The acquisition of the vehicles will form part of the Safety and Security Directorate’s capital expenditure for the current financial year.
The City of Cape Town’s Safety and Security Directorate will increase its fleet in the next twelve months, to ensure greater visibility and quicker response times to public complaints.
A capital budget of just over R428 million has been made available to the Directorate, which includes the Traffic Service, Metro Police Department, Law Enforcement, Fire and Rescue Service, Disaster Risk Management, Public Emergency Communication Centre and the Events Department.
The capital injection comes on the back of a 98,18% capital expenditure in the previous financial year, which was the Directorate’s biggest allocation.
Just over 50% of the new budget will go towards the acquisition of additional vehicles and replacement vehicles, particularly for the Fire and Rescue Service.
‘We have steadily increased our staff numbers in recent years to address the growing public safety needs in our city. It is not always possible to ensure that resources, like vehicles, match the growing human resources, and so this investment will be a much-needed boost for our departments, particularly in the enforcement sector. The vehicle fleet is essential for service delivery, and last saw a meaningful budget allocation before the 2010 World Cup.
Much of our fleet has become quite old, with high mileage and is in need of replacement as they are spending increasing amounts of time being repaired. This investment will not only increase our visibility on the streets of our most vulnerable communities, but it will also ensure that staff are able to respond more quickly to public calls for assistance in terms of crime prevention and by-law enforcement,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
Other capital projects on the radar include:
- Building improvements and upgrades across the Directorate, including initial work on a new fire station in Langa and the expansion of the Metro Police Training College
- Continued CCTV rollout
- Upgrading of IS&T systems and other communications systems
- Acquisition of hand radios and firearms
‘The City takes public safety very seriously. That is why we continue investing in our Safety and Security Directorate – not just on the side of enforcement, but also our emergency services. The last few months have demonstrated the need for effective disaster coordination, even in times of a health crisis.
‘The focus on the Directorate tends to be on the enforcement services, and this is important, given Cape Town’s ongoing struggle with crime and associated ills, but it bears reminding everyone that public safety expands beyond enforcement and we have a number of departments who do sterling work in this regard, like the Fire Service, the Disaster Risk Management Centre and its ever-growing volunteer corps and of course our Public Emergency Communication Centre, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary,’ added Alderman Smith.