2010 News

2010 New - Billions across Asia to watch World Cup

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:32:00 GMT

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2010 News - Cops nab suspects following journo's robbery

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:26:00 GMT

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2010 News - Foreign journos robbed

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:40:00 GMT

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2010 - News - Mall robberies down

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:48:00 GMT

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2010 - News - Police hunt for robbery suspects

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:53:00 GMT

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2010 - News - How did British Soccer hooligans gert caught in Dubai

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:59:00 GMT

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2010 - News - Guards rcovering after hostage drama

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:31:00 GMT

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2010 - News - Junior doctors could strike during World Cup

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:43:00 GMT

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2010 - News - No swine flu scare

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:52:00 GMT

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2010 - News - Police ready to assist WC Visitors

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:00:00 GMT

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Emergency work on 112 Number for the World Cup

Thu, 27 May 2010 10:06:00 GMT

Dear Member

http://saweatherobserver.blogspot.com/

Emergency work on 112 number for World Cup

The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (DCOGTA), which is constitutionally mandated with disaster management, has formed a task team to rationalise the country's 1500 emergency contact numbers before the FIFA World Cup that starts in just 30 days, but it may be too late.
Cabinet last week authorised DCOGTA to pick up the pieces of a failed 11 year project by the Department of Communications (DoC) to establish a single “112” national emergency number as well as the department is setting up two Public Emergency Contact Centres (PECCs) for that purpose.

There are currently more than 350 emergency centres handling calls and dispatching for the country's various police, ambulance and fire-fighting services.“The result is that South Africans have to know the telephone numbers of every emergency service provider in the country in the event of a specific emergency,” former DOC spokesman Albi Modise told defenceWeb in March 2008. “The new 112 emergency service will integrate all the services on one number, thereby allowing for a single entry in emergency situations, irrespective of the nature of the emergency.
The number is also easy to dial for people with disabilities, as the numbers 1-1-2 are close to each other.”

At the time the plan was that the PECCs would be run as a public private partnership (PPP) and the DOC intended to appoint a private partner for the financing, design, management, maintenance and operating of the centres on behalf of the government. By then nearly all of SA's big-name ICT and business continuity companies had requested qualification to tender, including Saab Grintek, Satyam Computer Services and Continuity SA. But no tender was ever awarded and the DoC became more and more reluctant to discuss either the tenders or the PECCs.

Mandate

The DOC was – and remains – mandated by Section 76 of the Electronic Communications Act, on the books since 2005, to set up the centres (although the DCOGTA likely as a better constitutional mandate and claim to the task). The same section authorises the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) to issue regulations on aspects related to the centres, which was done in 2008. SA's cellular providers already use the number for their emergency contact centres. The DOC has been tinkering with the PECC concept since 2002 and established a R80 million pilot contact centre at the Strand, near Somerset West, in 2004. That centre handled ambulance calls for the Cape metropole but is now being closed.

ITWeb reports the DCOGTA will now, in the time available, attempt to make existing police 10111 centres more efficient and effective, as part of its R54 million disaster management project; that according to ministry spokeswoman Vuyelwa Vika. This comes after plans to have a single national emergency number, 112, were abandoned with the closing of a R80 million pilot centre in the Western Cape.

By yesterday the DoC had again failed to respond to ITWeb queries as to why this centre was closed down and what stopped the establishment of a single national emergency number. “It was argued that there are more than 1500 emergency numbers in SA. For the purpose of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, it was confusing to subject visitors to too many numbers on emergency hotlines,” says Vika.

She explains that in a meeting held at the end of April, it was agreed that there would now be three emergency numbers – 10111, 10177 and 112 – published and promoted for the purpose of the World Cup.

Not good enough

Dr Cleeve Robertson, director of the Western Cape Emergency Medical Services (EMS) that benefitted from the PECC pilot, says this system will not be good enough because three numbers are still too many. He adds that it is now also too late to remedy the situation in time for the event. “The problem is that those numbers go to many different centres and there is poor cooperation between agencies. Calls get lost because of the poor system.”

The 112 number will be used by all mobile operators and, according to Vika, if any tourist dials 911, the call will be diverted to 112. “There is commitment from cellphone companies that they will not switch off from the caller until the caller has been assisted,” she adds. A database of various centres where assistance will be received, will be updated by all service providers, namely, Europa Assistance (MTN, business wing); ER24 (Cell C wing) and Vodacom (Nedcare/SOS associates), says Vika. She also says more staff members have been employed by all service providers and Telkom is having bilateral talks with other emergency units with regards to the rerouting of calls.

