Joburg’s Small Street gets CCTV cameras, amaPanyaza on the ground

The Gauteng government has started installing CCTV cameras on Small Street in the Johannesburg inner city as part of its efforts to fight crime. 

Speaking on Tuesday night at the launch of the project, Gauteng MEC of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, e-gov, research and development Mzi Khumalo said Small Street was a concern for the provincial government because crime is a constant on the road designated only for pedestrians. 

“We were concerned that Small Street is not the street of yesteryear. We came to the conclusion that part of the problem is crime. If you talk to people there, they will tell you they are facing crime. 

“When the decision was made to introduce CCTV cameras, we thought we should prioritise Small Street. If you look at scenes that go viral on social media, you see a person is mugged and nobody helps. People just pass by. 

“We want the community to be involved in the fight against crime. It looks bad when someone is mugged and nobody does anything. We have deployed wardens and we will intensify this so no crime takes place there,” Khumalo said. 

The Gauteng government has installed 15 cameras linked to the command centre in Commissioner Street.  

The installation is part of a bigger strategy to introduce CCTV cameras in areas considered to be crime hotspots. Priority has been given to townships, hostels and informal settlements. 

In February, the Gauteng government signed a memorandum of understanding with Vumacam to give the province access to feeds from the company’s 7,000 cameras spread across the province. The memorandum enables the Gauteng government to install 1,100 additional cameras in townships and informal settlements. 

Chief provincial inspector of the Gauteng traffic police Ezra Nhlapo said wardens known as “amaPanyaza” have been deployed along Small Street. 

“At any given stage we know where law enforcement is. If those deployed on the ground cannot pick up an incident, we tell the person nearest to the incident. Private security is also there and so are police. When we alert the wardens, it means private security and police will back them up,” said Nhlapo. 

The time set for law enforcement and security to respond to an incident is between five and 10 minutes, depending who is the closest to the scene. 

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