Public Safety & Emergency Services

Emergency Response Call Centre: 031 – 361 0000 (24 hours)

(Metro Police, Fire and Disaster)

Disaster Management: 031 – 367 0000 (weekdays)

Police: 10111 (24 Hours)

Chief Fire Officer: Pakade Enock Mchunu

Enock.Mchunu@durban.gov.za

031 322-8744 / 031 322 8750

Senior Manager Operations/ DCO: (Post Vacant)
Senior Manager Support Services: (Post Vacant)

In Case of an Emergency

WHAT DOES THE ETHEKWINI FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES DO?
Saves lives, property and helps communities by:

Extinguishing fires.
Rescuing people and animals from danger.
Preventing fires and associated dangerous conditions.
Assisting in preventing further loss after emergencies

WHAT TO DO WHEN A FIRE STARTS.

Get out of the structure on fire.
Call the fire brigade (031 361 0000).
Do not go back into the structure.
Wait for the arrival of the fire brigade and direct them to the fire.
Attempt to extinguish the fire if you can do safely – DONT put yourself at risk.

HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR HOUSE ADDRESS
Speak slowly and clearly and tell the operator:

What is burning.
Your address: town/suburb/street/house number/cross road and well known features such as schools, churches, shopping centres, police stations.
Whether anyone has been burnt or injured

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE BURNT?

If your clothes fire: Stop running, drop to the ground, and roll on the ground.
How to treat a burn injury: Apply cold water to the entire burnt area and if possible put the burnt area under water.
Get medical help

WHY DO FIRES START?

People usually start fires – mostly by accident!
Keep heat sources (heaters, candles, stoves, cooking fires, matches) away from combustible materials (bedding, clothes, curtains, cushions, carpets, paraffin, gas).
Overloading electrical circuits or appliances.
Faulty electrical circuits or appliances.
Food left on the stove unattended.
Improper use of flammable liquids, gas.
Candles and paraffin stoves being knocked over.

IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY

FIRE & EMERGENCY SAFETY TIPS

What is land invasion?

Land invasion is the occupation of land for the purpose of building a dwelling or establishing a settlement without the express or tacit consent of the owner of the land or the person in charge of the land, or without any other right in law to settle on or occupy such land.

Organogram

Land Invasion Control is a branch of the Alternative Operations Department within the Security Management Unit of eThekwini Municipality. The staff establishment consists of 101 with just over 75% of them filled.

Functions and Deployment

Staff can be deployed at any of the +587 informal settlements throughout eThekwini Municipality. As a result of the vastness of the area, 60 changeable key areas over three Regions are identified for staff to perform they functions over. These functions include:

Patrolling of key areas to prevent or detect the unlawful occupation of Municipal-owned land and land of interest to the Council.
Remove unlawful occupiers from this land.
Demolish any unlawfully built structures.
Provide security to Human Settlements Unit staff during the relocation of housing beneficiaries and verification of settlements.

The Branch operates on a flexible hour shift system with the Radio Room been operational 24 hours.

Mode of Operation

Land Invasion Control is an in-house security service provider which renders a service to line departments within the Council. At most times, reports of unlawful occupation attempts are received from these departments. That department will then indicate which structures are to be demolished and that will be undertaken by Land Invasion Control. The profiles of informal settlements are maintained by Human Settlements Unit.

Other than line departments, members of the public hugely contribute to the reporting of unlawful occupation of land.

Contact details

All land invasion incidents can be reported through the Security Management Unit’s Radio Room by telephoning:

0313114701

0313114702

0313114667

0313114699

Land Invasion Control will thereafter attend to these incidents with the respective land owners and all stakeholders which the incident would affect.

LAND INVASION

DO'S AND DON'TS

Background

The eThekwini Municipality established Safer Cities project in 2000 in collaboration with the United Nations Habitat.

This concept was adopted after the International Conference for Crime Prevention Partnership to Build Community Safety which was held in 1998. It was attended by the Mayors from National and International arena.

The aim of the Safer Cities is to ensure that every citizen within the eThekwini Municipality is safe, and shares common understanding on community safety issues. Other stakeholders include all council departments, South African Police Service, NGOs, Community Safety Structures, Business Forum, National and Provincial Government Departments.

Programmes

The role of Safer Cities is to plan and implement community safety initiatives through an inclusive, multidisciplinary, preventative approach.

Safer Cities has the following programmes:

Social Crime Prevention Awareness Campaigns, Training and Dialogues
Anti-Substance Abuse Programmes
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Programmes
Street Committees
Gender Based Violence Interventions
School Safety
Community Safety Forum
Safety Audit
Homelessness (skills development & social services)

Click here to view the CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGY

URBAN SAFETY & CRIME PREVENTION

Strategic Objectives, Outcomes and Outputs

EFFECTIVE POLICING AND COMMUNITY SAFETY (STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE) AS PER ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY SAFETY & CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGY
Outcome

Provide coordinated service delivery on community safety

Outputs

Contribute to an improved policing service within eThekwini Municipality Area
Co-ordinate the enforcement and management of street beggars
Active participation in the national and provincial community safety program
Ensure the alignment of Metro Police Plan with the SAPS Area Plan and have joint community safety activities.
Co-coordinating stakeholder involvement in the effective management of the criminal justice system

TARGETED SOCIAL CRIME PREVENTION (STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE) AS PER ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY SAFETY & CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGY

Outcome

Empowerment of citizens in community safety

Outputs

Raise awareness on substance abuse
Facilitate the effective management of street children
Support local efforts to create safer school environments
Facilitate gender based community safety initiatives
Develop opportunities for youth
Raise awareness of family values, morals and human rights
Facilitate the implementation of targeted social crime prevention
Facilitate better management and enforcement of car guards
Establish on-going dialogues broad range of role players to generate projects to promote safety

BETTER DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SPACES (STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE) AS PER ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY SAFETY & CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGY

OUTCOME

Creation of a safer environment

Outputs

Develop a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Policy
Facilitate the implementation of CPTED policies
Raise awareness in the application of CPTED information to all relevant department and developers regarding the existence of CPTED
Facilitate the intervention of CPTED to improve safety along transport routes
Facilitate Crime Mapping Exercises

Research and Crime Analysis

(Strategic Objective)

As per eThekwini Municipality Safety & Crime Prevention Strategy

OUTCOME

Improvement of Community Safety facilitation and research management
Outputs

Improve the quality of crime information and analysis
Conduct community safety audits
Sharing of information between law enforcement agencies and community safety structures
Management of database
Mapping of victim support services

Community Involvement In Safety

(Strategic Objective)

As per eThekwini Municipality Safety & Crime Prevention Strategy

OUTCOME

Community Partnerships on safety (initiatives)

Outputs

Conduct educational programs regarding community safety
Sustain and support ward safety committees
Promote the willingness of citizens to participate in community safety
Share information about safety and how to improve it
Coordinating local community for initiating community safety projects
Effective utilization of recreational activities to promote community safety

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