Safe City

Zinhle Sokhela:  PCB Director

I am very proud to chair the Board of Safe City Pietermaritzburg.  This company, non-profit at present but soon to become a fully-fledged commercial entity in order to satisfy legislative demands, manages the CCTV camera network that covers most of the inner city area and the control room which is the heart of the project.    The cameras constitute the eyes of the police who cannot be everywhere at any one time.   For twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week the cameras are rolling, conveying images of what is happening on our streets to the control room.   There a number of highly-trained people monitor the screens looking out for the tell-tale signs of crime, crime which may not yet be committed, but which is likely to occur if the behaviour of certain people is anything to go by.   The monitors have learnt these tell-tale signs and indeed, the identities of people known to have been associated with crime in the past.       A very high standard of professionalism has been achieved and this includes the response time of the police which is always represented by an officer on site in the control room.  

The Msunduzi Municipality is to be commended for having given support to this project which, after all, is one intended to make the city a safer place.    It is the Municipality that has born the cost of operation and the camera infrastructure.    At present, the municipal leadership is very supportive of the Safe City project.  This has not always been the case and during 2009, in particular, we wondered whether the operation would have to fold.  Some people in the Municipality were suspicious of Safe City and its motives and operational model and we had to engage in quite intense struggles to get the funds required to continue.     Now, the city regards Safe City as a municipal entity which provides an essential service for which the Municipality is prepared to pay at a rate which includes no profit for any individual associated with the company.    We know that we have to be at the top of our game, however, because the provision of this service could be outsourced to a different entity if there were any reason to doubt our ability to provide the service at a high level of efficiency.

In reality, I think I am on safe ground if I claim that our Safe City is among the best projects of its type in the country.  Not so long ago we briefed people from Estcourt whose surveillance camera system has become virtually dysfunctional.    In other towns and cities, too, cameras are lying idle or the back-up work in control rooms is not good enough to achieve the desired outcome of reducing crime.    The equipment is very costly, and so too is its operation.  It is necessary, therefore, for high standards to be maintained in order to ensure that money has not been wasted.   We are fortunate.   We have a good staff and a Board which consists of several long-serving volunteers, business leaders who have devoted hours of time to this project without any remuneration or reward.    In fact, it Is largely because of their devotion and their expertise that we have such a good project now.   Des Winship, who was once CEO of Hulett Aluminium, spent tens of thousands of Rand out of his own pocket to make sure that every avenue was well researched before any money was spent on this project.    He and his assistants sought out the best and the most cost-effective and then carefully planned how the project would be undertaken so that it would be sustainable and effective.

They succeeded very well.   The arrest of people engaging in criminal activity and spotted on camera has proceeded on a steady basis.    The video evidence has proved irrefutable and no case using Safe City footage has ever been lost.   As people know, the ability of the State to prove its case and secure conviction is a significant factor in the fight against crime.   Now, with expanded horizons and the active support of the Municipality, we are finding ways in which the facility may be used to improve city management as well as deal with crime.   As a city, we have reason to be very proud of our Safe City. 

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