• R30m annual budget for Public Safety, Social Uppliftment, etc.
• Everybody pays. No freeloaders. All funds ring-fenced for Camps Bay
• Strict governance, annual audit, transparent competitive tenders
• Volunteer Directors, annually elected
• 300+ CCTV cameras covering all road intersections and green belts
• 3x 24/7/365 TAC vehicles
• 2x 24/7/365 dedicated Law Enforcement Officers with power to arrest, take down illegal structures, enforce by-laws
• 18/7 Beachfront patrol guards
• 24/7 Control Room
• Neighbourhood-wide radio network
• Upgraded, safer green spaces
• Cost = R87.69 incl. VAT per R1m property value per month
• e.g. R10m value property = R876.90 p.m.
• 50% of residential properties will pay less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day

It’s simple. The CID will cost you R87.69 per R1m of your municipal valuation incl VAT.

So for example if your municipal valuation is R11.9m, it will cost you R1,043 per month, or R34 per day. Half of all properties in Camps Bay are valued at less than R11.9m, meaning most people will pay less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day.

The proposed CID contribution rate of R87.69 per R1m of municipal valuation is at the lower end of CIDs that contain a residential component, and considerably lower than most other CIDs along the Atlantic Seaboard. The rate is slightly more than Llandudno and slightly less than Clifton.

If established, Camps Bay CID will be the second largest CID with a residential component in the City of Cape Town. The associated economies of scale enable us to put forward a comprehensive solution and provide the best possible value for additional ratepayers.

This answer is provided by Chris Willemse, Chair of the Camps Bay & Clifton Ratepayers Association:

CID is the acronym for a City Improvement District, which is a legislated entity whereby the residents of a demarcated area (Camps Bay, in this case) agree to a percentage increase on their rates and where that full amount so levied, is used by that community to bolster services to actively fight, mainly, crime and grime. In other words, the CID could use the money to increase the number of policing members and cleansing staff.

The CID regulations derive its authority from national legislation and the process is driven by a volunteer steering committee – in this case by representatives of current civic bodies in the area.

You ask a valid question as to why, given our already high rates bill in the area, we should have to pay more.

Unfortunately, the answer is that we will receive no more services than at present and that if we don’t help ourselves, then nobody will. This is not a defeatist attitude but a pragmatic one occasioned by a failing police force and the City which is at full stretch and also tied up in its own bureaucracy. The situation is unlikely to improve in the near future.

The Covid-19 pandemic also saw a massive increase in the number of homeless people being attracted to Camps Bay, which has also brought a lot of “day trippers” to the area to beg from the increased number of post-Covid tourists. Security on the beachfront has become a major issue of late, with brazen attacks on members of the public.

All of this points to the need for the community to galvanize itself and take responsibility for its own future. In a perfect world, this would be the responsibility of the various authorities but that remains a dream here, sadly.

There are many local civic organizations that are successfully dealing with the many problems facing the community but they remain underfunded and cannot achieve their full potential.

These organizations are run by volunteers and are, basically, unsustainable unless supported by the entire community. They include CBCSI (security) and Ignisive (the reintegration of homeless people), CBCRA (planning and general matters), CPF (liaison with SAPS) and CBW (Camps Bay Watch) and others.

The CID has to operate with the framework of the Company’s Act and transparent budgeting and expenditure is the order of the day. This presents an opportunity for residents to become actively involved in their own affairs. The CBCRA is fully supportive of the CID initiative, as it will involve the entire community and all income from increased rates will be ring fenced for the use in this area (and not into the City’s bloated bureaucracy). 

100% of the levy is ring-fenced and allocated to the CID. Every month the City will pay over 97% of the amount theoretically owing, regardless of what is collected. At the end of every financial year, a reconciliation for bad debts is done, whereafter the 3% retained every month will be paid over after deduction of actual non-payments.

Firstly, there is a means-tested rebate mechanism already in place with the City. For those with low enough income, rates will be rebated, which means that the cost of the CID is also rebated, up to 100%

For those whose income isn’t low enough for the City’s rebate, we’ve arranged discounted pricing for a product known as a “reverse mortgage.” Please contact us for further details about this, if you fall into this category.

We think that it’s reasonable to say that an effective CID will enhance property values relative to what they would be in the absence of a CID, and the cost of the CID is in the region of 0.1% of value. So even if you have to borrow the money to pay for it, it at least pays for itself.

All CIDs have the same governance structure, comprising a non-profit company with a board of directors (all of whom must be property owners in good standing with the City) that is responsible for the management of the CID.

In our case, all of the directors will serve pro bono in an oversight rather than operational or executive capacity.

Professional management will be employed to manage the day-to-day affairs of the CID. In due course it will be decided whether or not to employ additional employees and/or subcontractors in order to carry out the functions and services of the CID, in accordance with the business plan and the budget contained therein.

The current Steering Committee will become the inaugural Board of Directors if/when the CID is implemented, and will all work pro bono for the CID. Thereafter, directors will be re-elected annually (by members of the CID) in accordance with the City’s mandated processes.

In accordance with disclosures provided here, no member of the Steering Committee in any way currently derives nor in future expects or hopes to derive any financial or other benefit from the CID or the application process.

CID management and operations will either be employed or outsourced to suitably qualified professional service providers. The expected cost thereof is in process of being determined and will be set out clearly in the mandated business plan and budgets that will be presented to the community at the first public meeting.

A firm of professional auditors will be employed for this purpose, selected in accordance with good governance principles.

Monthly management accounts will also be produced.

When compared to the complex problems of ensuring the safety of all residents, the issues around vagrancy, begging and illegal shack building, amongst others, litter picking is straightforward and cheap to solve.

Existing volunteer community clean-up initiatives are doing valuable work, but lack the scale, flexibility, accountability and long-term sustainability to be relied upon as the only solution to keeping the whole of Camps Bay clean at all times.

Therefore the CID will contract a professional team of street sweepers and litter pickers 24-7, which will be dialled up or down depending on the season, busy beach days etc, according to demand. Like all CID contracts, this will be subject to a competitive tender process.

The CID will consult and coordinate with volunteer community cleanup initiatives to integrate with and supplement the work of the professional cleaning team(s) to maximise efficiency, and encourage and support them to the maximum extent possible.

Camps Bay, especially the Beachfront, is a magnet for vagrants and beggars, especially during tourist season. Various government and municipal entities are tasked with managing the attendant problems of homelessness, vagrancy and crime – including Western Cape Provincial Social Development, SAPS, Law Enforcement and others.

The methods for dealing with vagrancy and homelessness are different depending on whether single individuals, families or children are involved. Each category has a different process stipulated by the authorities.

Navigating these processes requires significant collaboration and NGOs such as Ignisive are capable of building and maintaining the strong relationships required to deliver this collaboration. This has already been demonstrated.

Without the work that has already been done, Camps Bay’s vagrancy problem would be considerably worse than it currently is, and trying to stay on top of things requires continuous work.

A CID will provide a sustainable solution to this by funding the necessary collaboration and resources required to better coordinate and access existing programmes and implement new programmes for minimizing vagrancy and its effects. This includes:

• Funding projects such as the Community Stewards Programme, which selects vetted individuals from among Camps Bay’s homeless to work as official car guards, provide crime intelligence, help displace aggressive, disorganised car guarding, and offer a dignified transition to formal employment;
• Expanding the Community Stewards Programme (longer hours, plus other locations where informal car guards operate);
• Providing funding for Responsible Giving campaigns, working with restaurants and guest houses to minimise hand-outs to those on the streets;
• Providing a dedicated liaison with SAPS and the City to ensure that Camps Bay issues are on the agenda and dealt with by these organisations;
• Building a database of contacts in existing public and non-governmental organisations who can supplement the resources deployed in Camps Bay.
• Volunteer capacity for such initiatives no longer exists, and they won’t happen without a CID.

