The South African Police Service is from April going to pilot a body-worn digital camera venture which can see at the least 100 bodycams launched into the police power yearly for the following 5 years.
In a written response to a parliamentary query from Democratic Alliance MP Mzamo Billy, police minister Senzo Mchunu stated the deployment is aimed toward enhancing transparency and accountability within the police service.
“The SAPS plans to provoke the procurement course of with a goal of buying 100 body-worn cameras yearly. This phased strategy will enable us to steadily combine this know-how throughout totally different models, making certain a clean transition and efficient implementation,” Mchunu stated in his reply to Billy.
In line with Mchunu, the estimated value for every bodycam is R28 818, which means the venture will at minimal value R2.9-million/yr and R14.4-million over 5 years.
In an announcement, the DA criticised the plan to deploy solely 100 bodycams a yr as too few, particularly “contemplating there are almost 179 000 law enforcement officials in South Africa”.
“At solely 100 cameras a yr, the chance of this initiative being undermined by preventable losses is excessive. With out correct monitoring and accountability measures, the roll-out may very well be whittled away to virtually none inside a number of years,” stated the DA’s Billy within the assertion.
The bodycam initiative was first mooted by former police minister Bheki Cele in 2019, however setting a date for its implementation has taken a very long time. In line with a report in The Citizen, the SAPS lastly despatched out a request for data in November 2024. As a part of the initiative, the police wish to collaborate with municipalities and companies to leverage dwell digital camera feeds as a part of its crime-fighting arsenal.
Tech-led reforms
Information of the bodycam venture follows the promise of government-wide tech-driven reforms by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his state of the nation deal with earlier this month.
Ramaphosa talked about the overhaul of the gov.za platform, the digitisation of residence affairs and the institution of a digital forensics lab amongst many different tech-led initiatives. It’s now as much as finance minster Enoch Godongwana to allocate the funds for these initiatives.
Learn: DA requires more durable Rica guidelines in crime battle
“You will need to observe that whereas we’re dedicated to this initiative, the general finances for the procurement of body-worn cameras might be contingent upon the provision of funding,” Mchunu wrote in his reply to Billy. “The SAPS finances is at the moment underneath important strain as a result of rising priorities and different crucial wants.” — © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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