The City has identified priority areas for CCTV camera installations over the next five years.
Two multi-million projects will see the City installing CCTV cameras in Kuils River and Kraaifontein, as well as other parts of Cape Town.
The City has proposed spending R3m on installing the cameras in the business hubs of Kuils River, Eerste River and Macassar, according to an amended budget proposal document, dated April 14.
Those three areas fall under Sub-council 21, and residents commented on the proposal in a meeting that was held in the sub-council’s offices in Kuils River in late April.
Responding to Northern News questions last week, mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said the City already had a list of proposed sites for installation.
The R3m figure was subject to further public participation, he said.
Kuils River police station commander Colonel JT Naidoo said a senior member of the precinct and a member of Metro police were involved in identifying the hot spots in Kuils River.
Kuils River Warrant Officer David Solomons said he had accompanied City officials around the Kuils River CBD late last year and been told that the City had approved the installation of six cameras there, although he hadn’t been told how much it would cost.
Ward 11 councillor Wouter de Vos did not respond to questions by deadline.
Kalkfontein Development Forum chairman Johannes Pula, who has long called for CCTV cameras in Kuils River’s crime-ravaged areas, said: “I feel very bad about this decision (to take the cameras to CBDs). The most prioritised places should be the communities - Kalkfontein; the Sarepta bridge, which is a hotspot; and Riverside in Highbury.”
He attended the April meeting where he voiced his views.
“The cameras were proposed in a sub-council meeting by the mayor’s office. We raised our demand in that meeting. We also told them of a CCTV camera that has been stolen near the Netcare hospital, but they had no response for us. The City went quiet.”
Meanwhile, the City also plans to spend nearly R11 million over five years to install CCTV cameras in Kraaifontein, Delft, Nyanga, Mfuleni and Mitchell’s Plain. R1 million would be spent on the project in Kraaifontein, which falls under Sub-council 2, for 2022/23, said Mr Smith.
“Given that installations cannot happen in one year alone, the City has compiled a five-year roll out plan in which to reach all of the mentioned priority areas,” he said.
The City’s safety and security portfolio committee chairman Mzwakhe Nqavashe said the updated plan for 2021-2026 mapped priority areas for the cameras. The plan had been endorsed by the portfolio committee in 2021 and re-tabled at last week’s committee meeting so new portfolio members could be briefed on it.
“It’s a fact that the City of Cape Town has a well-established CCTV footprint and the intention is to expand on that even more into the future,” Mr Nqavashe said.
The locations would be determined together with area station commanders, and the availability of suitable fibre-optic infrastructure; reliable power sources; line of sight to CCTV infrastructure; and the potential for vandalism would be taken into account, he said.