At the same time, the CID will pursue a zero tolerance to crime within the confines of the law, including:

• Two 24-7 dedicated Law Enforcement officers, at least one in a Tac vehicle, with the powers to arrest, detain, search and transport suspects to SAPS, and deal with anti-social behaviour
• Three Tactical vehicles patrolling 24-7
• Dedicated professional staff to follow up cases with SAPS and assist them in crime investigation
• Private Security foot patrols, especially in the beachfront area
• Monitored cameras to identify criminal / suspicious / anti-social behaviour

Upgrading all greenbelt areas for the enjoyment of all residents, increasing foot traffic, providing eyes and ears, displacing vagrants and ensuring Camps Bay remains free of illegal structures and other illegal activity.

Swift removal of any new illegal structures and accelerated removal of existing ones (see

FAQ: ‘Will the CID be able to remove shacks?’)

Taken together, Camps Bay will cease to be comfortable place for vagrants and petty criminals, resulting in a cleaner, safer, neighbourhood. All of this can only be done with financial resources that a CID can provide. There is no viable or sustainable alternative.

See also FAQ:

I’m in favour of a zero tolerance approach. Why can’t suspected criminals and vagrants be immediately uplifted and removed from Camps Bay?

The CID will aim to deploy a dedicated team of security services, including a combination of foot officers, mobile response, control centre, law enforcement and  technology to holistically address all issues of crime. Some of this is already being done by CBCSI, but with nowhere near the level of resources and funding required.

The CID will coordinate with statutory bodies such as the CPF (Community Policing Forum) and CBW (Camps Bay Watch) to minimize overlap and maximize collective effectiveness. Existing CBW and CBCSI Telegram and WhatsApp groups will be integrated and/or rationalized to maximize effectiveness of “eyes and ears” and information sharing.

The focus will be on enforcing bylaws to inculcate a culture of law abidance. Existing CBW and CPF relationships with primary agencies such as SAPS and City law enforcement units will be converted from part-time (provided by volunteers) to full-time (provided by CID employees and/or sub-contractors) to better and more consistently hold SAPS and the City accountable for the services that they are meant to deliver.

The CID also intends to expand the camera network, incorporating additional key points in the neighbourhood (e.g. green belts known to be access routes for criminals) into existing monitoring systems.

Overall, the aim is to increase our capacity and resources for proactive prevention, monitoring and response. What we’re seeing in Camps Bay in part follows naturally from the success of neighbouring CIDs, which has caused a natural migration of crime to areas such as Camps Bay where fewer policing and response resources are available.

Unfortunately a CID cannot address the socio-economic problems that lead to crime, but it can and will mitigate and improve the management of the consequences and thereby improve the situation for residents and businesses on a daily basis.

Power supply is unfortunately a national problem, and CIDs are by law limited to dealing with local problems.

That said, the CID will of course explore all options within its remit in this regard, including proactive management of Eskom and the City for satisfactory maintenance of all electrical infrastructure in Camps Bay.

In the unlikely event that the establishment of alternative sources of power within the neighbourhood and for the neighbourhood is possible and economically feasible, then the CID would certainly pursue that.

Similarly to the electricity problem, this is an area where the CID will engage with the responsible primary agency to ensure that the relevant infrastructure is regularly and proactively maintained, and will be the primary mechanism by which the community holds such agencies to account for delivery of services in a manner that minimizes the negative health, etc effects of sewerage disposal.

Whilst a CID does not have any ability to influence the City’s property valuations or the level at which rates and taxes are set, a community approach to this issue might be facilitated through the CID and the Ratepayers Association. It is important to remember that none of us can determine where in the City our rates and taxes are spent, but all of the money collected via the CID will be spent in Camps Bay.

While the Steering Committee recognises that many property owners are unhappy with the valuations that they have received and therefore the rates that they must pay, it believes that it would be counter-productive to conflate this issue with all of the other pressing problems facing residents and property owners. The valuation issue should be pursued separately.

In other words, whether or not the City’s valuations process is fair does not change the need for us to take control of solving our neighbourhood’s problems with crime, vagrancy, cleansing, and so on.

Once established, the CID will continue until it is dissolved. A business plan is submitted every 5 years in accordance with City of Cape Town procedures, subject to approval by members. (Any property owner within the boundaries of the CID, in good standing with the City, may become a member)

DISSOLUTION OF A SPECIAL RATING AREA 16. DISSOLUTION 

1.     The Council may dissolve a special rating area:

(a) upon written application signed by the majority of owners within the boundaries of the special rating area who are liable for paying the additional rate; or 

(b) after prior consultation by the CFO with the management body or the community, for any good cause, whereupon he or she may cause the management body to be wound up. 

(2) Upon the winding up of a management body, the entire net value of the management body, including its net assets remaining after the satisfaction of all its liabilities, shall be disposed of in terms of the relevant provisions of the Companies Act and the memorandum of incorporation of the management body.

Our taxes subsidise municipal functions everywhere EXCEPT Camps Bay. Whilst ideally our taxes should be sufficient to keep Camps Bay at the standard we are used to, the reality is evident to anyone who goes to one of our parks or the beach.

At the moment, we benefit greatly from generous donations of money and time to security and cleanliness schemes from business and individuals, but it is not sustainable to rely on the same people indefinitely.

We will gravitate to the lowest common denominator if we rely on the State. Our town will be only as clean and as safe as any other township in the City. The small amount that will be added to our rates and spent directly in Camps Bay will preserve and enhance the value of our properties. It will replace many of the costs you currently have. Llandudno, Hout Bay and Clifton all have CIDs. That will push the crime and grime towards us and make it impossible for us to avoid the CID charge by moving anywhere else.

This is, in our view, the only option we have to preserve the value of our properties, responsibly address the social problems we have and put in place long-term programmes. It would be great if we could rely on the City to do all of this, but the reality is simply that we already rely on money and time invested by citizens and if we don’t formalise those systems, things will get a lot worse.

The CID will be incorporated as a non-profit company (NPC) in accordance with City of Cape Town regulations and may also be registered as a PBO. We are awaiting finalisation of the City’s draft policy document on PBO status. The City has indicated that it has legal advice to the effect that the additional rates levies payable to the CID do not qualify for S18A deductions against ratepayers’ income tax.

No, there won’t be any adjustment to future rates. The level of municipal rates is determined centrally according to a City-wide budget. In principle, CID contributions are for additional services that the City does not currently provide to Camps Bay, together with other services such as private security, cameras etc. Currently, the majority of the rates paid by residents in Camps Bay are used for other areas in the Cape Metropole. The rates that are raised by the CID would ALL be used for Camps Bay.

If established, the additional rates levy will be mandatory on all business properties that fall within the area of the CID, as well as all residential properties. The City refers to business, or commercial properties, as ’non-residential’ properties. Non-residential properties will pay a higher rate in the rand when compared to residential properties. Residential properties will pay R87.69 per R1m of municipal valuation, while non-residential properties will pay R162.44 per R1m of municipal valuation.

A CID does not have special policing powers. Where it will deliver on the examples above is by providing additional resources and coordinating those resources exclusively for the benefit of Camps Bay. For example, additional dedicated law enforcement officers would accelerate the process of removing illegal structures, issuing fines etc.