Vika explains that a database for all other emergency numbers will be jointly developed by DCOGTA and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. “The Department of Communications is currently in a process of developing a single emergency number but that process will not be ready before the 2010 Fifa World Cup,” adds Vika. Robertson sees this as a problem for the event. “It's not working for us who live here, so why would it work for tourists?”

He adds that, instead of systems being put in place for one month, they should be designed for the use of everyday citizens who need these services on a long-term basis. “People do not access services because we don't have a simple emergency number system, which through dialling 112 gets you through to a contact centre that can dispatch any emergency service within the shortest possible time.”

Consolidation

Robertson says the staff and centres for all three numbers should be consolidated and used for just a single number. “The resources are already deployed in the function by the different departments. They just have to pool all these resources to deliver on the system. The savings of taxpayers' money would be huge.” He adds that it is too late to implement this for the World Cup, but it should be worked on for afterwards.

ITWeb adds various EMS have called for the implementation of a centralised emergency number (112) because responses from the 10111 centres are delayed and not always reliable. Parliament, the auditor-general and the public have also slammed the centres for being ineffective “and rendering SAPS services futile”. All commented that, despite using systems which digitally track the response of each police vehicle and record all communication with the caller, the police have continuously failed to improve on service delivery.

In response to a Democratic Alliance parliamentary question last year, the minister of police revealed the nationwide average response time to calls made to these centres is 42 minutes. Vika now says the department is doing its best to improve this response time.

Pic: A look at the police 10111 contact centre at Midrand, Gauteng
Article: Defenceweb

2010 - Road Clousres at O.R Tambo International

Fri, 14 May 2010 12:51:00 GMT

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2010 - FIFA Rules_Smoking

Tue, 04 May 2010 12:20:00 GMT

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2010 New Release - Al-Qaeda

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:43:00 GMT

2010 FIFA World Cup: Al-Qaeda a Threat To the World Cup

The World Cup has been specifically targeted by the terrorist group referred to by the Western world as Al-Qaeda, according to media sources around the world.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/375671-breaking-news-the-world-cup-a-threat-for-al-qaeda

Road Closure

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:20:00 GMT

Good day all

In order to prevent unnecessary inconvenience, please take note of the traffic notice below, regarding the full closure of William Nicol interchange at the N1, this coming weekend.

Conversion of William Nicol Interchange

William Nicol Drive – Road Closed,

At Leslie and Sloan Streets.All access t0, from and over the N1 via William Nicol closed

Friday 19 March ’10 @ 22h00 To Monday 22 March ’10 @ 08h00

Alternative access to and from the N1:

Rivonia and Malibongwe Interchange to cross N1 from Sandton to Fourways or visa versa:

Detour Main Road or Grosvenor / Douglas Road

Regards
Continuity2010 Project Team

2010 - Cyber Security_ Draft

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:14:00 GMT

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2010 - SWC Client Communication

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:33:00 GMT

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2010 - Lottery Notification (Scam)

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:36:00 GMT

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2010 - Lesssons for the 2010 FIFA World Cup SA

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:58:00 GMT

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2010 - Hyundai Motors Group - email Scam

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:29:00 GMT

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2010 - News FIFA Assures SA Fans for 2010

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:24:00 GMT

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2010 - News Final 2010 info centre opens in Mpulalanga

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:30:00 GMT

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2010 - News Final Draw, a taste of 2010 World Cup

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:33:00 GMT

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2010 - News Flight_Crew_ Awareness

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:36:00 GMT

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2010 - News - Free 20101 World Cup fun zones

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:21:00 GMT

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2010 - News - Gautrain ready for 2010

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:42:00 GMT

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2010 News - Eskom Works to Avert Blackouts

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:51:00 GMT

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2010 News - Eskom Works to Avert Blackouts

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:00:00 GMT

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Security Issues

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:04:00 GMT

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Media Bulletin

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:34:00 GMT

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Royal treatment in Rustenburg

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:39:00 GMT

Royalty is ingrained in the culture of Rustenburg. One of the nine host cities for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. it is home to one of the country's richest royal families, the Bafokeng tribe under Kgosi (King) Lerou.

"We (the Bafokeng people) have a very rich history, we respect our cultures and tradition and that makes us unique," city official George Khonou explained to FIFA.com. "We're aware that some cities are not as well-known in South Africa. People know all about Johannesburg and Cape Town.

"However, during the World Cup, we want to put Rustenburg on the map. We want to be among those cities that leave a lasting impression on their visitors. We are looking at 2010 and beyond, and that means that we have to channel our energies in aggressive marketing in order to inform the rest of the world about this city."

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