Homeless persons who find refuge at the Somerset West Night Shelter, are given the opportunity to earn their board and lodgings by being employed to assist the SWCID teams, especially with cleaning tasks. The prerequisite is that they should be clean in terms of drug and alcohol consumption. 

enabling the vulnerable to earn helping with beautification 2

 

The services of the shelter, its staff and inhabitants are utilised on a partnership basis in these ways: 

  • For labour when necessary 
  • The resident social worker occasionally meets with the SWCID to determine needs, and sometimes walks through the CID to engage with people on the street in need of help or advice. 
  • The residents of the shelter are willing to engage in conversation with the PSO of Secure Rite to explain how homeless persons with their variety of problems and challenges should best be approached. 

Some of the accompanying photos show Law Enforcement officials being involved with staff from Secure Rite and with Public Safety. 

According to the SWCID manager, Ernst van Zyl, the metro’s Law Enforcement officials regularly contact them for operations to be executed in the CID. 

tidying and beautifying meeting with shelter staff helping with beautification 1 engaging with people on the street collaborating with  security staff cleaning tasks cleaning and de-weeding cleaning and beautifying cleaning and beautifying 2 briefing of shelter clients beautification beautification and cleaning beautification (2)

The cleaning team of the SWCID has a host of tasks and challenges to contend with daily. 

Accompanying photos show the various activities that they engage in, which include the following: 

  • mowing of grass; 
  • maintenance work on poles; 
  • removal of stones that are lying around – in order to prevent criminally minded people  from using them to break windows of cars and businesses; 
  • cutting or pruning of branches and carting of the garden refuse to the dumping site; 
  • removal of graffiti and posters

 mowing 1

 

mowing 2

mowing 3

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pole maintenance 2

pole maintenance 3

pole maintenance 4

pole maintenance 5

The Geocentric Urban Management Trolley Project was initiated in 2017. 

The aim of the project is to provide urban cleaning and maintenance teams with a platform to improve their daily tasks, assist with moving of equipment and tools and enable recycling while performing their tasks. 

A few design considerations were introduced into the design of the trolley including 

  • The ability to move heavy loads of litter or recycling from one point to another without effort or potential injury 
  • Create high visibility for the cleaning and maintenance teams 
  • Have quick and easy access to tools and equipment 
  • The ability, even when fully loaded, to easy ascend and descend kerbs and sidewalks 
  • Be able to separate waste as they work to support the recycling initiative 

To achieve some of these design principles, Geocentric looked at simple solutions from other designs, for example, the stair-climbing suitcases used by so many travellers.  By scaling up the design for the urban management trolleys, we could produce a sidewalk and pavement climbing trolley where the urban management worker needs minimum effort to get onto and off pavements to perform their duties.  

(See photos of step 1, 2 and 3 illustrating this concept.) 

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step2

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The trolleys were also designed to be pushed from any side with key tools located in the middle so that it is in fact easy to use it for a two-man team operation.  On each side of the trolley a plastic tool box allows storage for small tools. 

Recyclables like tin cans, glass and plastic bottles are collected by the urban management workers throughout the day as they clean the streets and public spaces and at the end of each day they separate the items into baskets whereafter Geocentric recycles the items. 

trolley 4

trolley 5

This is another way in which we make CID operations more sustainable and environmentally friendly as we prevent a vast amount of waste from simply going to landfills. 

trolley 6

Geocentric have rolled out these trollies in the Elsies River and Beaconvale City Improvement Districts and plan to roll them out to all the other CIDs under Geocentric management through the course of 2018. 

 

In collaboration with the CCT

In collaboration with the CCT’s Law Enforcement Officer assigned to the SWCID, Secure Rite as service provider to the SWCID conducts a variety of operations aimed at preventing contraventions and addressing a variety of safety and security issues in the area. 

Some of the activities include the following: 

  • Safeguarding the area and ensuring that homeless persons do not sleep in the CID or beg for money from the public; 
  • Patrolling and surveillance of businesses and in the case of burglaries or robberies, the support of clients by the Public Safety Officer. 
  • Addressing the problem of alcohol abuse in public (within the CID). 
  • Joint operations launched by the CCT’s Law Enforcement department. 

See visuals depicting amongst other things, the joint SAPS, Law Enforcement and SWCID operation in the vicinity of the bridge over the river in Somerset west. 

  • SWCID CCTV project: accompanying pictures show the installation of cameras by Secure Rite and the view of the streets from the control room. 

security camera 1 security camera 3 security camera James Street

  • Voluntarily lending a helping hand to the public – for example when car trouble is experienced. 

bridge operation 1 bridge operation 2 bridge operation 5 Confiscate trollies Confiscate wheely bins operation with law enforcement officer 1 PSO assists with shoplifting 1 PSO assists with shoplifting 2 public safety officers 2 Public Safety officers removal of stones 1 removal of stones 2 removal of stones 3 sharp object confiscated

 

A newspaper article reported everything but to mention that this operation was initiated by the SWCID and that most of the manpower and resources came from the SWCID.  Pictures also show officers assisting the SAPS in the operation and of where they are helping to remove structures (with the assistance of the SWCID cleaning team) as well as patrol officers show dangerous weapons found during the operation. 

