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Winter Hope: Give Back Responsibly  –  help combat poverty & inequality

Mandela Day

Winter in Cape Town is a time in which poverty and homelessness become heightened social issues, because of the extremely harsh weather conditions. At the same time, the annual Mandela Day initiative coincides, taking place this 18 July, helping to bring hope and support to vulnerable communities. Read on for more of this.

And, at our May Council, our 2024/24 Additional Council Rates were approved. More info below.

24/25 Additional Council Rates

The Strand BID applied for a new 5-year term commencing on 1 July 2024. At our Members’ meeting, members voted in favour of the continuation of the CIDs and these were approved by Council on 27 March 2024.

The additional rates for 2024/25, expressed as a rate-in-the-rand and based on the total property valuation per CID, are submitted for Council approval.

CID additional rates are rated at 15% for VAT. Additional rates are shown as a rate-in-the-Rand.

View the approved additional rates budget here and the meeting minutes here.

Helping the Homeless

Indigent people in South Africa are an inherent part of the cityscape, with hundreds of thousands of people homeless and living on the streets.

It is well-known that cash handouts are not a good solution for supporting people living on the streets  –  as these often serve to fuel the problem by funding addiction and other negative or self-perpetuating behaviour.

However, most of us would like to help in some way to combat poverty and inequality. For this reason, it’s important to work with known NGOs, nonprofits or charities, who have built social infrastructures and relationships that have longevity.

MES Cape Town - Mould, Empower, Serve

Mould, Empower, Serve: How City Improvement Districts are working with MES

MES Cape Town is a key partner in the mission to sustainably rehome the homeless across various City Improvement Districts. Their extensive network of outreach and social relief programs provides the vital reach and resources our CID needs. Additionally, their responsive help desk is always available to assist with the immediate and short-term needs of the homeless and unemployed community.

We work closely with MES to identify individuals for casual labour on specific projects. Their team actively scouts promising candidates, placing them with us each week on a probationary basis as one of our on-the-ground workers, fondly known as our “Green Ants”. For those who show dedication, we offer pathways for them to become supervisors and advance their training, making them valuable members of our workforce in a way that allows us to support their growth.

To ensure the funds generated through our partnership are used effectively, we pay stipends directly to MES, which helps cover their living expenses sustainably throughout their stay.

Winter Hope 2024

MES is running a WinterHope campaign until the end of July, in a mission to spread hope and warmth this winter, by gathering essential items such as warm clothing, blankets, and nourishing food supplies.

Visit MES @mouldempowerserve on Facebook to see causes near you to support this winter.

Read more
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Helping The Homeless To Build A Sustainable Future

Mahatma Gandhi said that the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members. Unfortunately, as South Africans, we are desensitised in part to the poverty that permeates our ordinary lives. Used to the sight of the radical impact our ever-expanding gap between the haves and have nots creates. While many of us want to help, most are uneducated on the extraordinarily complex issues that create and sustain homelessness. 

Due to our own basic understanding of these ever-evolving issues, it makes a greater difference when we partner with and give back to organisations equipped with the infrastructure, skill and experience to combat homelessness and help in a sustainable way.

“Handouts of cash given to desperate – often mentally ill people – add fuel to the same addictions that put them on the streets. Institutions such as our partners at The Haven Night Shelter have spent decades building, perfecting and maintaining the social infrastructure to efficiently maximise the impact of our donations and the results are inarguable,” says Jaco Wessels, COO of our appointed urban management company Geocentric.  

Here are our top recommendations of non-profit organisations active in 2022 and how to  contribute to their vision responsibly:

The Haven Night Shelter

Like us, they believe that there comes a stage in the downward path at which individuals cannot help themselves and are dedicated to being there to give them the lift they need. They help by making temporary shelter, rehabilitation opportunities, social welfare services, family reunification services, physical care and support available to adult people living on the streets. Helping to holistically ensure the reintegration of the homeless community into society.

We call often on their dedicated team of trained field workers to delicately encourage resistant people to come off the streets and get the person back home. The process is often a lengthy one and involves logging the person on the relevant City database of homeless people, trying to track down that person’s family and making contact, assisting with travel arrangements and following up with the family to check the individual is safe. 

To get in touch:
Call them on +27 (21) 425 4700 or send an email to info@haven.org.za.

Visit their website here to find more information on how you can help. 

Here are some tips on how you can help responsibly:

  • Donate directly to a registered and legitimate NGO in your area. Your donations do not have to be monetary either so be on the lookout for clothing items, towels, tents, blankets, pillows, bags or non-perishable groceries for institutions such as FoodForward SA.
  • Support charities and campaigns by advocating to prevent homelessness on social media. By following and sharing posts of organisations such as Women’s Shelter Movement, Ons Plek and Youth Solutions Africa you help grow their followings and advocate their cause.
  • Volunteer your time or professional skills. Everyone from the accountants among us to the karate teachers has a unique offering that can improve the lives of those less fortunate – so ask your local charities how you may dedicate your skill to improving their offering.  

Since the ratio of people in need of help, and the help available, is so unbalanced many NGOs and NPOs are left with tight funds to run the businesses themselves. By donating your, time, skill, possessions or money in a responsible way you not only help make our district a safer space but provide our homeless residents with the chance to rekindle a sense of pride, community, and dignity. 

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Dreaming of Future Strand

At the Strand Business Improvement District (SBID), we strive towards creating a safer, cleaner, and more connected community. We are proud of Strands beginnings as a sleepy seaside village but also understand the potential excellence modernising, integrating, and diversifying our urban community can bring. That is why we are so excited to update you on Future Strand, our initiative aimed at streamlining the decision-making processes involved in district improvement to maximise efficiency on our path to reinstituting Strand as a prime place to earn, explore and enjoy.