The purpose of these additional resources is to benefit the whole community; as such it would not replace alarm monitoring companies such as Bay Response and FADT. However, the additional tactical vehicles that the CID would deploy throughout Camps Bay could and would respond to any emergency, including a homeowner or business emergency, and we anticipate that this additional capability would shorten response times to all emergencies. 

The CID will continue to work with municipal and private suppliers. It is a firm principle of the CID set-up and governance that it provides a professional mechanism for coordinating all municipal and private resources, as well as adding to these resources. This professional coordination is key: although much has been achieved with volunteer resources, it is no longer sustainable. In our experience, “we are still waiting for…” often means “no one is talking to each other…”. Professional coordination will go a long way to solve this.

Any CID has limited powers and cannot shut down roads without the authority of a primary agency. Joint agency operations will be negotiated with Primary agencies such as SAPS and City to conduct Vehicle Check Points and roadblocks providing logistical support for these type of operations which ordinarily would not occur due to lack of resources.

Subject to consultation and the business plan, we would anticipate License Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras at all entry points to Camps Bay, and other strategic locations within the suburb, linked to the City-wide database so that all known suspicious vehicles entering will be immediately flagged, tracked and intercepted. The Steering Committee also will investigate other technological solutions to ‘virtually’ manage perimeter security.

The Business Plan provides for two 24-7 Law Enforcement officers with powers to fine and arrest, travelling with the CID’s tactical vehicles for fast deployment to enforce all by-laws, including illegal shack building.

While Metro Police (municipal funded, not to be confused with SAPS which is funded nationally) have some additional powers, these relate to non-moving violations, certain specialised crimes and the execution of warrants, which are of limited additional benefit to CIDs.

There is a mechanism by which CIDs can deploy Metro Police officers, however there are numerous disadvantages. They are 3 times as expensive, require their own equipment, vehicle and training, all at the CID’s expense, and cannot be deployed on CID vehicles, limiting the command and control ability of the CID over their movements. The training and recruitment process is also much longer, hampering deployment.

These disadvantages outweigh the advantages of any additional powers over Law Enforcement officers, and to our knowledge no CIDs deploy any additional Metro Police.

No, although the CID may fund additional traffic resources.

This is not currently within the remit of the CID.

The City regulates how a CID receives its income. There are processes by which a CID can apply to both the City and Province to address specific issues and this is something the CID would certainly consider once established.

These are governed by bylaws and are often overlooked by primary agencies such as SAPS. These laws fall under the custodianship of the City Law Enforcement. The CID will contract two 24-7 dedicated Law Enforcement officers with powers to fine and arrest, to strictly enforce these and all other bylaws.

A CID would have no jurisdiction to directly address this issue, but would be well-placed to apply the necessary pressure with the right authorities.

It should be self-evident that each part of Camps Bay has its own security and other issues, and every owner feels differently about what the priorities of the CID should be.

It should also be obvious that together we are only safe if we are all safe, otherwise we merely shift crime from one part of the suburb to another.

The purpose of the CID is to make the whole of Camps Bay better, cleaner and safer, by deterring criminals from coming here in the first place, and making life very difficult for them if they try. This includes managing the growing problems of illegal shack building, aggressive begging, vagrants and the other social ills that plague the beachfront and greenbelt areas.

The CID’s big budget items – a suburb-wide professionally monitored camera network, three tactical vehicles, command and control and dedicated Law Enforcement officers – will be spread relatively evenly across different parts of the suburb. Social development will be primarily (but not exclusively) directed at the beachfront, but a safe, clean and well-maintained beachfront is of value to all residents, not just those who live there, and reflected in property values. 

Instead of short-sighted focus on the direct benefits to one area alone, the CID should be viewed as a holistic, long-term solution to Camps Bay’s various and diverse problems. One that  – when put together – will make everyone safer, and Camps Bay a better place to live, no matter which part of the suburb you live in.

In our consultations with other CIDs, it became clear that the biggest issues occur at the edges of the CID, because the problems get pushed to the boundaries. Note the large array of shacks and shelters along one side of Upper Buitengracht that forms the boundary of the CBD CID, among many other examples.

As well as failing to address problems elsewhere, a CID along the beachfront strip would push the issues of begging, vagrancy, shack building and associated crime into adjacent streets and greenbelt areas, concentrating the problems there and providing no solution to Camps Bay as a whole.

By contrast, a suburb-wide initiative will leave no area untouched and the problems will be forced out of Camps Bay and Clifton altogether. This is the objective.

With our neighbours along the Atlantic Seaboard and the City creating new CIDs and expanding existing ones, the pressure on areas not covered by a CID will increase, further compounding our existing problems.

Finally, CIDs covering small areas are expensive, being unable to take advantage of the economies of scale associated with a professional management team and other fixed costs. Expanding gradually, or trying to combine multiple small CIDs in future would be highly inefficient and would also take many years, during which time our problems would intensify.

A CID covering the whole of Camps Bay is therefore the best solution.

The Steering Committee spent a lot of time discussing potential options for the Business Plan, and consulted far and wide, particularly with other CIDs regarding what has been found to be effective elsewhere.

The short answer is that while we could of course reduce the budget, doing so would not be optimal, and would result in substantially less effective outcomes, particularly for public safety and dealing with homelessness / vagrancy / illegal structures.

For example:

1. Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) are an absolute must. Without them, we would not have power of arrest, which is crucial for dealing promptly with (for example) the building of illegal structures. In case you didn’t know, the law says that once the roof is on a structure, however ramshackle, then the occupant cannot be evicted, hence speed is often of the essence. Given your location at the top of the Little Glen green belt, we’re sure that you appreciate the importance of this.
   
2. We absolutely have to have multiple tactical response (TAC) vehicles, as we often have more than one incident in progress at a time, and we need to be able to get LEOs to the location of these incidents quickly. And of course having only one LEO would leave us very exposed when a second incident happens, so two LEOs is again an absolute must. We would actually have preferred three, but kept it at two in an attempt to keep costs contained.
   
3. Foot patrol officers are an effective deterrent to crime, begging, vagrancy, etc in busy tourist areas, which our beachfront strip most certainly is. Unfortunately, the strip is often busy 14-18 hours a day, which increases the need (and cost) further.
   
4. Blanket coverage of road intersections and green belt edges using CCTV is key. Reducing coverage would create gaps for criminals and vagrants to exploit. And again, without sufficient resources (TAC and LEO) to respond to alerts a large CCTV network would not be effective.
   
5. Our solution has to be holistic and integrated. For example, if we cut costs and only clean up the beachfront then from experience at other CIDs (which have taken less integrated approaches) and from CBCSI we know that the homeless structures will simply migrate to the green belts. Again given your position at the edge of a large green belt, it is very much in your interests that our plan includes proper upgrading, maintenance and monitoring of those spaces to remove escape routes and hiding places and increase foot traffic.
   
6. Similarly, a properly integrated plan for social services is key, for both ethical / compassionate reasons and for public safety. Our plan gives homeless people a viable alternative to living on the street (i.e. rather than simply shifting them off to some other place, likely our green belts), and demonstrably increases public safety also.
   
7. We agree that it would be ideal if our rates and taxes paid for all of the above, but that’s unfortunately not how reality works. Nonetheless, a key function of a CID is to hold the City (and other government structures, including SAPS) to account for performance, so that will be a big part of what the CID’s full-time staff will do every day. 

Under our proposals, half of all property owners will pay R1,043 extra per month, less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day.

If you are already paying R395 per month towards the voluntary Camps Bay Community Security Initiative (CBCSI, which the CID will replace), that will fall away. We believe that this is a very reasonable amount to invest in ensuring the long-term value of your property, safety of your family and quality of your life in Camps Bay.

