Cape Town - National police commissioner General Riah Phiyega says there is a “serious challenge” with the City of Cape Town’s failure to install CCTV cameras at high-crime spots such as Khayelitsha.
In Phiyega’s preliminary response to the recommendations made by the commission of inquiry into policing in the area, she said the city had failed on surveillance.
However, the city said there were 14 cameras in Khayelitsha, and only one did not work.
The inquiry - set up to investigate allegations of police inefficiency - recommended that a meeting be immediately held between the city, metro police, and commanders of the three Khayelitsha police stations to discuss the best ways to use CCTV cameras in the area.
A copy of the inquiry’s report was handed to the provincial government, city and the Social Justice Coalition last year.
The police’s response, classified as “strictly confidential”, was released by Western Cape Premier Helen Zille to the public on Friday.
In her 22-page response, Phiyega said police were concerned that while there were more than 500 CCTV cameras in the city centre, there were not enough in Khayelitsha.
“In a highly congested area, Khayelitsha, since September 2014, there is only one out of eight cameras that is operational, and is optimally utilised by SAPS to identify criminal groupings and individual suspects. The province needs to address this as a matter of urgency.”
She said the matter was escalated to relevant authorities last year but has not been addressed.
“A question begs to be asked as to why all the routes of the newly introduced MyCiTi bus service are properly monitored by CCTV cameras in Khayelitsha. Are the buses a priority of the City of Cape Town? This clearly indicates the attitude and the focus in this regard,” Phiyega said.
The city has denied the claims, saying Phiyega was trying to deflect attention from the failure of policing in Khayelitsha under her watch.
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith slammed Phiyega. “Khayelitsha has more CCTV cameras than any other suburb, except the Cape Town CBD (where cameras were installed mainly by the business community).
“The cameras are continuously serviced and at any time at least 95 percent of them are working. This is above the international best practice levels, so Phiyega is completely wrong,” said Smith.
He added that the city had a maintenance agreement in place with a contractor that continuously services CCTV cameras.
The city’s safety and security executive director Richard Bosman confirmed there was one CCTV camera in Khayelitsha that was not working, and it was because of vandalism.
“Of the 14 cameras, 13 are operating. The one that is not working is because of the continued vandalism of cables. The bulk of the cameras in Khayelitsha are working as I testified during the commission,” he said.
Meanwhile, the SJC will announce its programme of action and demands on Wednesday.
SJC senior researcher, Joel Bregman, said: “The national commissioner and the minister of police must be held accountable. The lives of people in Khayelitsha and communities across the country are at stake.”
Cape Times