As South Africa eases its Lockdown regulations to kick-start the struggling economy, the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) - which has been on the frontline in the Central City from Day 1 - takes stock of the last five months.
Lockdown in South Africa has been long and hard. Throughout all the levels, the Cape Town Central City Improvement District has held steady, remaining 100 % operational to ensure the Cape Town CBD, the most successful in the country, is safe, clean, caring and open for business.
CCID CEO Tasso Evangelinos says the organisation succeeded in delivering its mandate under extraordinary circumstances by “remaining relevant and reaching out to its partners”.
The organisation’s Safety & Security department worked with SAPS and the City’s Law Enforcement agency to maintain safety in the CBD and surrounds, while Urban Management teamed up with its service providers Straatwerk and J&M Cleaning services to keep the CBD clean and well-managed. Social Development partnered with its six main NGO partners to assist the homeless with essential services under Covid-19 while the CCID’s Communications department kept the wheels spinning, working internally and with its PR agency to keep all CBD stakeholders informed and to promote their retail offerings and the reinventing of their business models.
While the organisation succeeded in its mandate, Evangelinos admits that during the initial Lockdown period, confronting the unknown with little information on how to function was the CCID’s biggest challenge.
Below is a snapshot of the work conducted by the CCID’s departments from 26 March to 30 August 2020.
SAFETY & SECURITY
During the more stringent Level 5 Lockdown, CCID Safety & Security focused on protecting people, property, and the possessions of CBD stakeholders. When the country moved to Level 4, the department continued with its crime prevention efforts and reduced crime in the CBD in all categories by 73 %. The department registered 94 crimes from 27 March 2020 to 15 May 2020, compared with over 340 incidents during the same period last year.
In addition, during Level 4, Safety & Security introduced additional services to stakeholders. This included routine checks on residential complexes, a courtesy safety escort service to people who felt unsafe walking in the CBD and offering businesses which were trading with security when opening or locking up their premises.
When the Government eased Lockdown to Levels 3, 2 and 1, which saw more people coming back into town, the department focused on contact crimes including common robbery and the stealing of possessions from cars. The department also reintroduced its Traffic Wardens and students from its ambassadorial programmes aimed at preventing ATM Fraud and providing a safety presence in the Company’s Gardens. The department’s highlights from June to August include:
- 6 945 crime prevention initiatives
- 2 033 warnings issued
- 56 arrests made with City Law Enforcement
- 868 fines issued by City traffic wardens to a total of R634 200
- 23 499 checks on 788 buildings
URBAN MANAGEMENT
Under Level 4 and 5 Lockdown, CCID Urban Management deployed a roaming team from NGO partner Straatwerk to focus on so-called “hot-spot” cleaning and litter-picking. With fewer people in town, Urban Management cleaners contracted via J&M Cleaning Services concentrated on detail cleaning, disinfecting City of Cape Town green bins and areas that required thorough deep cleaning.
Taking advantage of the low footfall, the department cleared a substantial amount of litter, collecting 44.5 tonnes of waste in March 2020, 35.5 tonnes of waste in April and 42.2 tonnes in May.
When people started returning to town during Level 3 Lockdown, Urban Management launched a Sanitising Ambassador team which sanitises all high-touch surfaces across the CBD to curb the spread of Covid-19 and other infections. In addition, all Urban Management teams returned to work under Level 3. This included the Graffiti Squad, Gardening Services team and the Road Maintenance Team which is responsible for, among others, repairs to damaged pavement surfaces, damaged signage, cleaning channels and stormwater outlets and road-marking painting. The department’s highlights from June to August include:
- Removing 499 incidents of graffiti
- Cleaning 2 701 municipal drains
- Undertaking 162 road maintenance repairs
- Maintaining 581 tree wells
- Removing 190.86 tonnes of litter and waste
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
The CCID’s Social Development department worked together with its NGO partners during Level 5 and 4 to provide essential services including food, shelter, and personal protective equipment to the homeless. Working with its partners, the department also put pressure on the City of Cape Town to open some ablution facilities and established a sanitising station in the CBD for the homeless.
Ensuring that this vulnerable group understood and adhered to Covid-19 safety protocols was also a priority during engagements between the department’s field and social workers and the homeless.
During Level 3, Social Development launched its Winter Readiness Programme aimed at making winter bearable for the CBD’s homeless during the cold, rainy months. This included financing of additional bed space at Youth Solutions Africa for 3 months for 25 people and food worth R30 000. Even as Lockdown levels were relaxed to Level 2 and now Level 1, the department has continued its engagements with the homeless, helping them to go home or find a way of moving off the streets. Here are some of the department’s interventions from June to August:
- Interacted with 384 people living on the streets
- Placed 73 adults in shelters
- Assisted 31 adults to get back home
- Referred 36 clients to TB HIV Care, Straatwerk and Streetscapes
- Referred 96 people to NGOs for general services and 26 people to winter readiness programme
COMMUNICATIONS
During all levels of Lockdown, the CCID’s Communications department has worked hard to uphold the organisation’s reputation, inform stakeholders on rules and regulations and promote the Cape Town Central City.
As Lockdown regulations have changed, the department has kept CBD stakeholders informed via all available media channels, its website, social media pages, e-Newsletters and newsflashes. During the four months of Lockdown, and working with its PR agency Atmosphere Communications, the Communications department produced over 180 media clips to an advertising value equivalent value of over R4.5 million, reaching an audience of over 240 million people. It produced nearly 300 Facebook posts for its three Facebook pages and mailed four e-Newsletters to over 20 000 subscribers.
With eased Lockdown levels, the department seamlessly combined remote work and being office-based. As more businesses started opening up with relaxed Lockdown rules, Communications shifted its focus to promoting these outlets and continues to encourage investment and economic growth into the CBD. Communication’s initiatives from June to August include:
- Generating 136 media clips to an advertising value equivalent (AVE) of R 3 475 413 reaching an audience of 162 160 316
- Writing 354 Facebook posts on the CCID’s 3 Facebook pages
- Producing 3 e-Newsletters which each reached 5 100 subscribers
- Writing and producing its signature economic publication, State of Cape Town Central City Report 2019 – A year in review
- Writing and producing the Winter 2020 edition of the CCID’s quarterly newspaper, City Views
IMAGES: CCID