Firstly and most importantly, the municipal legislation doesn’t allow for the CID to charge a fixed amount per property. It must be linked to municipal property value in exactly the same way as normal rates.

Even if it were allowed, over 50% of properties would pay more than they do under a valuation model, and this burden would fall on the lowest valued properties, which would be highly regressive.

Furthermore, a CID is expected to boost property values relative to what they would be without a CID, reflecting the reality that Camps Bay will be a cleaner, safer place to live, and therefore in greater demand at a time when low crime is a critical component of quality of life in South Africa.

A rise in property values obviously benefits highly valued properties the most. For a 10% rise, a R9m property would see added value of R900k, while a R25m properties would see added value of R2.5m. It is therefore logical that a higher valued property would be willing to pay a higher CID contribution in absolute terms. The CID contribution is equivalent to roughly 0.1% of property value, far less than the value a CID would be expected to add. On this basis alone, a CID should be worth supporting.

This is one of the reasons why an overwhelming majority of property owners of the most highly valued properties in Camps Bay support a CID contribution based on a valuation model, despite the fact that they will pay the highest amounts in absolute terms.

But to reiterate, the legislation does not in any case permit us to use any other model.

Cameras to identify suspicious/illegal behaviour, and provide evidence post-crime for follow-up by the CID’s professional public safety team;

Private security foot patrols, dialled up or down depending on season, busy beach days, etc;

Ignisive-style trained car guards with linked radios providing additional eyes and ears and intelligence reporting;

Two dedicated 24-7 Law Enforcement officers, at least one in a tactical vehicle at all times. They have powers to fine, search and arrest on the spot, and can transport suspects to SAPS using any CID vehicle; If Camps Bay SAPS holding facility is full, they can be transported to any other SAPS holding facility (e.g. Sea Point, Hout Bay), using CID vehicles.

This area is just outside the boundary of the CBD CID, hence no action is being taken, or can be taken, by the CID. There are no illegal structures within the actual CID area. The same is true of all the other CIDs in the City: the problems get pushed to the boundaries. Camps Bay and Clifton won’t have that problem.

No. The CID will work with CBCRA in the same way that it will work with all community organisations, but fighting illegal developments is not within the CID’s mandate.  

The CID will however assist with illegal dumping by builders during construction, ensure trucks don’t illegally block roads and ensure all bylaws are complied with, including working hours etc.

On a basic level, the reality is that we cannot police away poverty. Instead, holistic, integrated strategies are required if any sort of success is to be achieved.

We aim to achieve greater success than SAPS and the City through a number of measures. Crucially, these involve integrating the strategies for Public Safety, Social Upliftment and Urban Development and Upgrading.

a.     The CID will be present in Camps Bay 24/7, dealing with vagrancy / homelessness / illegal structures 24/7. In contrast, SAPS does not deal with these issues at all, and the City’s relevant resources are in Camps Bay to deal with these issues less than a few hours a week on average.

b.     The employment of 2x 24/7 dedicated Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) will give the CID the ability to deal with illegal structures immediately upon report. And placing the LEOs inside of 24/7 TAC vehicles means that they will be able to respond speedily.

c.     We have budgeted for foot patrol officers, who will deter vagrants and beggars, and ensure that we spot and deal with illegal structures / rough sleepers in areas such as the beachfront much faster

d.     The CID’s proposal to massively expand the CCTV network (covering all road intersections and green belt edges) will be able to spot potential rough sleepers / structure builders before they enter the spaces that they intend to illegally occupy. The 24/7 control room will then deploy the necessary resources to deal with this in real-time.

e.     Our Social Upliftment proposal (based on the Ignisive model … again, no contracts awarded yet) is a proven way to compassionately yet firmly get people off the street and into shelters. At the same time, this programme displaces informal (often aggressive) car guards and replaces them with polite, clean, sober, vetted car guards. We intend to extend this programme to everywhere that informal car guards are found. This in turn expands our “eyes and ears” on the ground even further, enabling faster reporting of petty crime and erection of illegal structures. Ignisive-style car guards also have an obvious incentive not to allow any “competition” by informal beggars and hence have already proven a good way to prevent new / additional street people from taking the place of those that we manage to get off the street.

f.      Our Urban Development and Upgrading proposal includes the rehabilitation and upgrading of our many, many green spaces. Most of these are currently havens for vagrancy. CBCSI currently receives on average 1-2 reports a day of illegal structures going up and/or campfires being started. Addressing this requires that these spaces be made safe for residents, that sightlines be improved, etc so that hiding places for criminals and illegal structures are minimized. Please visit the Shanklin Crescent Park for an example of what is possible in this regard (previously this space was derelict and regularly required rough sleepers / illegal structures / etc to be removed but since rehabilitation and ongoing maintenance began the problem has entirely disappeared).

As you can see from above, we have proposed an integrated programme, one in which overall success is very much dependent on the presence of all of the components. The primary purpose of our work was to make sure that there was sufficient budget to tackle the problems properly. There is of course scope for modifying any of these proposals once we move to implementation.

Note that all of the above must operate within the bounds of the law. In particular, attempting to push the law and/or do anything illegal will invite aggressive counter-action from certain activist NGOs and political parties, which will result in the sort of problems already seen in certain parts of Sea Point. A lot of work is already happening behind the scenes in this regard in Camps Bay, and our problems here would be much worse otherwise. This work is however being done by volunteers, who are burnt out, and is no longer sustainable.

Short answer:

Leaving aside ethical and practical issues, uplifting and removing individuals without due process is illegal and unconstitutional and anyone attempting to do so will soon find themselves under arrest. It is therefore not a strategy. The CID’s integrated Safety and Security and Social Development strategy will address these issues within the confines of the law.

Long answer providing more clarity:

In all civilised democracies, the process of apprehending and removing suspected criminals is governed by a legal framework and human rights considerations. While there may be a desire to address issues swiftly, there are several reasons why individuals cannot be immediately uplifted and removed without due process. 

There are several reasons why our law does not permit suspected criminals (including vagrants) to be immediately uplifted. The principle of the “rule of law” implies that actions taken by law enforcement and the government must be in accordance with established legal procedures and principles. Arresting or removing individuals without proper legal justification would violate the rule of law.

In addition, South Africa is a Constitutional democracy and the Constitution protects us all against arbitrary state actions including by granting each one of us, including suspected criminals and vagrants, the right to a fair trial, the right to legal representation and protection against arbitrary detention. Any attempt to immediately uplift and remove individuals without respecting these rights would be unconstitutional. Due process also requires that suspected criminals are formally charged, informed of their rights, and given an opportunity to defend themselves in court.

There are also obvious ethical issues and practical issues with arbitrarily “uplifting” vagrants, some of whom have mental health and other issues. The simple fact of the matter is that if people representing Camps Bay were to behave without due process they would soon find themselves under arrest. As such, immediately upliftment and removal is not a strategy that can even be considered.

Law enforcement authorities are both trained and have the power to process suspected criminals. One of the key provisions of the CID Business Plan is the deployment of two 24-7 dedicated Law Enforcement officers, at least one in a Tac vehicle, with the powers to arrest, detain and search. This resource will also be better deployed by our use of camera technology and an integrated radio network to respond faster and prevent anti-social behaviour from taking a foothold. This is the only way in which we can address the symptomatic side of the problems within the confines of the law.

In addition, the CID Business Plan aims to implement various programmes to address the cause of the problems, including a Social development team to co-ordinate the various municipal and provincial authorities where required. Experience shows that without these efforts being co-ordinated, nothing happens. With co-ordination, it does.

For more details, see our other FAQs for how the CID’s integrated Safety and Security and Social Development strategy aims to solve this and other related issues.

