Tshwane still seeks partnerships to revive ‘white elephant’ surveillance cameras
Current plans by Tshwane metro MMC for Safety and Security, is to have the Tshwane CCTV surveillance cameras online and tackling issues of service delivery, crime or accidents in the metro.
A number of CCTV surveillance cameras in the Pretoria CBD have remained a white elephant for several years, unable to assist residents and police in crime solving, accidents and tackling the growing concern of cable theft.
The cameras, which are 90% offline since 2016 due to vandalism, theft, weather-related or other damages, according to the Tshwane metro – have left the city with an operational centre of approximately 500 square metres room, equipped with monitors and computers.
The cameras also remained offline due to a lack of maintenance and tender challenges, despite in 2019, Tshwane setting aside R18.6-million for upgrades and maintenance of the damaged analogue 90/180-degrees cameras.
The Tshwane metro had been looking to bring in 360-degree coverage surveillance cameras, including installation of new ones at the entrances to several townships, however, this failed to take off.
Speaking to Rekord, MMC for Community Safety Alderman Grandi Theunissen said the cameras in the city were disabled, however, he was in consultation with the original company responsible for installation of the cameras in the city.
“I had a discussion with them and we agreed on to have an audit done as we don’t know the extent of the conditions of cameras, as they have been out of service for some time.”
Theunissen said through engagement with stakeholders, it was established that 90% of Tshwane’s CCTV surveillance cameras were not functional.
He said the cameras had capabilities of being vehicle number plate detectors, while also allowing the metro to trace crime in live time.
Theunissen further said there was no point in Tshwane having surveillance cameras currently, as there was no “qualified” team to operate the tools.
“We are going to require training for staff.”
He said after engaging numerous private institutions, security companies, gated communities and others, he was looking at establishing a multi-dimensional joint operation centre (JOC) to be set up, where footage from areas in Tshwane could be monitored.
Theunissen said the JOC would consist of the staff members from policing, roads and stormwater, electricity and water services to assist in attending to service delivery in the metro, however plans were still yet to be proposed to council for discussions and approval.
He said about 180 bodies were required to man the site and provisions are set for a budget to pay salaries.
The idea was that the centre would have early warning systems incorporated, which would enable the city to detect any tampering as it happened in real time.
He said the city was looking at technology like burglar system alarms and smoke or gas detectors installed in homes that led to fast security responses in infrastructure prone to crime in the metro, such as substations.
Theunissen said the idea was to link this up to the city’s CCTV surveillance infrastructure.
“Before the cameras were disabled, I had a look at the current CCTV footage in the city, which brought plans that touch on safety and service delivery.”
He said the JOC would allow the Tshwane metro to have capacity staff operating the cameras to help Tshwane staff attend to non-working traffic lights, streetlights, potholes and appoint pointsmen to regulate traffic.
“The vision at the end of the day is to have a combined team in place, where the community and different role players may join hands to manage the site from a central perspective.”
Theunissen said to have the cameras up and running would be a community-based exercise, as the Tshwane metro was not in a good financial position or have the capacity to have the cameras functional.
He said the plans were still in a premature phase, however would assist the city in meeting its smart city goals.
In January, the metro signed a memorandum of understanding with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), after it was recognised as an area to establish a possible smart city.
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