In December, the eThekwini's safety, emergency and security committee heard that only 14% of the city's cameras were functional. (File photo)
eThekwini Municipality has adopted a proposal to transfer management of its closed-circuit television (CCTV) system from disaster management to the metro police and fire and emergency unit, bringing it closer to taking some control of the crime-ridden city.
The decision, approved on Wednesday by the metro’s governance and human resource committee, also includes the “restructuring of the emergency mobilising and communication centre (EMACC) and technical service functions,” according to committee chairman Nkosenhle Madlala.
The proposal still has to pass through other committees before it finally lands with the eThekwini executive council.
In a voice note, Madlala acknowledged that KZN SAPS commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, had made it clear that the cameras should be the purview of law enforcement.
At an-anti crime summit earlier this year, Mkhwanazi said that for the past financial year, 40% of crimes committed in KwaZulu-Natal had taken place in the metro.
In a press statement issued on Wednesday, the city said: “The restructuring plan involves transferring relevant staff, following consultations with stakeholders, including labour unions. Meetings with affected employees were conducted on November 11, 12, and 13 by the disaster management in collaboration with the human capital unit.
“EMACC, which handles emergency mobilising and coordination, will also see its operational activities realigned to improve efficiency. Its technical services component—responsible for maintaining the system’s technology and software—will be transferred to the information management unit under the office of the city manager.”
The Mail & Guardian in September reported how the plans of metro police and provincial SAPS to get some kind of control over crime in the city were being scuppered by infighting over who should be in charge of the CCTV network and its lucrative contracts.
Control and monitoring of the 519-camera strong network should have already been in the control of law enforcement, as mandated by the city manager, well over a year ago.
Durban Metro Police Commissioner Sibonelo Mchunu at the time told the M&G that there would be a significant boost in crime fighting if the cameras were with law enforcement.
Mchunu views the network as essential to the city’s smart policing ambitions, the plan for which is to be phased in over several years and is expected to cost R300 million.
But the cameras remain a bone of contention with opposition parties and residents.
In December, DA councillor Sharmaine Sewshanker said a report brought before the city’s safety, emergency and security committee, on which she sits, showed that only 14% of the cameras were functional.
In the same month, then mayor Mxolisi Kaunda embarked on a public relations exercise at the CCTV control room, where he said the city had spent R100 million to repair and upgrade the network, with the central business district taking priority. Cameras in other areas were still to be repaired and upgraded, he said.
According to a presentation made to the municipality’s security committee just two months ago, only 319 cameras out of the 519 were working in August, leaving 200 offline.
Of the working cameras, 272 were in the central and beachfront area, which has 290 cameras installed.
In the south of the metro, only 78 cameras were working out of a total of 111. In the north, only 21 cameras were working out of 63, and in the west, only 28 were working out of 55.
Disaster management head Vincent Ngubane disputed those numbers, telling the M&G that 400 cameras were operational out of the 519.
According to a report presented at the same security committee meeting, most of the incidents viewed on the cameras (761) were traffic related.