The City of Cape Town required us to nominally allocate someone to each of the major areas of the CID (Safety and Security, Social Development etc).

In practice, these designations are arbitrary and all members of the Steering Committee, and the two paid consultants (including Mo Hendricks who has 20+ years of CID management experience), are involved in all areas, especially Safety and Security which forms the cornerstone of the CID strategy.

Therefore the Steering Committee should not be viewed as a collection of portfolios, but rather a cohesive team of individuals working together in all aspects of the CID establishment process, with one common objective.

Short answer:

Yes.

The CID will ensure that any new shacks are removed within hours. 

The CID will accelerate the removal of existing shacks.

Long answer:

The City also has two units that are dedicated to land invasion and the erection of illegal structures: the Land Invasion Unit and the Displacements Peoples Unit (DPU). When a complaint pertaining to an illegal shack is lodged, the City dispatches one of these units to address it. 

The problem is that these units are small and must manage the entire Cape Town Metropole, so response times are frequently measured in months. However, the reality is that any Law Enforcement officer can address this issue if they are correctly resourced.

The methods used to address it can be divided into two categories.

Category 1 – Structure erection

The law allows for any structure that is in the process of being illegally erected on public land to be immediately removed and the building materials used to be confiscated. The problem is that when the mandated unit eventually get there, it is usually too late and the structure is not only erected, but people have been residing in that space for a period of time.

Having a Law Enforcement officer on a CID vehicle 24-7 would mean an immediate response to the complaint. The erection would be halted, the CID urban team will be called in to assist with the breakdown and removal of materials used to erect the illegal structure, and the removal of materials to a City storage facility. The CID will not need to wait for one of the City’s two dedicated units to assist. The structure will be removed within hours. 

The CID’s visible Public Safety Officers, Tac Vehicles etc will also ensure that the offender does not return to try and re-erect the structure. If they do, it will be again be removed immediately.

Category 2 – The Structure is already erected.

Once a structure is erected the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act (PIE) comes into play. A court order would be required to forcibly remove the offender and the dwelling and possibly provide alternate accommodation.

In this situation, the City is required to formally apply to the court for an eviction notice. The City then serves notices to the affected offenders and gives them a period to accept the offer or face eviction. This legal process is long and fraught.

To the extent that there are existing illegal structures at the time the CID becomes operational, the CID will accelerate their removal, and the reintegration of occupants as follows:

 
–           By ensuring that the affected area is on the City’s list of areas to be applied for eviction.
–           By ensuring that the area around the structure is cleaned and managed in terms of litter, refuse, faeces etc

–       Further policing other bylaw contaventions associated with the illegal structures such as illegal fires, dumping, drug usage etc

–       CID Social Development assistance (in conjunction with the relevant City and Provincial authorities) with accessing shelters, family reunification or transportation back to places of origin

–       CID Social Development assistance (in conjunction with the relevant City authorities) with grant applications, job skills training, job placement

Furthermore, the CID’s Environmental Upliftment strategy will upgrade all greenbelt areas for the enjoyment of all residents, increasing foot traffic, providing eyes and ears for any new structures, displacing vagrants and ensuring Camps Bay remains free of illegal structures and other illegal activity.

Around 25% of the community pays towards CBCSI. Over the years there’s been plenty of volunteer effort to increase that percentage, but it doesn’t budge.

 And even if we get to 100% then CBCSI still won’t be able to achieve anything close to what a CID can, for many reasons, not just money.

CBCSI has only survived because of the generosity of two large donors who between them have given somewhere in the region of R4-5 million. Without that money CBCSI would have been dead several years ago, and we can’t expect those two people to keep on supporting all the rest of us.

It’s not fair to expect volunteers to do everything while the majority of people freeload.

 So no, CBCSI cannot be rescued. It’s done it’s time, it’s helped us keep our head above water but is no longer a viable solution.

No member of the Steering Committee has ever been remunerated for anything to do with the CID, and never will be.

When people were asked to join the Steering Committee, we made it clear that no conflict of interest would be tolerated, no matter how small.

Collectively Steering Committee members have given in the region of 30 to 40,000 hours over the last 20 years between us, and at least one of us is over 10,000 hours. That’s a lot of time that we would rather have spent with our families or on the beach.

None of us have ever been remunerated, and all of us have donated money to various community projects.  Collectively between us I believe that the total amount donated is in the region of 2 or 3 million Rand in the last 10 years.

However, service is its own reward.

The proposed budget for the CID in the first year is R29,879,085 rand and the basic salary costs, excluding UIF etc, are 2,520,000 which is 9.7%% of the total.

There is an additional allowance of 10% for bonus which is included for planning but is discretionary based on the achievements of the CID and the individuals.

The Steering Committee debated at length the proposed structure with the objective of minimizing the overhead costs and we concluded on the following 4 roles.

CID Manager

Safety and Security Manager

Operations Manager (non-Safety and Security)

Communications, Volunteer and Administration Manager

The roles above can be broadly explained as follows:

• The CID Manager will answer to the Board and take overall responsibility for all of the day-to-day operations of the CID. All of the other roles will report to the CID Manager, who will also be responsible for the commercial functioning of the CID and liaison with the City and other related structures;

• The Public Safety Manager will be responsible for oversight of all public safety service providers and will interface on a day-to-day basis with SAPS and other local security structures;

• The Operations Manager will be responsible for the oversight and delivery of all of the activities within the Cleansing, Urban Maintenance and Social and Economic Development plans. This includes the daily operations of the teams, liaison with the service providers and co-ordination and integration of the activities across these related areas; and

• The Communications, Volunteer & Administrative Manager will be responsible for the liaison with volunteers, communicating with residents and providing administrative support.

More details of the accountabilities are available in the business plan

At this point it is anticipated that the majority of services, for example cleaning and maintenance will be outsourced so the budgets for these are part of the operating expenses and will be subject to transparent tender processes.

The budgeted salaries for the roles were set based on inputs from other CID’s and organizations and reflect the scale of the management task involved in running a 30 million rand organization.

The CID Manager role is considered a senior management role and has been budgeted accordingly.  This role carries significant responsibility to the board, to the city and to the community for overall delivery of the plans.  The next biggest role is the Public Safety Manager which is a highly operational role responsible for the co-ordination of efforts across the largest part of the budget with multiple service providers and multiple city departments.

No appointments or promises have been made and the roles will be advertised when appropriate but for planning purposes we believe it is both robust and reasonable.

With no budget for social development, who will liaise with City and Provincial authorities to have street children who aggressively beg and steal taken into care? [By law they cannot simply be removed; see FAQ “I’m in favour of a zero tolerance approach. Why can’t suspected criminals and vagrants be immediately uplifted and removed?

Who will ensure yellow-bib car guards (sometimes aggressive and/or drunk) don’t continue to harass visitors and residents on the beachfront strip? 

Who will liaise with the City’s social workers to ensure shack dwellers have a shelter to move to? (note that this is a legal prerequisite before an existing shack can be removed; see FAQ “Can the CID remove shacks?”). 

Who will ensure that the NGOs whose model includes street handouts and soup kitchens don’t establish operations in Camps Bay, thereby attracting additional street people and rough sleepers into the area?

Who will liaise with tourism organisations, guesthouses and rental agencies to manage continuous responsible giving campagins to reduce well-meaning but misguided handouts by tourists to vagrants and beggars?

These and many more are all practicalities that simply will not be dealt with in the absence a CID that has a meaningful budget for Social Development.

The CID’s budget for Social Development is intricately linked to that of Safety and Security. The CID will have zero tolerance to criminal behaviour as far as the law allows, but without being able to address the issues above, the beachfront problems will not be solved.