Strand Business Improvement District (BID) – Sculpture Walk

Future Strand is a Srand Business Improvement District (SBID) initiative dedicated to revitalizing our neighbourhood by providing a space where the Strand BID, residents, business owners and officials from the City of Cape Town can come together to solve challenges. In the past few months, Future Strand and its workgroups have worked on multiple interventions to ignite inter-organisation motivation and create the momentum necessary for change. 

Ultimately, local business stakeholders like you matter most, and through initiatives like Future Strand, we can all benefit from hearing your suggestions. After all, according to the World Bank, SMEs like yours account for approximately 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. As part of a country in dire need of progress, we believe at the Strand BID that we must actively support SME growth to create jobs that will feed our people and educate the next generation of our leaders.  

So, how does one go about revitalising a local economy? Well, we work together.

Strand Business Improvement District (BID) – Showcasing local artists

Future Strand will host regular round tables to discuss topics like:

  • Introducing the Internal Project Management Team for the Community-Driven Planning Initiative.
  • Discussing Future Strand’s stakeholder mapping to ensure everyone has a voice and is included as part of the stakeholder management planning process. 
  • Deliberating over how future NGO mapping can educate, mobilise and prioritise local NGOs and allocate resources to developing appropriate support. 

We also believe that Arts and Culture form the soul of a city, which is why the Strand BID is giving our full support in protecting Urban Art Initiatives by:

  • Maintaining urban spaces surrounding the planned ‘Sculpture Walk’. A collaboration between the Strand BID, Lionel Smit Studios, the City of Cape Town, and local business stakeholders resulted in public art installations for all to enjoy along the promenade on Beach Road.
  • Advocating for diversity and inclusion in Urban arts initiatives. The third phase of the Sculpture walk will showcase the splendid work of local sculptors from disadvantaged communities. 
  • Facilitating the integration between local artists and The City of Cape Town in the installation of murals. Murals will be on City property but if you have an idea on how to brighten our streets on private property, contact our Future Strand department on info@futurestrand.co.za and share your thoughts. 
  • Assisting with upgrading public facilities such as circles, public ablutions and the repair and maintenance of the Fountain.
  • Working with the City of Cape Town to begin a Community-Driven Planning initiative to develop a Spatial Framework and Precinct Plan for the CBD. 
  • Collaborating with the Helderberg District Plan, to create a planning structure for new urban development and land-use change for the Strand area. This will guide future land use stipulations and earmark the area for mixed-use intensification which is essential to creating space for businesses at ground level along Beach Road. 
  • Activating cultural events in the area. Currently, a Culture working group is in the planning phase with artists, venues, and sponsors to identify and collate a 2022 Events Calendar.
  • Implementing the 3 markets that are planned for the CBD area, namely a village market, a fresh produce market and a monthly evening market. 
  • Revitalizing the Main Road from the Circle to Fagan Street through greening, sidewalk construction and Road Island upgrades. 
  • Upgrading Informal Market Structures in the new financial year after the data on the current situation has been collected and a plan theorised. All market entrepreneurs will need to register electronically on the city database which assists in legalizing all facets of the market. 
  • We are bewildered by the amount of support that we have already received from property owners in the area. In Beach Road for instance many have contributed largely by carrying out significant facade improvements through painting their buildings and upgrading their fixtures. 

As Business and Property owners in the Strand BID, you can support our bright future by:

  • Supporting Future Strand in formalising the informal market in collaboration with the Area Economic Development Department of the City of Cape Town.
  • Involving your professional network in future initiatives to attract more investment from the private sector to the area by linking new entrepreneurs with investors and empty venues. 
  • Supporting initiatives that support our people, like the Nana’s initiative. Nanas is specifically designed to get older women involved in the creative manufacturing process of upmarket children’s clothing. Their skills of knitting, crocheting, and sewing will help generate stock that can be sold at markets once restrictions are lifted. 
  • Sharing your thoughts on our potential recycling initiative, which will be based on an open-source system that stimulates job creation and minimises our current waste issues. Precious Plastic is an incredible turnkey solution that provides all the necessary information to start. 

International Collaboration

To ensure that we are working in line with the latest academic research, Future Strand has established a working relationship with Avans Hogeschool in the Netherlands to attract multi-disciplinary teams to assist on issues such as:

  • The development of a sustainable model for community-based initiatives that focus on land-use/spatial planning, urban revitalisation, and socio-economic development.
  • Transport and parking solutions for the Strand Beachfront area.
  • The Socio-Economic revitalisation of the Strand CBD with a focus on ‘Support local’ and unlocking the ‘Adventure’ potential of Strand.
  • Waste management and recycling for the larger Strand area to tackle the waste issue and to establish sustainable businesses based on the waste industry and recycling. 

At the Strand BID, we plan to collaborate extensively long into our prosperous future to generate the wealth of knowledge and financial resources essential to making Strand a sustainable, supportive community. In our ongoing mission to uncover Strands full potential, we are edging closer every day to becoming the commercial urban utopia we dream of being. All we need now is your voice. 

We love focusing on the positive and believe in creating and digitising a community through local Good News storytelling. To be featured as our next #GoodNews story in our next Newsletter simply send your story to info@strandbid.co.za

If you want to learn more about how you can become a part of our Future Strand Initiative contact our Future Strand Project Manager Annelie Rossouw on 082 552 1311or email at annelie.r@mweb.co.za or our Strand BID manager Johan Erasmas on 074 300 0353.

If you have any safety concerns to report, please contact one of the following numbers:

10111 – SAPS (South African Police Services)

107 – City of Cape Town Disaster Management

0860 103 099 – Secure Rite Control Room

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