The Company’s Garden, the oldest garden in South Africa and arguably one of the country’s top tourist attractions, is now under enhanced security. Through a partnership between the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID), SAPS and the City of Cape Town Law Enforcement agency, locals and visitors are already enjoying the benefits of increased safety measures implemented in the popular public space located in the heart of the Cape Town CBD.
According to statistics provided by the City Law Enforcement unit responsible for the CBD, the majority of infringements attended to in The Company‘s Garden and surrounding areas involved contraventions of minor bylaws such as loitering.
“Our objective is to proactively prevent the occurrence of these misdemeanours so that people can enjoy incident-free visits to the garden. We believe that by enforcing the basics we can ensure that more serious incidents do not occur. The essence of our strategy is based on vigilance, an approach that has been enormously successful in ensuring that the CBD is the safest in the country to live, visit and work,” says Tasso Evangelinos, chief operational officer of the CCID.
The Company’s Garden enhanced safety features include:
- CCID Public Safety Officers who patrol the garden and precinct on foot and bicycle who will continue to do so from 09h15 to 21h00.
- A 24/7 private security company, hired by the City of Cape Town, which is on duty from 06h00 till 18h00 (24/7). Its patrols include four officers working the day- and nightshift.
- Law Enforcement Officers who patrol the garden and precinct will continue from 07h00 to 16h00.
- Five overhead CCTV cameras in Government Avenue and another four cameras in The Company’s Garden itself. The cameras have assisted SAPS in apprehending suspects and monitoring safety.
- Regular patrols by the SAPS who also conduct horse-mounted, vehicular and motorbike patrols up and down Government Avenue.
- Involvement of stakeholders such as Iziko Museums and the Holocaust Centre.
The City of Cape Town would like to assure visitors to The Company’s Garden that the bollards at the top and bottom end of Government Avenue will not impede the security efforts of the teams: “Security and emergency vehicles can enter the garden from Avenue Street,” says the Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services, Councillor Tandeka Gqada. The bollards will remain there to ensure the safety of pedestrians, especially children, from arbitrary vehicles driving along the pedestrian avenue and endangering pedestrians.
“The City takes safety in the inner city and The Company’s Garden itself seriously, and has put a number of security measures in place to that end. City officials, security agency staff and partner organisations work together each day to protect visitors to The Company’s Garden and, to a large extent, succeed in this task,” says Councillor Gqada.
For any enquiries about The Company’s Garden security please call:
The CCID’s 24-hour Control Centre: 082 415 7127
The manager of The Company’s Garden: 021 400 2521
The Company’s Garden Law Enforcement unit: 082 453 2942