Most of the costs will be spread evenly throughout the suburb. The exceptions are foot patrols, which will likely be focused on the beachfront area (although may be deployed anywhere), and Social Development, which tends to be focused on the beachfront area, although it will apply to all areas, especially greenbelt areas where problems with vagrancy and illegal structures exist. 

It’s worth noting that there is a considerable concentration of commercial properties with very high municipal valuations along the beachfront, on which CID levies will be payable at a much higher ‘rate in the rand’ than residential properties. For example, two commercial properties alone along the beachfront will be contributing more than R40,000 each per month to the CID. In this way, most of the burden of additional resources on the beachfront will be bourne by businesses.

It is also important to note that the beach and beachfront is an important utility area for most residents, and keeping it clean, safe and upgraded is of benefit to all residents, and is an important part of the Camps Bay ‘brand’.

While every resident will have a different perspective on their own personal security, we all value living in a clean, safe neighbourhood. The answers lie in keeping the criminals away from Camps Bay altogether, not an arms race to fortify the security of every property more than the next.

Furthermore, safety and security goes far beyond the confines of one’s own private property, and includes the need to feel safe in the streets, on the beachfront and in the many mountain and green spaces that makes Camps Bay a unique place to live.

We believe our business plan will deliver that security for everyone. This has huge additional value.

In fact we believe the reverse is true. Firstly, once a CID is established, the municipality is required by law to maintain the same services as before. The CID supplements these services (as well as adding new ones not provided by the City, such as monitored cameras and tactical vehicles), it doesn’t replace them.

Secondly, the professional CID management team will hold the City to account to deliver these services we already pay for, and where they are lacking, demand better delivery. This is currently only possible using our dwindling base of volunteers.

As to what we think the municipality SHOULD be providing for the rates that we pay, that is a political question. The answer is to vote for a political party that would allocate a higher proportion of the City’s budget to Camps Bay. That political party doesn’t exist. The alternative is to take meaning control ourselves. That is what a CID will do.

Fewer and fewer public resources are being dedicated to Camps Bay. For example, only two Law Enforcement officers are typically allocated by the City to Camps Bay part time, and they are expected to enforce all by-laws, including dealing with vagrants and illegal shacks. Given the increasing pressure of illegal dwellings, this is not sustainable.

SAPS Camps Bay is heavily understaffed, with police numbers decreasing every year. With up to 20,000 visitors per day in summer, our police resources are completely inadequate.

Private security firms such as Bay Response and ADT do their best to assist, but their commercial interest, and duty of care, lies in monitoring and responding to clients’ house alarm systems, not policing public spaces, and their capacity is extremely limited.

Currently, CBCSI (Camps Bay Community Safety Initiative) is the only community-funded initiative that attempts to plug the holes in our community policing needs. You can read more about CBCSI here: https://cbcsi.org/

CBCSI is funded by voluntary contributions of R395 per month. Despite the best efforts of the Trustees, only around 20% of households contribute. As well as being an unsustainable drain on volunteer resources, this budget is nowhere near sufficient to put in place the safety and security and other solutions that we now desperately need. A well-funded, long-term, community-led solution to these and other problems is urgently needed, and a CID is the only realistic solution.

Three Tac vehicles with integrated radio network across all security providers

Two 24-7 Law Enforcement officers mobile in the Tac vehicles with powers to fine and arrest, including preventing the spread of shacks by reacting to new ones within minutes

State-of-the-art cameras covering the perimeter greenbelt point to point, plus all other key greenbelt areas, major roads and almost every road intersection in the suburb, Licence Plate Recognition where required, all professionally monitored with AI analytics and armed response from the three Tac vehicles

Guard foot patrols along the beachfront, dialled up and down depending on season, busy beach days etc

Integrated social development plan for vetted Community Car Guards the whole length of Victoria Rd and more, displacing unofficial car guards, providing eyes and ears and crime intel, linked by radio

Systematically upgrading all greenbelt areas to make them safe, enjoyable places to visit, thereby displacing vagrants, criminal elements, and shack builders.

Read our business plan for more details.

No. The City is obligated to sustain existing service levels and to provide basic services as per the Constitution. Each CID will engage with the various service departments regarding the level of services to be provided by the municipality. This enables the CID to decide on the ‘top-up’ services required.

All new budgets, and therefore all future CID contribution rates, must be approved at an AGM of the members of the Non Profit Company (NPC) that manages the CID. Any property owner in good standing with the City may apply to become a member, and therefore vote on the budget. Budgets are always set for a 5 year period.

The question of the next 5 year budget (2029-2034 as things stand) would therefore be a matter for the NPC at the time and would depend on operational requirements at the time, any surplus the NPC has etc. In addition, any new budget receives a high level of scrutiny from the City of Cape Town, and requires their ratification.

In the case of other CIDs, the contribution rate-in-the-rand tends to stay fairly constant between 5 year budget periods.

CBCSI will no longer be necessary and will fall away. The debit orders for the R395 per month voluntary contributions to CBCSI will terminate. In addition, CBCSI is no longer financially sustainable, and will cease to exist during the course of 2024, with or without a CID, leaving Camps Bay with no community security response initiative.

Please email us as soon as possible with your name, the name of the entity under which your property is registered, the physical address, email address and cell number to connect@campsbaycid.org

There is a formal consultation period until 23 September 2023, during which time all comments and questions must be emailed to connect@campsbaycid.org. If necessary the business plan will be revised and presented at the second public meeting, anticipated to be in Oct/Nov 2023, after which time voting will start.

If all goes according to plan, the CID could be up and running as early as July 2024. Meeting this target will not be easy, but with your support it is achievable.

A general list of FAQs about CIDs, provided by the City of Cape Town, can be found here further down on this page.

If you still have further questions that you feel haven’t been adequately answered, please feel free to email the Steering Committee on connect@campsbaycid.org.

You can also follow us on WhatsApp, Telegram, FaceBook, Instagram for updates and information.

The exact model that the CID will use will depend on negotiations with service providers closer to the time of implementation, but the following is a guide to how camera monitoring typically works:

Modern cameras use intelligent analytics to trigger an alert when a human figure, and/or vehicle is detected, depending on how the analytics are set. This technology is improving all the time, and forms the first layer of filtering. 

An example of how this integrates with a public safety and security system is as follows:

Professional monitoring companies typically employ what is known as ‘black screen monitoring’, whereby the cameras generate an alert once it has seen either a person or vehicle or both (depending on settings). This alert is sent through to the monitoring company in the form of an image or short clip which goes into the monitoring company’s queue system. 

This is very different to old systems, which required hundreds of screens to be monitored by a small number of individuals who have to watch live feeds constantly. (Have you ever tried to watch hundreds of movies at the same time?)

At the monitoring company, typically a team of human operators are waiting for the alerts to come in and just like at a bank, an automated system ensures that the first operator free takes the oldest alert.

The operator will view and verify the alert, often within seconds. They have the ability to view the image or clip generated by the alert which is often a clip starting a few seconds before the alert on the camera to a few seconds after the alert. They also have the ability to view that camera, and any connected cameras, live.

Different environments can have different protocols assigned. For example, an area where people shouldn’t be walking at night might be set to escalate if any person is seen, whereas areas where people are known to move through regularly may be set to alert only on suspicious activity.

The human operator is trained to make a judgement as to whether the activity that triggered the alert amounts to suspicious behaviour. If it is not considered suspicious, no action is taken. If it is considered suspicious, the human operator then escalates the alert as per the protocol which could be to a more specialised control room, or directly to an armed response company.

