POLL | Are bodyguards any use if someone is after you?

How safe are you if you have a bodyguard? This was a topic of debate this week after public shootings of people who had private security.

A businesswoman and a security boss were shot outside a Bedfordview nursery school on Tuesday after the women dropped off her child. She was shot inside the creche yard.

 “The other suspect/s shot the owner of a private security company who had parked his car outside the creche premises. It is alleged the owner of the private security company was escorting the businesswoman at the time of the shooting,” said provincial police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo.

The incident came less than two weeks after rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes was gunned down outside a popular Durban restaurant. Celebrity chef and author Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane was also killed in the shooting. The suspects have not been apprehended. AKA’s bodyguard was shot at but unharmed in the attack.

The shootings drew a conversation around bodyguards, with some suggesting they were little more than a deterrent and not much use if someone is out to get you.

Others said properly trained private security can be the difference between life and death, while a few said it was important to curb expectations of how much they can protect.

Podcast and Chill co-host Sol Phenduka weighed in on the debate, claiming the latest shootings show “bodyguards are as good as useless”.

“When people want you out it is really impossible for a bodyguard to save you”.

Speaking to the Sunday Times the head of AKA’s security detail Anwar “Dogg” Khan in Durban said the bodyguard assigned to the rapper on the night of his death did not have a “fighting chance” against the killers.

“The protector did not have a fighting chance because the one guy was shooting at him while the other guy was shooting at AKA, and you had people running like crazy.

“Naturally what will happen is that when a shot is fired, we first take cover, draw your weapon and aim at suspects, shoot or chase the suspects. When he ducked for cover, he did not see the direction where the guys ran and he did not know how many others were waiting to shoot if he had given chase.

“These hitmen are prepared. Two will come to do the hit and four will be standing and waiting for the getaway. If police come they will open fire so the two can get into the vehicle and they all escape.”