CRIME-fighting initiative eBlockwatch has expressed its concerns about the City of Johannesburg’s new by-law CCTV by-law requiring property owners to register their cameras if they are facing public spaces.

The by-law was promulgated last month after a council meeting, according to ActionSA councillor and chairperson of public safety Section 79 committee Sarah Wissler.

eBlockwatch’s Andre Snyman said the requirement to register CCTV cameras was abusive and the current system is working that the municipality was dismantling it.
"I don’t mind working with these guys but let’s work in a proper way. That is my frustration. eBlockwatch is an essential a hub for crime that comes in and then we disseminate to the right places,” he said, adding that the new by-law has created a storm.

According to Snyman, the city’s by-law amounted to banning him.

"They are saying I cannot disseminate any information that comes to me that is so urgent that there is a person kidnapped out there," he explained.
He said law enforcement was not entirely clean and some officers work with syndicates and they are going to break eBlockwatch’s existing crime fighting system that has been built over 20 years.

In addition, Snyman said the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia) is there to protect Joburg residents in this case. "We cannot give the information to some institution and they watch and the information could get out of the control room and they could be working with syndicates,” he said.

Snyman also believes the by-law amounted to violation of privacy. He said one of the systems of crime fighting in this country is that communities have put networks together, structures, alarms and fencing and all sorts of technology together to help people stay safe.

Snyman said what the City of Johannesburg is doing is telling property owners that will have to register their CCTV cameras but could be absolutely impossible.

"We can’t even get them to other jobs properly like fixing potholes let alone come and register my camera. The reason why we have had to do this is because of the criminals who are actually beating us, so we have put up at great expense cameras out there to forewarn us when anything happens and now a lot of time crime is happening that we are not even aware of," Snyman complained.

He said the current system was their defence mechanism and it is what is keeping people safe.
"That is what is keeping us safe from being attacked by criminals. More importantly is that with the collective eye that we have with the communities, if something does happen with the collective communication we have within WhatsApp we can notify each other,” Snyman added.

He likened the system to having extra security guards that do not sleep, that are attentive all the time and that have a memory span that help them remember exactly what a criminal looks like.
Camera-based technology company Vumacam has also voiced its opposition to the by-law.

Vumacam said having considered the promulgated by-laws, its view is that the legislation in its current form places significant, unlawful restrictions on privately-owned CCTV cameras, which are onerous and overly restrictive to commercial, private, and residential camera owners.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za