After years of talk and no action, meetings and debates it appears as if the town is one step closer to finally having surveillance cameras installed in the central business district.
Prompted by the sudden spike in violence in the central town – which includes bomb threats, knife attacks, robberies at ATMs and the theft of at least seven vehicles – the Ward 2 committee last week urged the Council to implement the project. Ward 2 committee member, Louis Steenkamp, used his own initiative to get a quote on cameras to cover the CBD of Dundee and Glencoe. The quote is around R250 000 and Ward Councillor, Anthon Raubenheimer, said he wanted to commit his ward budget allocation to get the project off the ground.
“We will hand this over to the Technical Department to formulate a report and a Council resolution and, if need be, call for tenders.
“We need to stem this spike of crime. I know that 15 years ago a Council delegation travelled to Estcourt where a camera system was installed years ago and was working well to curb crime.
“Right now, criminals know that our towns are soft targets and are getting away with murder – literally. We need to ensure that our residents are safe and this is one way to do it – cameras are a tool to assist police.”
The idea is for the cameras to be monitored at the fire brigade depot on Diaz Road which has the ideal facility for such a station. Mr Raubenheimer said he hoped that the police would also come on board and support the project.