For most part of 2021, armed robbers in Botswana staged heists, overpowering security company guards making off with large sums of money almost every week.
The trend then forced the BSE quoted Securicor – G4S Botswana alongside its competitors to reinforce with state owned security from the Botswana Police as well as the Military Police.
“The business faced an unprecedented security challenge in late 2021 in the form of attacks on the cash business, specifically attacks on our cash in transit vehicles”, says Mothusi Molokomme – Managing Director at G4S Botswana.
Molokomme says the cash in transit heist are reflective of the general security environment wherein crime had significantly increased with most attacks aimed at businesses.
He shares that apart from help from the government, G4S Botswana improved the security of its vehicles by adopting the latest technology to safeguard assets with a significant capital investment in new armoured vehicles and additional enhancement to the existing fleet.
“These measures have, in the short term, ensured that we are able to respond to the prevailing security situation”, says Molokomme.
Apart from the cash in transit heists, G4S Botswana also faced challenges from the Covid 19 pandemic like the rest of the economy.
“The business was also affected as we lost some of our colleagues to the scourge, while some had to be on long lay-offs due to being infected; both of which put a strain on business continuity”, says Molokomme.
G4S Botswana says it was able to devise various plans to minimise disruptions, chief amongst them being working from home which ensured continuity of service provision and the general safety and well-being of its employees. The BSE quoted company says the availability of vaccines in the latter part of the year ensured that employees were able to vaccinate which allowed the gradual return to physical interaction and working from the office.
“As a customer-facing company, this was very important as it ensured that we could now serve our clients better.”, says Molokomme.
