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1 Bellville Central Business District Business Retention and Expansion Survey Report to Stakeholders October 2015 A Partnership of the Greater Tygerberg Partnership and the City of Cape Town

Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Page 1: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

1

Bellville Central Business District

Business Retention and Expansion Survey

Report to Stakeholders

October 2015

A Partnership of the Greater Tygerberg Partnership and the City of Cape Town

Page 2: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................... 2

1.Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

2.Bellville CBD in context ..................................................................................................................................... 4

2.1Project intervention objective ............................................................................................................................ 4

3. Survey findings ................................................................................................................................................... 5

3.1 Business Structure and History ........................................................................................................................ 5

3.2 Employment Patterns ........................................................................................................................................ 6

3.3 Business environment ...................................................................................................................................... 9

3.4 Future plans .................................................................................................................................................... 11

3.5 General ........................................................................................................................................................... 14

4. Prioritisation of Issues ...................................................................................................................................... 16

5.Action Plan ........................................................................................................................................................ 18

6.Annexure 1- Priotisation of Issues ..................................................................................................................... 23

7.Annexure 2 – Prioritisation of Actions .............................................................................................................. 24

List of Figures and Tables

FIGURE 1: MAIN ACTIVITIES (PRODUCT/SERVICES) OF THE BUSINESSES………………………………………………………5

FIGURE 2: BUSINESS BRANCHES…………………………………………………………………………………………….....6

FIGURE 3: LIFE SPAN OF BUSINESSES………………………………………………………………………………………….6

FIGURE 4: EXPECTED CHANGE IN EMPLOYEES COMPLEMENT OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS…………………………………..7

FIGURE 5: FUTURE SKILLS RECRUITED VS. SKILLS BUSINESSES FIND DIFFICULT TO ATTRACT………………………………..8

FIGURE 6: TRAINING OF EMPLOYEES…………………………………………………………………………………………..9

FIGURE 7: FIVE MAIN ADVANTAGES OF RUNNING A BUSINESS IN BELLVILLE CBD…………………………………………...9

FIGURE 8: DISADVANTAGES TO RUNNING BUSINESS IN BELLVILLE CBD……………………………………………………..10

FIGURE 9: ITEMS BUSINESSES FIND DIFFICULT TO SOURCE IN THE BELLVILLE CBD………………………………………....11

FIGURE 10: BUSINESSES CONSIDERATIONS…………………………………………………………………………………...11

FIGURE 11: BUSINESSES PLANS FOR THE FUTURE…………………………………………………………………………….11

FIGURE 12: SALES AND BUSINESS OUTLOOK FOR NEXT 3 YEARS…………………………………………………………….12

FIGURE 13: MAJOR CONSTRAINTS TO EXPANDING BUSINESS IN BELLVILLE CBD……………………………………………13

FIGURE 14: FACTORS IMPROVING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN THE FUTURE…………………………………………………13

FIGURE 15: EXPERIENCES OF PROBLEMS WITH GOVERNMENT…………………………………………………………...…..14

FIGURE 16: EFFECTS OF LOAD SHEDDING ON BUSINESS……………………………………………………………………...15

TABLE 1: PRIORITY ISSUES IN THE BELLVILLE CBD………………………………………………………………………….15

TABLE 2: ACTION PLANS……………………………………………………………………………………………………..17

Page 3: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Local Sponsors A partnership of the Greater Tygerberg Partnership and the City of

Cape Town

Task Team Lamesa Modak Craig Kensley Ali Hassan

Liesl-Ann Kenny Sarel Strydone Monique Muller

Phumlani Ntsele

Local Co-ordinators Lauren Uppink – GTP Girshwin Fouldien – City of Cape

Town

Facilitator Tim Hadingham – City of Cape Town

Participating businesses

SAMAN Centre Hopefully Houses Nani Salon

Shibisg Cash & Carry A to Z Furniture Lovia's Hair Salon

Titoow Trading Zita Beauty Hair Salon Sistahood Hair & Beauty Salon

Sudani Trading cc Sheet Street Relabelled

Albashir Clothing Shop Qorilow Jackson

Ibrahim Take-away Blue Cafe Shop GAB Consulting

Bargain Shop SA United Bulk Distributors Café Mojo

Amana Cash & Carry Wehliye Int Textile cc Beirowski Attorneys

Radia's Take-aways Bellville Perfumes Borame Lodge

Clicks Muller’s Optometrist Cell Expert

Nedbank Freestyle Meat Crazy

Vertigo Hair Salon Delights Wimpy Bellville

Best Electric Best Fashion Hair & Nail Café

Plaza Fast Foods Bellstar Music Clepy Fashion Design

Genesis & Clinic Have-a-Bite Fast Food Brits Dreyer Inc.

