Businesses in Vilakazi Street to expand camera installations beyond precinct

Businesses owners in Vilakazi Street Precinct‚ Soweto‚ have started embarking on a plan to expand extra security measures beyond the famous tourist destination.

This was revealed by Sakhumzi Restaurant marketing manager Archie Tsoku‚ days after City of Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba officially unveiled a new CCTV surveillance system last Wednesday.

"I think businesses on Vilakazi Street will engage the City further [because] the mayor is an open and business minded person as well. He is conscious of the role tourism plays and so for him to be competitive as a City and to attract more tourists in his City‚ he will be keen to support further key steps to be taken that will encourage tourism‚" said Tsoku.

"One of those [steps] will to be to expand the network of the surveillance system beyond Vilakazi Street. The starting point would be to create corridors of entry and exit into Soweto and identify where do people go when they come to Soweto. We need to create a visitor corridor that is secure initially and ultimately in the long run‚ the entire township Soweto should be seen as a tourist destination‚" he said.

In February this year‚ Kwesi Hudson‚ a manager at Sakhumzi restaurant‚ was shot dead during an armed robbery at the internationally recognised restaurant after he informed two suspects that business for the day had closed.

This incident then raised questions about crime levels in the area‚ which then prompted Mashaba to make a commitment during Hudson's memorial service.

Hudson‚ 60‚ officially joined the restaurant in 2015 to help expand the business.

"We feel very honoured‚ privileged and proud of the gesture shown by the mayor of Johannesburg Mr Herman Mashaba‚ we feel he has set an example to government leadership of how you turn a promise into a commitment. We feel that this surveillance system is a very integral part of a security plan because for tourism‚ you need a security system that is not intrusive to customers‚" Tsoku told TimesLIVE at the restaurant on Sunday evening.

He said surveillance is key so that movements are monitored by the "state of the art facility" that has been installed and said it will definitely go a long way toward combating crime in the area.

"So the plan would be to keep on engaging the City and in that way‚ the visitors numbers will grow in Soweto. The more security measures we introduce‚ the more safer visitors will be. So proportionally‚ the cameras are technically paying for themselves. It's going to be a cost to the City‚ but because the visitor numbers will increase‚ they can offset that cost against the expenditure of the visitors once they are in our City‚" added Tsoku.

Other tourists attractions in Soweto include the Credo Mutwa Cultural Village‚ Kliptown Orlando Towers‚ Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum‚ Mandela House and the Regina Mundi Church.

He pointed out that there's a need for businesses in the Vilakazi precinct to increase night tourism and that with the installation of cameras‚ they will play a major role at night because Soweto does not experience high tourism in the evening.

"This also applies for domestic visitors. They are not in their high numbers during night time so we need to also introduce patrollers on the street that are not carrying guns‚ but that can act as tour guides so that people can feel much secure. Business owners (on Vilakazi Street) are working on a business association and they are almost there and through that association‚ they will create a fund that will employ patrollers and through that‚ they can even partner with some suppliers with the food and beverages industry‚" he added.

Tsoku said Mashaba had committed two Johannesburg Metro Police patrol cars with immediate effect from the day of the launch which are dedicated strictly to Vilakazi Street.

A customer who was at the eatery‚ Tshepo Digamela from Pretoria‚ said this was a great initiative and people must embrace the first step to combat crime in the area.

"It's an excellent initiative considering that we've got international tourists who are frequently visiting Vilakazi Street so we need to protect our image as South Africans to attract more tourists from overseas. For me‚ I am in favour of these cameras because you must remember that we carry the legacy of our struggle icons so we don’t want to tarnish their image‚" said Digamela who was having a few beers with a companion.

He felt the that the installation of cameras in the street was just the beginning.

"In each and everything that we do‚ you need to start somewhere. Vilakazi Street is just a start for greater things before they can go further. Camera installations in other streets are still coming but this street is the centre of the economy of the entire Soweto do they were ought to start here‚" he added.

However‚ Refiloe Motsepe from Diepkloof said crime doesn't affect her and people she knows‚ therefore the installation of cameras is "crazy" because it is reactionary.

"It doesn't affect me in a way because I feel that the incident that happened here (Hudson's killing) was directed to the person. It's not the first time coming here. I felt safe before the shooting and even after the shooting I still feel safe. If they feel the need to install cameras here‚ then they should install cameras everywhere else because this is not a hotspot for crime‚" said Motsepe.

"How can one incident make it a hotspot?” she asked.

"That's crazy because there are too many places where more than five incidents happen but no cameras are installed. Honestly‚ I thought these cameras were installed before the incident. You know‚ society is different. If a hobo gets shot in the same environment‚ it's a small issue but if one perceived important person gets shot‚ now it's a big issue‚" she added.

Luyanda Mfeka‚ who works in Mashaba's office‚ said the metro has no immediate plans to expand the system to other parts of the township.

The 25 cameras were donated by telecoms company Huawei and will monitor the street 24 hours a day‚ along with two Johannesburg Metro Police vehicles which Mashaba said would be to strictly monitor crime.

- TimesLIVE