This forms the second layer of filtering.

A more specialised control room comprises a core group of experienced controllers who work closely with each other and the various response resources. For this, they require direct and intimate knowledge of every street and green belt area, as well as an understanding of the community, and the resources available to the community.

What this means is that when an alert is escalated to them by the monitoring company, they are able to dispatch a physical resource to intercept while they digitally investigate. With a thorough knowledge of the area and past activity, they can predict movement of the individual(s), open up relevant cameras close by and monitor the individual(s) on live view, or open cameras in areas where they predict the individual(s) may show up. 

They can perform playback of the alert to see what the monitoring company considered suspicious and use their knowledge of the community to guide their reaction. For example, they may know that the person seen is a particular resident that walks their dog every evening at 22:00 or a worker that arrives in the area at 04:00am and requires no further action. 

They know through the feedback and relationships with the community’s response resources who the trouble makers are and who the individuals are that are unlikely to be a threat. Therefore they know if they need to send a response, or just monitor the individual(s) to know they leave the area and when in doubt, protocol dictates that a response is sent to investigate further. 

If necessary, the response will be coordinated between different service providers (including, for example, private alarm monitoring response companies).

This specialised control room, which takes alerts escalated from a professional monitoring company and uses intimate local knowledge to inform the correct response, is the model that CBCSI currently uses for street scheme cameras.

This forms the third layer of filtering.

In the case of the proposed CID, the response to any camera alerts would come from one the CID’s three tactical vehicles in the first instance, co-ordinated by a control room and the CID’s Public Safety Officer.

With analytic cameras, the traffic flow (human or vehicle) dictates the daily start and end timing for camera monitoring. Usually in a high traffic area, monitoring is only active during night time hours to avoid overloading the control room with alerts.

LPR (Licence Plate Recognition) cameras will also be used by the CID. This is where an alert is generated by the number plate of a flagged vehicle as dictated by the database in use. The database in use for the CID would be one shared by law enforcement agencies City-wide. 

In addition, all cameras footage can be used for evidentiary purposes with video footage being saved and handed to the relevant authority.

A Standard Operating Procedure is agreed by all parties in advance to determine exactly how alerts are handled. Typically, detailed reports are provided monthly on the number of alerts, frequency and timing of alerts for each camera, whether a response was considered necessary, the time that elapses between each stage of the process, and the final outcome. Full audit trails are available. 

If a Response (eg Tac vehicle) is sent to investigate an alert, what can they actually do in practice?

In the absence of evidence of wrong-doing, there is not very much a response vehicle can do except politely question the person, as everyone has the right to movement in public. If the person was intent on committing a crime however, they will have noted that their movements were detected by camera analytics, and that a response was forthcoming. Experience indicates that this alone is a strong deterrent and the suspect will likely move on to an area where they can operate with a smaller probability of detection.

If the cameras can show that a person is behaving in a way that indicates intent to commit a crime, the cameras allow for response to be positioned close by and to monitor them and if a crime is committed, an arrest can be made.

If a responding officer has evidence from a camera alert that a Schedule 1 crime (serious crime) has been committed, then they can and will engage with a suspect, and make a citizens arrest if required.

Under the proposals for a CID, a dedicated Law Enforcement Officer would be present in a tactical vehicle at all times. These officers have full powers to stop, search,  arrest and fine, thus enabling a much harder-hitting response than we can achieve currently with only security officers. 

It is also important to note that interactions between armed response and suspects (including questioning) generate information and intelligence. For example, knowing that someone was in an area around a particular time and knowing that an incident occurred before that or thereafter is intelligence that can be used to show patterns that point to individuals which can, and do, lead to breakthroughs in investigations.

It is the combination of all the above that makes monitored cameras a crucial part of the CID strategy for Safety and Security. It is also crucial that all key areas are covered by the cameras. If they are not, experience shows that the crime migrates to the areas that are not covered, thereby shifting the problem rather than solving it. With all the key areas of Clifton and Camps Bay covered by a CID, the problems will be shifted out of our neighbourhood entirely.

The cameras record to a hard drive kept in a secure location. The length of time the recordings are kept is limited by the capacity of the hard drive, but the City of Cape Town Regulations for public-facing cameras is a maximum of 21 days. Where evidence is needed in a criminal case, it may be longer. The cameras and the recordings can be accessed by the professional monitoring company when investigating an alert/incident or when doing set manual patrols or checks. Any administrators of the camera project (For example, the CID control room) will also be able to stream the cameras to assist with co-ordinating a response, and will have access to past recordings in order to follow up on crime incidents. 

Full audit trails are built into the video management software to record who accessed what, when. 

Video Footage is strictly protected and is only allowed to be given to SAPS and Metro Police for investigation purposes with an official investigation. This is done by way of written request and signed receipt of footage.

A CID is responsible for public spaces not private property. As such it will not replace alarm monitoring companies. It is up to the property owner to decide if this added layer of protection is needed.

In the vicinity of Camps Bay, there are CIDs in Llandudno, Clifton, Sea Point, Green Point and Oranjekloof and Hout Bay, leaving Camps Bay surrounded. Experience from other CIDs suggest that crime and vagrancy get displaced from CID areas to non-CID areas, so without a CID we can expect our problems to multiply.

Any group of residents in good standing with the City may form a Steering Committee and apply to the City of Cape Town to establish a CID in their area.

Several attempts have been made to establish a CID in Camps Bay over the years, and all have failed at or near the first hurdle.

The reality is that attempting to establish a CID for the whole of Camps Bay, and obtaining the required votes (nearly 2,000) is an extremely difficult task, requiring a great deal of volunteer time coupled with professional assistance.

There are a lot of talented and experienced individuals in Camps Bay who could have joined the committee. The Steering Committee must also comprise a cohesive team without personality or other conflicts, able to work long hours unpaid, under pressure, to achieve a difficult objective.

Between them, the 8 Steering Committee members have more than 100 years of experience, representing all of the major active community organizations in the neighbourhood. The Steering Committee consults a wide range of industry experts, including at the local Camps Bay level, and liaises with other CIDs to inform their decisions. We also have the full-time services of Mo Hendricks, who has 20+ years of experience in CID management in Cape Town, especially in the area of Safety and Security, to advise the Steering Committee.

If anybody would like to join the Board once the CID is live then there will be an opportunity for that when elections for the directors of the non-profit company happen at the AGM.

In the meantime the Steering Committee have all bases well covered.

A City Improvement District (CID) also known as a Special Rating Area (SRA) refers to a clearly defined geographical area, in which property owners contribute additional rates to fund ‘top-up’ services for that specific area as per the approved Business Plan.

The terms SRA (Special Rating Area) and CID (City Improvement District) are interchangeable.  SRA is used in legislation and policies, whereas CID is used in operational terms.

CIDs are governed by Section 22 of the Municipal Property Rates Act (MPRA), the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), the Companies Act (Non Profit Company – NPC), the SA Constitution and the City of Cape Town’s Special Rating Area By-law of 2012.

According to the SA Constitution (Sections 152 and 153), the objective of a local authority is to provide all its residents with certain basic services such as water, electricity, sanitation and refuse removal, etc. – up to an equitable standard. For communities who wish to enjoy municipal services of a higher level, a CID provides them with the option of paying for these additional services, which should be affordable and sustainable.

Typically, these would be services dealing with Urban Management issues like additional public safety measures, cleansing services, maintenance of infrastructure, upgrading of the environment, and social services, etc.

No. The City is obligated to sustain existing service levels and to provide basic services as per the Constitution. Each CID will engage with the various service departments regarding the level of services to be provided by the municipality. This enables the CID to decide on the ‘top-up’ services required.

