Private Army

Original Post Date: 2001-08-28 Time: 05:53:43  Posted By: Jan

22/07/2001 – Carte Blanche Michele Alexander

It's half-past seven in the morning and Lanseria Protection Services (LPS) is
holding its weekly parade. The militaristic style of this private security
company, with its camouflage uniforms and old SADF emblems, has caused a
storm of controversy amongst residents in the area.

It is run by Wynand du Toit, a former recce who rose to prominence after
being captured behind enemy lines in Angola in the 1980s. He believes the
only way to beat crime is by being a dominant, aggressive and visible
presence.

But some – like local resident Pierre Vorster – believe his tactics are
racist, excessive and smack of vigilantism.

“You speak also for a number of residents in the Muldersdrift area – these
guys are racist. There have been reports of beating up people for no reason
whatsoever. We do not want that in our area,” he says.

Wynand has no qualms about running his company like a military barracks. He
believes discipline is a necessity and this is the best way to enforce it.
But whilst Wynand takes pride in the efficiency of his team, questions have
been raised about strong-arm tactics.

But how factual are these perceptions? Residents Pierre and Anton decided to
find out for themselves.

Wynand responds to Pierre's question about allegations of racism: “Anybody
involved in crime – whether that person is black, white or coloured – it does
not matter to us. We will go after him with the same force that we will do
with anybody. But I've got quite a couple of black clients that are being
treated and given the same service exactly as all our other clients…

“…it's not a question of going over the top. It's a question of crime
having gone over the top. How are you going to stop crime if you are not
aggressive? If crime is over the top, should we just carry on as normal or
should we also have a more intense way of operating?” asks Wynand.

In 1987, Wynand du Toit's release after two years in an Angolan prison made
international news. He was part of an exchange at Maputo airport involving
122 Angolan soldiers. But Wynand believes that he has come to terms with his
past. In fact, he eventually returned to live in Angola where he made peace
with his former captors.

“I actually went back in person to have a look at it, talk to the people,
talk to the soldiers who were involved in my capture in those days. It was
very necessary for me to go back to Angola as part of the healing process.
Military-wise, I also don't have any bitterness about what was, what is and
where we are going. In my present position in this security company it was my
opinion that if I do it for my comfort zone, which is the military, the
subject that I know, if I handle the company with the management skills I've
learnt in the SADF, then I can make it work,” he says.

But have these residents changed their views after their face-to-face
encounter with Wynand?

“As far as being racist, you cannot label the man as being racist. He has a
lot of black staff and black members and he is friendly to them from what
we've seen. So, no, you cannot label the man as a racist. However, the
rumours which we hear, obviously we have no proof of them at this stage…
those rumours are definitely racist rumours. So the truth is somewhere
between what we've heard and what we've seen,” says Pierre.

But in the suburb of Malanshof, most people are happy with the presence of
Wynand's men, especially since crime has dropped in the area says
spokesperson George O' Reilly.

“It amazes me that people want to say that there is a racial problem with the
company or that they are right wing and what have you, and yet it is
multi-racial in the suburb… the people that live here… and it is the
black people who approached me and asked if I could include them. And nobody
has ever said, ‘Chuck these guys out',” says O'Reilly.

The main thrust of Wynand's business is the creation of elite task-force
teams that patrol and respond to calls. Most of them are former police or
defence-force personnel. Their clients are mainly residents of smallholdings
and plots north west of Johannesburg. Coming under heavy gunfire in
shoot-outs with armed robbers is something these crack troops often
encounter.

Has it come to this – that we need private armies to keep us safe? The
Muldersdrift Anti-Crime Action Committee certainly seems to think so. The
recent brutal murder of a farmer in the area, Dennis Peters, shocked the
community into action. They see Lanseria Protection Services (LPS) as their
last resort, says spokesman Redmond Orpen.

“We have terrible crime in the country and the people who are supposed to be
doing something about it – the police – are in fact doing nothing – nothing
to work with. Now in this community we are prepared to pay LPS to do the job
for us- a job which the police should be doing,” explains Orpen.

But Rietfontein resident, Steven Benjamin, is sceptical: “As an outsider to
your company, what I see when I see you guys is a militia-type set up. I see
army uniforms, I see rank, I see a section of the old South Africa that's
trying to make a last stand in Muldersdrift.”

Wynand's response to this charge? “I have said it already this morning and
that is the fact that crime has surpassed the effectiveness of traditional
security. I came to the conclusion that we are only going to beat crime in
this area by being dominant, visible and aggressive … if I can save a life
because of the clothes I am wearing, then I will do it.”

The subject of Wynand's tactics caused heated debate between Steven and
Redmond.

Steven: “Redmond, when you say it is a new idea… is it a new idea that when
somebody breaks the law, you go in there with your gun blazing, you rip the
guy out of his room, you beat the crap out of him and deal with the situation
that way? That's not a new approach, that's an old approach.”

Redmond: “I haven't heard of LPS behaving like that. They recently raided a
very big farm… there were no guns blazing, they got everybody out..”

Steve: “Did you hear about the guy that got hit in the mouth with a rifle?”

Redmond: “He didn't get hit with a rifle, he got hit by a man's elbow. He was
drunk, he attacked a man with a machine gun.”

However, the police have confirmed that four cases are being investigated
against Lanseria Protection Services involving assault, pointing of a
firearm, theft and possession of a weapon without a licence.

But Wynand says the charge of possession of a firearm without a licence was
thrown out of court: “It was not without a licence, it was just that the
licence was not with the bearer of the firearm at that time, and not one of
the other cases was mentioned to me by the police”.

Wynand has even more ambitious plans. He is training his men to parachute
into an area where farmers are under attack. Whilst agricultural
organisations welcome any initiative that contributes to farm security, they
question whether Wynand has the infrastructure to deliver what he promises.

But he says that at least he is doing something: “My question is whether I
just leave it, ignore it? The fact that there is a need, the fact that the
agricultural unions are asking the question whether we would be able to
maintain it – I don't know. But at least I've got something on the ground now
which can assist until somebody else can make a better plan.

“The people have reached the stage where they are fed up with crime in this
area. They see a hopeful solution in us. Nobody can say I have not done my
utmost best to assist people in this area,” he says.

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