Durban – Out of 499 CCTV cameras, only 98 are working in the eThekwini Municipality.
This was according to security and emergency services committee member councillor Sharmaine Sewshanker.
Sewshanker said the DA in eThekwini is concerned about residents’ safety as the City fails miserably to prevent, intercept and monitor illegal activity.
She said that the shocking figures were revealed at a recent finance, emergency and security services committee meeting on February 23, where the DA highlighted concerns about the delays in repairing CCTV cameras.
“In response, Vincent Ngubane, the head of Disaster Management, revealed that just 98 of the 499 CCTV cameras are operational and that the delays in repairs are due to fibre contract challenges,” Sewshanker said.
“This is an unacceptable excuse given that challenges with fibre contracts have been ongoing for several years now, causing more cameras to be off-line.
“Even scarier is that metro police, which now runs all of the city’s CCTV cameras, has promised to reduce crime within six months of taking over this tool for fighting crime,” Sewshanker said.
She said the questions now are: How will this be accomplished when only 98 of the city’s 499 CCTV cameras are operational? How will an under-resourced metro police department protect us?
“The DA will put pressure on the executive committee and council to expedite the process of ensuring that all 499 cameras are operational and manned appropriately in order to improve the status of safety in eThekwini,” Sewshanker said.
Moreover, following the brutal murders of Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his close friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane on Durban's popular Florida Road, DA deputy caucus leader in eThekwini Mzamo Billy said the DA in eThekwini wrote to the city manager, Musa Mbhele, demanding a copy of the city’s most recent crime prevention strategy in order to analyse its performance and the involvement of the Durban metro police service in crime prevention and visible policing in city hot spots.
“This incident adds to growing concerns about the rise of serious crime in the city’s economic hub and the role of metro police and city officials,” Billy said.
“While the SAPS plays a more central role in crime prevention, one of the metro police’s principal objectives is to put in place measures to prevent crime.”
Meanwhile, in November 2022, acting metro police head Sbonelo Mchunu said: “Smart policing will play an important role in deterring crime. The City is working with various partners and has seen much success in deterring crime and apprehending criminals quickly.”
“In the future, the City plans to have dash cams, body cams, facial recognition technology and licence plate recognition technology. This technology will be installed in our vehicles and linked to the command centre where it can be observed by the commanders. Crime will decrease as criminals will know that they are being watched,” Mchunu said.
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