Article on bridge operation 1

s Public Safety Officer assigned to the SWCID, Secure Rite conduct

“As Geocentric we are very proud to launch our new mobile phone reporting application,” said Gene Lohrentz of the urban management company recently. “This is another way in which we are enabling our CID business and property owners to interact with their City Improvement District Management. 

 

“We want our CID contributors to become part of our family by interacting with us about issues they might encounter.  The mobile application makes that possible on the devices most people have with them every day.” 

Geocentric Reporting App 2

 

The Geocentric app allows users to easily report issues in the City Improvement Districts managed by Geocentric Urban Management based in South Africa.  Currently the areas covered by this Application include Beaconvale Industrial Area, Elsies River Industrial, Glosderry, Maitland, Salt River, Somerset West CBD, Stikland Industrial, Strand CBD and the Tygervalley CBD.  

 

With this application users can report urban defects, crime incidents, public safety issues and general comments.  “We will acknowledge your report and provide you with feedback throughout the process.  We will also send you ‘Alerts’ of problems in your CID area, such as water leaks or power outages and we can even send crime alerts and safety tips to your mobile phone. 

 Geocentric Reporting App 1

The Geocentric Reporting Application is Free of Charge! 

 

Simply install it and register as a user when using it for the first time.  If you need any help, please contact support@geocentric.co.za 

 

Let’s get started! 

 

  • Simply download and install the App from the Google Play or Apple App Store  
  • Register as a user, using the app when you open it for the first time 
  • We will send you a confirmation email and you will have to activate your app by clicking on the activation link in the email – this is to ensure we are dealing with people and not spammers. 
  • Go to your email and verify your email address 
  • Log in and you are ready to go! 

During a recent speech delivered at the Atlantis Aquifer, Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille thanked Capetonians who had been making efforts to cut their water usage, saying that about half of water users had restricted their daily usage to 87 litres per day.

But added that this was not enough. “We need each and every Capetonian and business on board as a partner on this journey,” she said.

“We are in an unprecedented drought crisis and this phase is critical because if the City and residents don’t do enough together and simultaneously, we will run out of water.”

She said the City was doing everything in its power to ensure additional supply, including finding and hiring the country’s best team of experts who were working 80-hour weeks with the metro to ensure that additional water could be brought ‘online’.

The Atlantis plant was one of several sites for alternative water sources which form part of the ‘Water Resilience Plan’.

The City of Cape Town had recently refurbished many of the boreholes around this West Coast area to increase the production of this plant. She pointed out that these boreholes formed a part of the City’s unique Artificially Recharged Aquifer System and said a lot of work had gone into ensuring an increase in the volume of water from this aquifer system.

Prior this work, the system had been producing around four million litres of water per day. “We have now increased the yield from this aquifer by an additional five million litres per day.”

The water is serving homes and industrial businesses in Atlantis, Mamre and Pella on the outskirts of the West Coast, which is quite a vast area. “So the additional capacity will be welcomed,” the Mayor said.

“This work demonstrates our commitment to addressing this current drought crisis. I repeat my commitment that I will not allow a well-run city to run out of water.”

She added that she had made it clear when the site of a new desalination plant with the V&A Waterfront had been announced: “we have a plan and we will supply water, but we need Team Cape Town to assist us”.

In the meantime, the City of Cape Town announced that Level 6 water restrictions will be implemented from 1 January 2018, which means that households using more than 10,500 litres per month could face fines and penalties. A proposal for a drought charge of between R45 and R2 800, depending on the value of the property, has also been tabled.

Take a look at these shocking photos of the Theewaterskloof Dam looking more like a desert than a body of water:

cape town, water crisis, theewaterskloof dam cape town, water crisis, theewaterskloof dam cape town, water crisis, theewaterskloof dam theewaterskloof dam, cape town, water crisis, drought

The night shelter in Somerset West, which has existed at the same address on Church Street for 30 years according to social worker Nicolene Andries, has in the past five years taken significant strides towards becoming better known to the community as well as more effective in its mission.

This can partly be ascribed to the partnership between the shelter and the Somerset West City Improvement District.

The shelter’s approach in recent times has been to ‘go big’ with stakeholders, role players and partners, says Nicolene. In the past one of the biggest drawbacks had been the fact that the community of Somerset West was largely uninformed or unaware of the shelter and its activities. “Since I became involved five years ago, the interest and involvement has however grown daily,” she says.

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One of the main advantages of the partnership between the SWCID and the Shelter is the job creation programme which not only offers hope to the shelter’s clients, but also holds a benefit for the community in the sense that Main Road gets tidied up and cleaned.

