How does the privatisation and outsourcing of security gain legitimacy and support? Using a newly created dataset on Hansard-style parliamentary proceedings of the South African Parliament from 1999-2023, I analyse government attitudes towards private military and security companies. I use a mix of quantitative text analysis and qualitative discourse analysis to trace changes in the so-called anti-mercenary norm, comparing my results to existing findings in the English and Italian parliaments. South Africa is an important case for several reasons, not least because they have the largest private security industry in the world, with over two private security guards for every state police officer. In addition to relying on private security, South Africa also exports (though not always sanctioned by the state) private security and military companies across the continent and has a long history of mercenarism. Couching this project in a broader agenda of why states outsource security and to whom, I treat government attitudes and norms as one essential component in a larger theory of state security outsourcing.