10111 Emergency Call Centres Struggle with Ageing Technology and Staff Shortages
The South African 10111 emergency call centres continue to face challenges related to ageing technology and staffing shortages. Despite efforts to improve the service, which operates 24 hours a day for police emergencies, issues persist.
According to Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia, SAPS spent around R19.3 million on the GEMC3 and Mobile Data System used at the centres over the past five financial years. However, no capital investment was made to modernise or replace the three main systems supporting 10111.
The Cisco Unified Communications Manager infrastructure used by the centres has reached its official End-of-Life and End-of-Support status, meaning software updates, security patches, and manufacturer technical support are no longer available. Cachalia described this as presenting 'operational, reliability, cybersecurity, and system sustainability risks'.