MSC College Samsa Trading cc Euro Fisheries

Superior Cellular Cape Fashion L.C. Hill Optometrist

Money Matters Star Shop Bellville Cycles

Zircon Jewellery New Look Hair Salon Kingsway College

Tyger Milling Music City cc Anzak Perfumes

Hair Palace OK Furniture Calitz & Marias Mikrolening

Urban Cell and Computer Good Hope Tyres Bridge Loans

M&J Training Centre Bellville Electronics Repairing Northville Student

Centre Accommodation

Report compiled by:

Michelle Joja and Sive Fana – Department of Economic Development, City of Cape Town

Tim Hadingham – Department of Trade and Investment, City of Cape Town

Page 4: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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1. Introduction In May 2015, the Greater Tygerberg Partnership in collaboration with City of Cape Town and

the Bellville central business district (CBD) business community embarked on a study to

facilitate urban regeneration in the Bellville CBD. Drawing on the idea that the wisdom,

knowledge, involvement and ideas of local business owners are critical to achieving a shared

vision for the Bellville CBD, the Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E) project focuses

on developing an in-depth understanding of the dynamics, challenges and opportunities

presented by the Bellville CBD business environment.

2. Bellville CBD in context

Bellville, which was originally known as "12 Mile Post" since it is located 12 miles (20 km)

from the Cape Town CBD, was initially founded as a railway station on the line between

Cape Town; and Stellenbosch and Strand. Since its founding Bellville has seen sustained

growth to the point where it is recognised as Cape Town’s second CBD. The Bellville/

Tygerberg node is now the second biggest home major office, retail centres, business and

commercial node of the City of Cape Town. The location of key medical institutions, such as

Karl Bremer Hospital and Tygerberg Hospital, and prominent education institutions like

the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of the Western Cape, as

well as location of the multi-purpose Bellville Velodrome and the prominent Tyger Valley

Mall also contributes to the status of CBD to Bellville. The benefits of this growth have been

inevitably offset by challenges such as increased levels of congestion, urban slums, illegal

goods trading and a negative image of the area.

2.1 Project intervention objective

The Greater Tygerberg Partnership in partnership with the City of Cape Town launched a

business retention and expansion (BRE) study in Bellville CBD in 2015 with the objective of

identifying and understanding the issues facing business in the Bellville CBD.

To this end, the aims of the BRE study were to:

Get a complete picture of the economic activities of the businesses in the Bellville

CBD;

Identify ideas, concerns, priorities and obstacles to retaining and expanding

businesses in the area;

Page 5: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Develop an action plan for problems, improvements, and opportunities;

Build a broad-based partnership for implementation and sustained development;

Enhance relationship between business and the wider community; and

Inform policies and programmes more broadly.

These aims were to be achieved by means of a survey of a representative sample of

companies located in the Bellville CBD. A total of 71 businesses were surveyed out of a

sample population of 700 businesses in the Bellville CBD. This translates into a 9.26%

margin of error at a 90% level of confidence which is within the acceptable range for a

survey of this type. This report presents an analysis of the findings of the survey, as well as a

set of draft action plans in response to the issues emerging from the analysis.

3. Survey findings

3.1 Business Structure and History

Reflecting the landscape of a traditional central business district, 60% of businesses surveyed

were in the wholesale and retail sector, 23% of the businesses are involved in community or

personal services, 9% of the businesses are involved in finance, insurance, property and

business services, and 8% of businesses are in the businesses of catering and accommodation.

