The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality wants to speed up communication and get a quicker response to any danger threats against municipal workers by creating a WhatsApp group among the relevant departments.
The city will also equip security staff with bulletproof vests and radios in an attempt to protect them from criminals.
In addition, municipal security, metro police and the SAPS, along with community structures, will receive special instructions on how to prevent attacks on municipal workers.
These are some of the plans that will be implemented from Wednesday as part of the city’s contingency plan to prevent attacks on municipal officials.
The document was tabled at a special safety and security portfolio committee meeting on Tuesday following attacks on municipal staff who attend to leaks, burst pipes and electricity outages in Bay townships and the northern areas.
Safety and security executive director Keith Meyer said his department had been dealing with incidents in an uncoordinated manner.
“I am worried about the situation out there, it requires intervention,” Meyer said.
“The attacks mean service delivery is hindered.”
Meyer said the attacks on municipal staff – for which he had no statistics – had become so prevalent that officials had refused to go to some areas.
“On many occasions, they have been robbed . . . under extreme life-threatening situations.”
Meyer said the refusal by workers to respond to complaints mostly led to service delivery protests.
The WhatsApp group will include senior managers from the municipality, legal services, communications staff and metro police officials.
In the event of an attack, the security or artisans would be able to alert all the relevant departments to send back-up.
Other aspects of the plan include video recording of all incidents to be used in court; metro police and municipal security to patrol hotspots areas, and weekly meetings to discuss plans for the following week.
The plan was welcomed by all councillors, but the DA questioned where the money would come from.
DA councillor Gustav Rautenbach said he was concerned that the safety and security department had already spent most of its overtime budget.
Rautenbach also said the plan lacked detail.
“[It] does not say how we will go about protecting our own security when they are dispatched.”
Portfolio chair Litho Suka said the attacks on workers happened across departments.
Suka said health officials had also told stories of trauma. “[They] said people who are attacked in the street tend to run into the clinics for cover, only for the attacker to [follow].”
Suka said financing would be discussed at a multi-department meeting on Wednesday.