A staff member of eThekwini Municipality was arrested on Tuesday afternoon, 20 February, for allegedly vandalising and sabotaging CCTV cameras connected to the City’s Emergency Service Control Room.
All the CCTV camera feeds are kept in the control room to monitor and detect crime while maintaining law and order. The 30-year-old man is facing charges of theft, sabotage and vandalism.
Vincent Ngubane, head of the Disaster Management and Emergency Services Unit, confirmed the arrest and said that an investigation conducted by the Metro Police, the City’s Integrity and Investigation Unit and the SAPS led to the arrest.
“The City has opened a criminal case against the suspect for theft, sabotage and vandalism of municipal infrastructure. The employee, who worked as one of the City’s CCTV camera operators, was served a notice of immediate suspension,” Ngubane said.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has probed the issue of dysfunctional CCTV cameras over the years, believing that crime in the city could be reduced if these cameras were operational.
DA Councillor, Sharmaine Sewshanker, said that there are over 400 non-functional CCTV cameras in the city and welcomed the arrest, saying that more heads are going to roll after this arrest.
“The Metro Police Department has been very reluctant to take over the monitoring of the CCTV cameras as they had promised last year. We believe that competent and experienced law enforcement officers should be responsible for the monitoring of CCTV cameras,” she said.
Sewshanker highlighted that most of the cameras were fixed last year. However, to date, these feeds are still being monitored by the Disaster Management Centre.
In addition to the sabotage, some of the cameras and cables were damaged and washed away in the floods, however, Ngubane assured the public that a detailed plan was in place and money had been budgeted for it.
After the employee’s arrest, Ngubane emphasised that the City will not tolerate any sabotage of municipal infrastructure, including CCTV cameras, even if the perpetrator is one of their own.
“The City will arrest anyone who tampers with and sabotages municipal infrastructure,” he emphasised.
Over the years, the eThekwini Disaster Management Unit has been under thorough investigation after more senior officials were suspected of criminal activity and money laundering related to CCTV systems, with cases still ongoing.
EThekwini Mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, commended the officers on the arrest and stated that the City is determined to root out any form of criminal activity within the municipality.
