By
Dear Property Owners and Interested Parties
Welcome to the third edition of the Lower Gardens CID Newsletter, packed with important updates and positive developments in our area! First off, a crucial reminder, mark your calendars for our inaugural Members Meeting on Wednesday, November 18th. Your participation and input are vital as we continue to shape the future of the Lower Gardens CID. We look forward to seeing you there!
We are also delighted to share some fantastic news, both our Social Services and Parks teams have officially started their work on the ground. This marks a significant step forward in ensuring a cleaner, safer, and more caring environment for everyone who lives, works, and visits the Lower Gardens area. Look out for the positive changes they are already beginning to make!
AGM
Our first Members Meeting (MM) will be held on November 18th at 18:00. The venue details are as follows:
- 14 Hope Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
Please find the RSVP link to confirm your attendance to the meeting below.
Please also find the link to all the documents for the upcoming members meeting
The interim board has set an ambitious goal: to establish Lower Gardens as the best inner-city suburb in South Africa. This is a goal we cannot achieve alone. It requires the support, engagement, and involvement of every stakeholder in Lower Gardens. We look forward to working with you to make our shared vision a reality.
Urban Management Update
This past month, our CID operational team responded to 352 incidents, compared to 346 in the previous reporting period. While the total volume saw a marginal increase, our primary focus shifted significantly toward initiating proactive measures.
This involved joint patrols, coordinated intervention strategies, and focused intelligence sharing in high-priority areas. These joint efforts are crucial for maintaining visible deterrence, ensuring compliance with local ordinances, and creating a sustainable environment for law-abiding citizens. The strengthened partnership with law enforcement is foundational to our goal of reducing future incident recurrence.
The team's proactive engagement also resulted in an increase in the identification and addressing of underlying social challenges. Our dedicated social services team will be able to now provide a much better picture of these issues on the ground, and their integrated service delivery will commence over the next reporting period.
Our public safety team assisted in getting medical attention for a homeless person along Buitenkant Street. This is after the person was suffering from severe chest pains.
The total number of service delivery (C3) calls logged increased to 52 this month, up from 42 in the previous reporting period. Conversely, the number of formally resolved matters decreased slightly from 9 to 8. While the current resolution success rate remains around 20% monthly, the strategy of constantly reporting and re-logging these issues is crucial. This methodical approach ensures that we maintain a clear follow-up mechanism on outstanding service delivery matters, preventing them from being closed prematurely and driving them toward final resolution.
Our law enforcement officer has provided much support in conjunction with the CID operational team. Over the last month routine vehicle-related fines saw a minimal decrease, moving from 216 to 214. However, our targeted proactive operations yielded a significant increase in by-law related fines, escalating from 43 to 79. Most fines that were issued were in relation to key by-law violations such as illegal dumping, drinking in public and unauthorised trading.
Public Safety Update
Over the last month, the number of criminal incidents recorded saw a sharp and substantial decrease, falling from 15 incidents to 4 in the past month. This represents a reduction of over 73%. Of the 4 criminal incidents, our collaborative efforts led directly to 3 arrests. The continued success of our safety operations relies heavily on the crucial working relationship we maintain with Law Enforcement and SAPS. Their assistance and ongoing support are integral to both deterrence and successful apprehension. We commend the entire team for their outstanding efforts this past month and look forward to maintaining this positive trend.
Our public safety team constantly monitors our public spaces. In this instance, at Jutland Park, they noticed people drinking in public with which they intervened and asked them to leave
Notable Incidents
Arrest and Full Recovery of Stolen Welding Equipment
The LGCID Public Safety team made a significant recovery on Saturday after a citizen reported two men with a welding machine. Officers stopped the individuals, who were unable to account for the equipment. SAPS arrived, and the suspects were arrested for the possession of possible stolen property. The owner was contacted and filed a case. Our team later took an extra step, recovering a missing Black and Decker grinder belonging to the same complainant, resulting in the full retrieval of the stolen items.
Patrol Success: Suspect Apprehended with Stolen Goods
Proactive patrol work paid off recently when a CID officer observed a suspect selling a cell phone in front of the KFC (Buitenkant and Mill Streets). Recognising the suspicious activity, the officer secured assistance from our mobile unit. The team moved in, detained the individual, and confirmed they were in possession of stolen goods.
Cleaning & Maintenance Update
Over the last month, our total number of bags collected jumped significantly from 1,324 to 1,666. Our primary focus remains daily street cleaning and litter picking. The sharp increase reflects the successful start of our servitude cleaning programme. This targeted effort aims to prevent hiding places for criminals and ensures that these areas are kept clear to make it easier for city entities to conduct meter readings and maintain overall servitude functionality.
Social Services Update
We are happy to announce the appointment of Tandeka Gxalatana and Chantal Sampson!
Tandeka, our seasoned Social Worker, is an innovative leader in public health, specialising in comprehensive HIV care for key populations and complex resource navigation. Chantal, our Community Liaison Officer, is a six-year recovery success story and former client who now uses her journey to provide peer support and authentic advocacy.
This team unites professional depth and lived experience to deliver the most effective and compassionate care possible.
Tandeka Gxalatana (pictured on the left) and Chantal Sampson (pictured on the right)
Parks Recreation Update
We are happy to introduce Richard Lintnaar our dedicated Park Warden for both the Jutland park and Maynard park. Richard is passionate about preserving the natural beauty and community spirit of Jutland and Maynard Parks. His initial focus will be on a dedicated effort to clear up accumulated debris and address long-standing maintenance issues. This is to ensure that the parks are clear, safe, and inviting so you can start using them more frequently for recreation and community events.
Richard Lintnaar is our new dedicated park warden responsible for Jutland park and Maynard park
Announcements
LGCID Camera Network Survey
The CID is preparing to launch a new security camera network. Help us ensure maximum coverage and avoid duplication by completing a short survey about any private cameras you own facing the public space in Lower Gardens precinct. Your participation enables strategic planning and faster response to incidents.The City of Cape Town is currently undertaking a process regarding the Proposed Sale of three City-owned properties in Lower Gardens (Harrington Street and Upper Canterbury Street). Please kindly follow the link for more information.
Your Eyes, Our Impact: See it, Share it
As we work to establish Lower Gardens as the best inner-city suburb in South Africa, we want to ensure our efforts are measured by clear data, not just opinion. The performance of the board, our operations team, and all our suppliers will be judged on concrete evidence of continued improvement across the precinct.
To make this possible, we need your active participation. Your feedback and reporting are vital. We ask that you report all incidents, report all crimes with SAPS and provide case numbers, log all service delivery requests, and provide constant feedback on the success of our operations. You can do this by calling our LGCID control room, which is operated 24/7, on 087 330 2177. Alternatively, you can contact us via our website at LGCID reporting. 
We are happy to share that you use Whatsapp to report incidents via our LGCID Connect channel. This is our primary communication channel for staying updated on community matters and logging incidents directly to our control room. Please take note that should you WhatsApp call the Control Room, it will be declined and you will receive a call from our Control Room on 087 330 2177
Contact Us
For general inquiries, suggestions, or to report an issue, please contact us at:
Email: cidmanager@lowergardenscid.co.za
Office Phone: 087 330 2177
Website: www.lowergardenscid.co.za
Physical Address: Lower Gardens City Improvement, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape, 8001, South Africa
Lower Gardens City Improvement District