By combining their resources in an CID, individual property owners can enjoy the collective benefits of a well-managed area, a shared sense of communal pride, safety and social responsibility, and access to joint initiatives such as waste recycling, energy-efficiency programs, etc. In the end, these all translate into a tangible boost in property values and capital investments.

No, but an CID can consist of industrial, commercial and residential components, or a combination of all three.

There are currently 53 CIDs in the City of Cape Town with another 7 in the pipeline.

An CID is always initiated by a community, and not by the City.

It usually starts with ‘champions’ within a community who feel the necessity to improve the environment within a defined area. They then compile a five-year business plan (including the motivation report, the implementation plan and a budget) indicating how the improvements are to be achieved, and present this to the community at a public meeting. Thereafter property owners are lobbied for their support where a majority (more than 50% in an area classified as commercial and more than 60% for an area classified as residential) has to give written consent to the formation of a CID.

Once this has been obtained, the steering group has to submit an application to the City. The application is then advertised in the media and property owners are also notified to allow them at least 60 days to render any comments or objections. The City then considers the application with the objections at a full sitting of Council.

After the City has approved the application, a NPC is set up and a board is elected. The NPC has to register for VAT, open a bank account and be registered as a vendor with the City, etc. This must all be in place before the City makes any payment to the CID.

A CID is a Non-Profit Company (NPC) managed by a board elected by its members, and operated by a management team appointed by the board. Property owners must sign up for NPC membership to allow them to participate in the CID`s affairs. The City is not involved in their day-to-day operations, but merely exercises financial oversight and legal compliance.

An CID is governed by the Companies Act (71 of 2008) and manages its own finances and appoints its own auditors. The audited financial statements form part of the City’s consolidated accounts, which are reviewed by the Auditor-General. In addition, monthly financial reports are submitted to the City to monitor and to ensure that expenditure is incurred according to the budget. All CIDs have to submit the Chairman`s report and AFS to the relevant Subcouncil, within two months of their AGM, for noting.

A CID is funded from the additional rates paid by property owners within the boundary of the CID. It does not receive any grants or subsidies from the City, but does have the powers to raise additional income.

The CID management confirms the properties within the boundaries of the CID, which is then linked by the City to the municipal valuations according to the most recent general valuation roll.

The CID management annually prepares an overall budget for the year. This is based on the specific needs of the area as set out in the approved Business Plan. Individual contributions are then calculated by dividing up the budget total according to the municipal valuations of each property, proportional to the total valuation of the CID.

The CID Policy allows for a differentiation in tariffs for the different types of properties – be it residential, commercial or industrial.

This tariff is then expressed as a Rand in the Rand and is applicable over a financial year, which starts on 1 July. The CID budget and proposed tariff have to be approved by the City, and advertised for comments and objections as part of the City’s budget process prior to implementation on 1 July.

The City collects the additional rates on behalf of the CID. It does not go to the City, although they share an invoice to save on collection costs. The additional rate appears as a separate item (improvement district) on the monthly municipal account of each property owner liable to pay the CID additional rates within the CID.

The City pays the CID a monthly amount equivalent to one-twelfth of its approved budget less 3% as a provision for bad debts. The provision for bad debts is kept in a ring-fenced account for the CID. At the end of the financial year the City reconciles the billing with the CID budget pay overs and any under or over billing is offset against the accumulated bad debt account. This account is subsequently compared with the arrears as at the end of the financial year. When the latter is less than the accumulated bad debts, 75% of the difference is paid to the CID as per the Finance Agreement concluded between the City and the CID.

Yes. Once the City has approved a CID, the participation of all property owners liable to pay the CID additional rates, within the boundaries of the CID, is mandatory. However, there are exceptions in terms of relief.

The following categories of owners / properties will be 100% exempted as per the SRA Policy:

• Indigent, Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons who meet the criteria for rates relief
• properties registered in the name of and used primarily as a place of worship
• Council owned properties used predominantly for official municipal business
• Other properties who qualify for rates relief/exemption as per the City’s Rates Policy

The CID sets its own budget according to input from its members as per the approved five-year Business Plan. The City does not get involved in this process. Each year, the CID board has to submit a detailed budget to the City by 31 January. The proposed budget may not deviate materially from the approved business plan. If there is a material deviation, an application in terms of Section 11 of the SRA By-Law is required. The City evaluates the proposed budget for affordability and sustainability.

The valuation base is a snapshot at a point in time (end February) and is used to calculate the additional rate (Rand-in-the-Rand) for the following financial year. However, municipal valuations can change within a financial year due to interim valuations, Valuation Court rulings, sub-divisions, rezoning or other technical adjustments. Should the valuation base decrease or increase substantially, the City must inform the CID in order to recalculate the CID’s additional rate.

No, it is ring-fenced to be reinvested back exclusively into the CID.

Defaulters are subject to the City’s credit control and debt collection policies. As such, they can have their water and electricity services suspended or their clearance certificates withheld.

Absolutely! Every property owner within the CID should apply in writing to the CID Board for membership of the NPC. Only then are they able to participate in CID affairs.

• Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy
• SRA By-law (2012)
• SRA Amendment By-law (2016)
• SRA Policy (2017)

General disclosure for all members of the Steering Committee and the Management team

Unless stated otherwise to the contrary below, none of the Steering Committee or Management team members:

1. Has any interest, direct or indirect, in any business or commercial entity operating in Camps Bay;
2. Currently derives or expects in future to derive any financial or commercial benefit, direct or indirect, from the CID application process;
3. Expects or intends to derive any financial or commercial benefit, direct or indirect, from the operation of the CID if and when it is established.

All of the Steering Committee members will offer their services pro bono for the duration of the CID application process and will make themselves available to continue to serve pro bono if the CID is established.

Specific disclosures for individual members of the Steering Committee

Spencer McNally is a trustee of the Camps Bay and Clifton Safe Community Trust (CBCSCT), which is a non-profit NGO that raises funds for security and related matters in Camps Bay and surrounds, and is the entity that funds CBCSI (the Camps Bay Community Safety Initiative). If the CID is established then it is expected that CBCSI and its services will be subsumed into the CID, while CBCSCT is expected to remain in place for purposes of raising funds for any security-related projects beyond the scope or budget of the CID. Spencer has never derived any financial benefit from CBCSCT, nor any entity contracted to CBCSCT, and does not intend to do so in future.

Louise Cooke is a trustee-elect of CBCSCT. Louise has never derived any financial benefit from CBCSCT, nor any entity contracted to CBCSCT, and does not intend to do so in future.

Gavin Reynolds occasionally rents out part of his primary residence.

Richard Bendel rents out part of his primary residence.

Until 2020, Jonathan Tillett occasionally rented out part of his primary residence but no longer does so.

Theresa Massaglia is founder and director of Ignisive, the NGO that initiated and manages the Community Stewards social upliftment programme operating on the Camps Bay beachfront. Other than reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses, Theresa does not receive any form of remuneration from Ignisive. Theresa provides Human Resources and Organizational Development consulting services to corporate clients, which occasionally includes businesses operating in Camps Bay.

Kim Faclier has no financial interests or potential conflicts to disclose.

Shayne Krige has no financial interests or potential conflicts to disclose.

Specific disclosures for members of the Management team

Martin Steinau serves as a paid consultant to CBCSCT, acting as project manager for the CID application process. Martin intends to make himself available for full-time employment by the CID if and when it is established.

Muneeb Hendricks servesas a paid consultant to CBCSCT, acting as security and operations consultant for the CID application process. Muneeb intends to make himself available for full-time employment by the CID if and when it is established.