Every security company and every security officer in South Africa must be registered with PSIRA. Hiring an unregistered guard is not a saving: an unregistered company cannot lawfully trade, and an incident involving one leaves you with almost no recourse.
ContactDetails.co.za is an independent directory and does not vet or endorse the businesses it lists.
Check before you sign
- Ask for the company’s PSIRA registration number and verify it with the authority, not from a certificate on the wall.
- Individual officers are registered too, and must carry identification. You may ask to see it.
- Ask whether the guards are employees or subcontracted. It changes who is liable and who is vetted.
- Read the contract term and the escalation clause. Long lock-in periods with annual increases are common and are enforceable.
Armed response is not a police service
Worth being clear about what you are buying. An armed response contract buys a vehicle attending your alarm, within a stated response time, in a stated area. It does not buy an investigation, an arrest, or a guarantee.
A crime must still be reported to the police to get a case number, and insurers require that number. Ask what the contracted response time actually is, and what happens outside the coverage area, before an emergency establishes it for you.
| Police | 10111 |
| Emergencies from a mobile | 112 |
| Unregistered security provider | Report to PSIRA |
Mthatha is on the 047 code. Verified 25 August 2026.