In an effort to beef up security and ensure the safety of all citizens, the Municipality has installed 14 Closed Circuit cameras at the Redhill cemetery.
The installation of the high-tech cameras comes after community members of Redhill complained of gun-fire salutes and other illegal activities taking place at the cemetery during funeral proceedings and at night.
The cameras, which cost close to R800 000, provide coverage for the entire cemetery. They also have an Internet Programme (IP) with high resolution pixels and infra red. This allows for a crystal clear picture when zooming into a particular spot, even at night time. The cameras are monitored from an LCD screen at the cemetery and plans are abreast to set up a back-up system at the City’s main Disaster Management Centre.
Head of Disaster Management & Emergency Control Unit, Vincent Ngubane, said that the IP technology used is of higher quality and is less labour intensive than the traditional analog used in previous years. “The system has a programme that enables it to detect any physical movement that happens within the cemetery. It can be set to ring off an alarm to alert the operator when movement happens in a demarcated area,” said Ngubane
The installation of the CCTV cameras at the cemetery is a pilot project which the Municipality hopes to roll out to other Municipal facilities.
Ngubane appealed to members of the community to take care of Municipal property and treat it as their own. “The Municipality invests a lot of money developing and building infrastructure for the benefit of the community. When vandalism and criminal activities take place this hampers the speed of service delivery and negatively affects other projects aimed at bettering the lives of the people of eThekwini.”
