C O NS TA NTI A /WYN B E RG
“ Te l lin g it a s it i s” E-mail: post@peoplespost.co.za
Tuesday 14 June 2011
Tel: 021 713 9440 Fax: 021 713 9481
Green light for Zwaanswyk SRA ANDRE BAKKES
S
IXTY-SEVEN percent of all the property owners in Zwaanswyk will be happy to hear that the City of Cape Town approved the long-anticipated Special Rating Area (SRA) last week. Conversely, 33% of residents must now leave their objections at the door, and pay the prescribed additional rates to the City based on their property valuation – whether they like it or not. The SRA comprises the area including Zwaanswyk Close, Charnwood Avenue, Charnwood Close, Suddle Close, Debaren Close, Thorpe Close and Almondbury Close. The projected income for the SRA is just over R1,1 million per year. According to the business plan, capital improvements to the value of R1 million will be introduced first. Over the first three years, these will include the construction of a baboon/security fence and the installation of CCTV surveillance cameras. Other services to be provided include camera monitoring of the fence, building and maintaining a good working relationship with the baboon monitoring service providers and SANParks to minimise baboon incursions, a 24-hour mobile vehicle patrol, a guarding post and relationship-building with police in the area. The process to declare the area an SRA first began in 2009, when it was required that Zwaanswyk steering committee chairperson, George Tiffin, provide proof that more than 75% of the property owners support the formation. The legal requirement has been changed since then, and now only 50% (plus one vote) is needed for approval, so the 67% is legally more than enough. In May 2009, the City approved the application for the period 1 July 2009 to 31 June 2012. The steering committee had to gain permission from SANParks to allow it to erect a se-
curity fence on the Tokai Plantation boundary, but this process took much longer than anticipated. Permission was granted by SANParks in February/March this year, but by then almost half of the term had already passed. The steering committee immediately resubmitted the updated application forms to the council and it was decided that the fiveyear term will commence on 1 July. An SRA is a clearly-defined geographical area in which property owners contribute additional rates to fund “top up” services for that specific area in terms of an approved business plan. The City, according to Ward Councillor Denis Joseph, is satisfied, because the SRA model allows property owners to organise additional municipal services to upgrade the area, while the steering committee is happy because they can finally implement their business plan. There are, however, plenty of vociferous objections, both from property owners and councillors, such as Pan Africanist Congress of Azania’s chairperson, Anwar Adams. In response to the announcement of the approval Adams insists that SRA areas do not work in residential areas. “The rationale for SRAs is to create a clean and safe area for business owners to attract more customers. What about poor people in the surrounding areas that cannot afford to pay to keep criminal elements out? City Improvement Districts (CIDs) in the past have been proven to displace crime to those areas adjacent to them,” said Adams in his address to council last Wednesday. “The entire concept smacks of old apartheid legislation to entrench the rights of exclusive, affluent areas through building a fence to keep out baboons and criminal elements. This is ludicrous, to say the least. The new apartheid is now limited to those who can afford to pay.” He told People’s Post that the process was “bulldozed” through council, and that there should have been a longer consultation period. Some property owners’ objections gave him plenty of food for thought, he said. These include that the fence will not be effective or practical in keeping baboons and
WORLD RENOWNED: Cape Town will know by 21 June whether it has been shortlisted as one of the top three contenders for the title of World Design Capital 2014. A record 53 cities from 24 countries are in the running, and Cape Town’s bid is particularly signifi cant in that it is the first by an African city. At a symbolic handover of the World Design Capital 2014 bid book on Monday 13 June in Khayelitsha were, from left: Bulelwa Makali maNgewana (managing director of the Cape Town Partnership), Patricia de Lille (Execu tive Mayor), Andrew Boraine (chief executive, Cape Town Partnership) and Helen Zille (Premier of the Western Cape). Photo: Anita Reed intruders out, and the additional financial burden imposed on property owners. A pensioner objected to the extra rates, writing: “To accept the establishment of the SRA will add 0,01 percent of the ratable value of our property to our present very high rates – that’s R1 136 per month additional to the present rates. “It is totally unaffordable to pensioners on a fixed income.” It is also expected that one security provider will be appointed for the area. This assumption has led to some residents raising objections in favour of remaining with their current security company. Joseph confirms that he is in favour of the SRA, but says he has also given careful thought to the views of objectors. Last Tuesday he met with some of the discontented property owners, where a particular objection drew his attention. “One said that they don’t understand why the increased rates they will now be paying are based on their property rates. Why won’t everyone be paying the same amount? I think this might be revisited in the near future,”
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he says. Joseph says other questions raised at the meeting included whether the SRA would work, and if it was the right thing to do. He feels the answer to both is a tentative “yes”. “The baboon problem is an enormous one,” he reasons. “The situation is becoming almost uncontrollable. Baboon monitors cost the City about R9 million over three years, and this SRA will definitely reduce pressure on council.” And a shock from the electrified fence would not be fatal, assures Joseph. The SRA will ensure that the security fence is maintained and cleared of vegetation. It will also take responsibility for supplementary cleaning and litter clearing of road verges and common areas, as well as improving general landscaping and maintenance of street lights, poles, trees, litter bins, traffic signage and stormwater gullies. Child-friendly secure pathways and trafficseparated routes for horses have also been proposed.