THE eThekwini Municipality is one step closer to moving its Closed-Circuit Television Cameras’ (CCTV) monitoring to relevant departments following the tabling of a report that was adopted by the City’s Governance and Human Resource Committee on Wednesday (November 20).

The committee, chaired by Councillor Nkosenhle Madlala, heard of the progress made so far towards the transfer of CCTV control to the Metro Police Unit and Fire and Emergency Unit. The City’s eyes and Emergency Mobilising and Communication Centre (EMACC) are currently being managed by the Disaster Management and Emergency Control Unit.

Gugu Sisilana said the transfer of EMACC and the technical services functions to the Information Management Unit under the Office of the City Manager will happen following approval from the executive committee and Council.

“Currently, the CCTV cameras and EMACC component are managed by the Disaster Management and Emergency Control Unit. However, the City Manager was concerned that these functions were misplaced which led to the recommendation that they be transferred to the relevant units. The transfer will include staff members, following consultation with relevant stakeholders, such as labour unions,” said Sisilana.

Also Read: eThekwini Municipality lays down the law after employee sabotages CCTV feed

Consultation meetings with affected employees were held on November 11, 12 and 13. She said the CCTV component is responsible for monitoring areas within eThekwini. “These are public-realm management, traffic management, crime prevention, disaster emergency-control and fire, and enforcement of municipal-service department responses, requiring routine [to be organised] for a diverse range of interventions,” added Sisilana.

The EMACC component is responsible for operational activities of emergency mobilising and the communications centre – by receiving, responding and transferring messages and information to facilitate and coordinate specific emergency actions.

“To complement these efforts, the City has also increased the installation of CCTV cameras, and a number of visible law enforcement officers are deployed to crime hotspots,” said Sisilana.

For more from Berea Mail, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.

Click to subscribe to our newsletter – here