DA oversight at 10111 call centre outage finds a “crisis”

Please find attached soundbite by Nicholas Gotsell MP.

This afternoon I went to the SAPS call centre which serves the 10111 calls made by people in emergencies who need the Police for urgent help. After a prolonged downtime and complaints from other stations over the past days, I remain deeply concerned.

The Senior Police Officials I met with today confirmed to me that the 10111 number has been down, or unavailable or intermittent for thousands of people who needed to get through to the police. They blamed Telkom, data providers and National Government agencies and pointed the finger, without any assurances of the problem being correctly identified, isolated, and repaired.

The senior Brigadier responsible for managing this call centre described them being in a "crisis" to me.

All the while it is people facing crime, violence, GBV and desperate circumstances who are now suffering in silence, unable to reach the Police.

I call on the Provincial and National leadership of the South African Police Service to urgently intervene and take control of this crisis. Residents must be able to reach an operator in no time when they face an emergency.

I commend the City of Cape Town, and Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, who has directed residents of Cape Town to the City's own emergency line instead.

The City of Cape Town runs a remarkable call-centre that is able to receive and handle emergencies with speed. Where the national SAPS drops the ball, the City of Cape Town under the DA continues to fill the gap.

Residents should contact the City of Cape Town emergency line on 021 480 7700 or 107 from a cell phone.