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Gene Lohrentz of Geocentric says the partnership with the shelter is based on Geocentric’s Social Work Action Team concept. He says the principle is threefold:

  •  We partner with the NGO and through them provide the opportunity to engage and refer homeless people who we find on the streets of the CID to a place of safety and assistance where they can access social services.  The NGO gives us the opportunity to refer them and works as a partner with us to get as many people off the street as possible

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  •  The next step is to deal with the question of how to support the process of getting people to remain off the street.  The CID undertakes to pay a contribution to the shelter fees of any referred person for the first two weeks, which gives the NGO enough time through their social worker to access the person and find help. Thereafter the CID offers SWAT opportunities, which in short is a programme where the shelter identifies persons who have started their rehabilitation to come and work in a team back in the CID area performing tasks such as general cleaning, urban maintenance and landscaping and gardening. The CID pays a stipend for these services to the shelter, who in turn pay their clients.  The clients have the ability to support their stay in the shelter, as they are now earning money to pay their shelter fees.

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  •  The last part of the partnership is the skills transfer that takes place from the shelter social workers to the CID patrol officers who walk the streets once a week: the shelter social worker helps the patrol officers to engage with homeless people and mentors the patrol officers in how to deal with these challenges.

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Nicolene confirmed that regular training or mentoring sessions were being planned, to ensure a better mutual understanding between the shelter’s clients and the CID patrol officers.

(Read more about the shelter on the website www.swnightshelter.org.za )

 

 

 

 

In a message delivered at the AGM of the Somerset West City Improvement District by board chairperson Ms Michelle Theron, she said the CID had started operations in Somerset West on the 1st September 2015.

“I have worked in Somerset West CBD for 12 years and have been privy to the steady decline over the years of our town and the positive changes over the last two years. We have seen some remarkable improvements in town since the inception.”

She said the best of these were a complete absence of Abortion/ Enlargement and other pamphlets stuck to infrastructure and then also this year the painting and upgrading of said infrastructure.

SW1

“We also have an improvement in communication between parties and service providers in town which has led directly and indirectly to initiatives in our community.” She pointed out that the latest of these was the Night Shelter that was now supplying cleaning staff directly to ClD. The cleaners receive a small stipend, which gives them some hope for their future.

“Our security initiative is visible and has been a huge help in attracting attention to the plight of our town and that of commuters and shoppers.” Ms Theron said there was much more happening at ground level than the reported arrests being made. The security staff was visible, they offered a deterrence to crimes, they were on hand and could act as the eyes and ears of our town, they knew the repeat offenders and as such had great insight into what was happening in town.

They strengthen the ranks of the SAPS in police operations and are also the initiators and supporters of these operations. Ms Theron said they were “an easy phone call away and responded within minutes”.

She went on to say that in this regard the amount of hidden weapons/trolleys/ fake security bibs that were being removed from our town had had a lasting impact which could not be measured, “as our town is growing, the steady stream of people moving into Somerset West is never ending, our town is exploding and thus I cannot imagine that crime statistics will tell a true tale”.

She said sitting in the centre of town day after day, and knowing that one can now walk around in a clean centre, that the armed robberies of the past had all but ended, that there were expert eyes watching and were on call if help was needed, was “truly priceless”.

I think we have a lot more to do, but the CID has provided the communications the facts and the vision and mission for our town and if we carry on the path as set out our town and the people in it will be enabled to make it great again.

 

SOMERSETWES LOGO FINALThe SOMERSET WEST CITY IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NPC will be hosting a Annual General Meeting and all stakeholders are invited to a review of the year’s activities and planning for 2018/19.

Date: 31 October 2017
Time: 16:00
Venue: The Farm House Coffee Shop Restaurant, The Trading Post Centre, 53 Caledon Street, Cnr Caledon & Myburgh Street, Somerset West.

Resolutions presented at the AGM can only be voted on by bona fide members of the SOMERSET WEST CITY IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NPC. This membership is available free of charge to all owners of commercial or industrial properties within the SRA footprint, but they must be registered before 17 October 2017.

For further information please e-mail gene@geocentric.co.za or call 083 255 7657

Please click here to go to our AGM Page and download the relevant documentation

Membership of the SRA, which is a non-profit company registered under the Companies Act, is open to all the registered property owners who are encouraged to apply for membership so that they may exercise their rights to influence the business of the SRA. Membership cannot be denied to a registered property owner and as a member the property owner is entitled to attend, participate and vote at members meetings of the Company held under the auspices of the Companies Act.

Should a member be unable to attend they may give another individual their proxy to attend and vote on their behalf. Non-members may attend and participate at members’ meetings but cannot vote and as such may thus have limited influence on the SRA’s activities.

Membership application forms can be downloaded from the link below – once complete please send the form back to info@swcid.co.za

Click below to download the Membership Application Form