A group of VIPs in South Africa’s public safety sphere recently gathered at the Krugersdorp Game Reserve to discuss local and national security challenges.
The NEWS took a front seat at the rare event during which political leadership as well as top and senior management in local government gathered under one roof to discuss the safety of Mogale City’s residents.
The institute for Municipal Public Safety’s (IMPS-SA) annual conference held at the local reserve this year in the end saw some promising prospects and some definite challenges for Mogale City.
Some of the key aspects discussed at this year’s conference included:
• effective municipal by-laws and enforcement
• forensics – applications in Municipal Public Safety
• VIP security deployment in local government
• cyber security
• biometric verification of CCTV camera efficiency
• aerial robotics in Public Safety
• launch of qualifications for Municipal Public Safety/Security
• Liquor Act implementation
Introduced as one of the key speakers at the conference, Executive Mayor for the Mogale City Local Municipality Councillor Calvin Seerane stated that the African National Congress (ANC) declared war against crime but that government can’t win the fight alone.
He also commended Mogale City Public Safety officials for their hard work and thanked them for the “ungodly hours they keep”.
He made special mention of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and their fight to keep peace in the midst of on-going service delivery protests in the area.
On the question of how taxpayers’ money gets spent in the quest to improve safety and security, Seerane made mention of the CBD Patroller Project dubbed Bobby-on-the-beat as well as the installation of CCTV cameras throughout the CBD.
“A substantial amount of money gets invested in these projects,” he says.
One of the challenges aired by Seerane is the tough task of policing vandals who destroy municipal property during public protests.
“When combining the damage and theft of public property and the fact that safety officials also must police by-law infringements, which include hijacking of buildings, illegal signs and traffic offences, it is clear that IMPS-SA has their work cut out to conceive cutting-edge mechanisms to help sharpen response challenges,” says Seerane.
He emphasises Mogale City’s stance in the case of by-law infringements, stating that the municipality soon will join the two metropolitan municipalities of Ekurhuleni and Tshwane in launching a municipal court.
“Working together with the Department of Justice, we are in the process of concluding all administrative matters and specifications. This will be a giant leap for our by-law enforcement,” he concluded on a positive note.
