & Taljaard, R. (2008). THE PRIVATE SECURITY SECTOR IN AFRICA. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/MONO146FULL.PDF

Chicago

Gumedze, Sabelo, Solomon Wilson Kirunda, Meike de Goede, and Raenette Taljaard. THE PRIVATE SECURITY SECTOR IN AFRICA. Institute for Security Studies, 2008. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/MONO146FULL.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gumedze |first1=Sabelo |last2=Kirunda |first2=Solomon Wilson |last3=de Goede |first3=Meike |last4=Taljaard |first4=Raenette |title=THE PRIVATE SECURITY SECTOR IN AFRICA |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=July 2008 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/MONO146FULL.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gumedze2008private, author = {Gumedze, Sabelo and Kirunda, Solomon Wilson and de Goede, Meike and Taljaard, Raenette}, title = {{THE PRIVATE SECURITY SECTOR IN AFRICA}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2008}, month = jul, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/MONO146FULL.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }