The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomed the City’s decision to repeal what it said was a controversial by-law. This comes after OUTA and the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) both launched legal challenges to stop the by-law from taking effect.

The by-law, passed by the City’s council meeting on 21 February 2025, would have forced property owners who installed private CCTV (closed-circuit TV) cameras to register with the metro police and pay annual fees, effectively taxing law-abiding residents for protecting their own safety.

The by-law was the Privately-Owned Closed-Circuit Television Surveillance Camera By Law, and it forced individuals and businesses to register their cameras, pay fees, provide plans, get sign-off from engineers, and blocked owners from sharing footage themselves but required City access to footage. In July 2025, both OUTA and SAPOA launched legal challenges against the by-law, warning the City that the by-law infringed on residents’ rights and added red tape without improving public safety.

The City is reported to have repealed the by-law at its council meeting on 2 September.

OUTA will not proceed with its legal action but will seek costs, formalised as an order of court, as the City chose to fight instead of heeding calls to repeal earlier.

“Repealing this bylaw is a victory for common sense. It was never about public safety – it was about squeezing law-abiding residents for more money,” said Advocate Stefanie Fick, OUTA’s Executive Director of Accountability.

“It should not take a court case to force the City to do the right thing. Leaders should listen to their residents before passing laws that make life harder.”

The City of Joburg council would serve residents far better by focusing on fixing decaying infrastructure and service delivery rather than dreaming up new ways to extract money from people already burdened by high rates and failing services, OUTA said.

“Why this bylaw was passed in the first place remains a mystery: was it incompetence, arrogance in thinking residents wouldn’t notice, or a desperate attempt to raise funds? Either way, it highlights the need for better leadership – leaders who put Joburg residents ahead of their own pockets,” said Fick.

“This outcome is a reminder that civil society plays a critical role in holding government to account when governance fails. OUTA recognises SAPOA’s parallel legal challenge as another crucial piece of the pressure that brought about this result. Joburg deserves leaders who focus on service delivery, not schemes to milk residents,” OUTA added.

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Varney explains that Vumacam’s network consists of poles with two license plate recognition cameras and one overview camera per configuration. The configuration is adaptable, depending on whether the area has high vehicle or pedestrian traffic. Additionally, poles are integrated with solar panels and power management systems to ensure continuous operation.

One of Vumacam’s biggest advantages, is its partnership with sister companies. Vumacam is part of a large group, which includes Vumatel, Dark Fiber Africa, and other significant fibre operators, enabling efficient infrastructure deployment.

Currently Vumacam has 7 000 cameras in public spaces, primarily in the city of Johannesburg, with recent expansion into the Western Cape and ongoing opportunities in the Eastern Cape, Polokwane and Mpumalanga.

Having first partnered with the City of Johannesburg, Vumacam has grown its relationship with the public sector to include the Gauteng provincial government. Commenting on the partnership, Varney noted Vumacam enables the provincial government, “with the data that comes with our platform, they’re able to dispatch the SAPS, the Highway Patrol, Flying Squad, and the Crime Prevention Wardens.”

The platform has significantly improved response times, said Varney, reducing from 18 – 30 minutes to 5 – 10 minutes. This he said, is “because the data that we’re using is so accurate, you’re able to then pinpoint, verify the alert that comes in, and pinpoint exactly where those [necessary] resources need to be dispatched.”

Public-private partnerships have allowed for seamless data sharing and effective crime reduction, with private security companies providing backup for public law enforcement, and vice versa. Previously, when private security companies intersected with an incident, guards were left waiting for law enforcement to arrive to affect the necessary arrests. Now, Varney notes, Vumacam is “able to ensure that we can provide backup for each other,” with this being key to reducing crime.

“We understand that we can’t do it on our own, but the ability for the public sector and the private sector to be able to work together has been massive, and I think something that we’re probably most proud of,” said Varney.

Vumacam’s network has facilitated significant crime prevention initiatives, including the interception of vehicles of interest across different regions. The benefit of multiple parties loading data onto a shared platform means if a vehicle is loaded due to an incident in one area, and is picked up in another, nearby parties or authorities can be notified to intercept.

In such a scenario, responders are notified with more than just vehicle info, said Varney. The number of suspects spotted inside the vehicle, and the crime it is believed to be involved in, are some of the alerts that can be shared.

“So you know [if] it’s a violent offender, you can approach with caution. You know, don’t take a knife to a gunfight,” said Varney.

“Our secret sauce is that we allow all of our partners, everyone who has access to the network, to be allowed to load their vehicles, deliver their SOPs to their customers in their own way, but benefit of the crowd sourcing, so to speak, of everybody loading data, and that’s ultimately how you eradicate crime.”

Looking to future opportunities, Varney notes “our future is bright,” and stated Vumacam plans to densify a national network. “We want to continue to work with the with the industry itself, to grow the density of our of our camera network,” he added. Future modules for Vumacam’s platform will allow operators to track vehicles by make, model colour and specific identifying features.

“We understand that, as soon as a vehicle is stolen, generally, the number plate is removed from the vehicle, but vehicles all have identifying markets. Whether it’s three license discs up the windscreen or logo on the roof, or roof racks on the roof, or paint, missing [the] side mirror. All of those become opportunities for us to continue to add value to the access that our customers have.”

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The incident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning, prompting immediate response from PRASA Protection Services.

“[The] City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services was dispatched to the scene, but despite their efforts, the fire persisted, necessitating swift action from PRASA Rail. Train crew members at home were promptly activated to move the locomotives and coaches to a safe location to prevent exposure to the fire.

“While the exact cause of the fire has not been confirmed, preliminary reports suggest that the fire may have originated from an underground tunnel housing cables belonging to City Power. The City Emergency Management Services have confirmed that the fire is now under control, with firefighting operations ongoing,” PRASA said.

No major damage has been reported on the coaches and locomotives, except minimal damage to the paint of a few locomotives and coaches due to heat exposure.

We will continue assessing the entire fleet that was relocated.

“At PRASA Rail, we acknowledge the seriousness of this incident, and we are taking every possible measure to ensure the ongoing safety and protection of our personnel and assets.

“We will continue to collaborate closely with the City’s Emergency Management Service throughout this process. Our team is actively monitoring the situation, and we will provide further updates as necessary,” the agency said.

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