Figure 2: Main activities (product/services) of the business

Furthermore, the survey established that 85% of the businesses surveyed are locally owned

businesses. Of those that are not locally owned, 59% of the businesses classified their

business as a provincial company branches, 29% as national company branches, and 7%

international company branches.

60%

23%

9% 8%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Wholesales,rental, motor

trade sector

Community/Personal

Services

Finance,Insurance,Property Catering and

Accomodation

Page 6: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Figure 2: Business branches

Thirty-eight percent of businesses in the Bellville CBD have been operating in the Bellville

CBD for ten years and longer. Approximately 27% of the businesses have been operating in

Bellville CBD between six and ten years while 35% of businesses are operating in the area

for less than five years.

Figure 3: Life span of businesses

3.2 Employment Patterns

The 71 businesses surveyed employed a total of 558 people, 512 of which are employed full

time and 43 are employed on a part-time basis. The average number of employees is 7.2 per

business and the median is 5.

Businesses were asked to predict, considering current patterns within their businesses,

whether they expected any change in the number of people they employ in the next two

years. This revealed a generally positive outlook with 43% of businesses anticipating an

59%

29%

7%

15%

Provincial

Company

Branches

National

Company

Branches

International

Company

Branches

38%

27%

34%

1%

10 years and longer

6-10 years

1-5 years

less than a year

85% 15%

Locally

Owned

Businesses

Not Locally

Owned

Businesses

Page 7: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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increase in staff complement, while 35% anticipated no change and 8% expected a decrease

in employees.

Figure 4: Expected change in employees complement over the next two years

Reasons cited for the anticipated changes in the employment included:

Business growth rates

Seasonal trade

Future plans for the business

Sales prediction

Competition

On the question of what skills businesses anticipated they would require in the future, 45%

indicated that marketing and its related skills would be needed. A further 23% of businesses

surveyed indicated that they intend on recruiting professional services such as research,

strategic, engineering, graphic design, business management and public relation skills.

Fifteen percent of businesses interviewed indicated that they intended to recruit

administrative skills such as clerical, word processing, excel capabilities and interpersonal

skills. As would be expected from a business survey in a CBD, trade skills (6%) and technical

skills (4%) were not in high demand.

Increase in

employment

43%

No change

35%

Decrease in

employment

8%

No Response

14%

Page 8: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Figure 5: Future skills recruited vs. Skills businesses find difficult to attract

The skills that business finds difficult to attract are also those that they are looking to recruit

most urgently, with marketing and related skills being the most difficult to find (46%)

followed by professional skills (20%), administrative skills (14%) and technical skills (11%).

The technical skills that businesses have difficulty finding include nail and hair technicians.

The majority (66%) of businesses surveyed primarily undertake employee development using

an on-the-job training approach, while more formal approach are only used by a small

proportion of businesses – internships (6%), learnerships (4%) and bursaries (3%). Fifteen

percent of businesses do not provide formal training due to lack of funds, with the time

consuming nature of training and the fact that their business operations not requiring skilled

labour also being advanced as reasons for not investing in training.

16

25

48

4 6

14

20

46

11 9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Adminstrative

skills

Professional

services

Marketing and

related skills

Technical

skills

Trade skills

Future skills to

employing

Skills businesses have

difficulty attracting

Page 9: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Figure 6: Training of employees

3.3 Business environment

The decision to set up and continue operations in the Bellville CBD is informed by different

factors for different businesses. Figure 8 below provides an overview of the five main

advantages in as reported by business in the Bellville CBD.

Figure 7: Five main advantages of running a business in Bellville CBD

Fifty-nine percent of businesses consider reliable public transport as a key advantage of

running a business in the Bellville CBD. Furthermore, 51% of businesses consider the

physical location ideal for running a business. Forty-nine percent of businesses cite proximity

to markets as an advantage to doing business in the area, while 49% of businesses regard

customer loyalty as an advantage and 41% consider proximity to suppliers beneficial for their

business.

66%

4% 3% 6%

15%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Internal on the job

training

Learnerships Bursaries Internships No training

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%

59% 51% 49% 49%

41% 32%

25% 23% 20% 17% 15% 15% 13% 13% 13%

10% 7%

Page 10: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Disadvantages of operating a business s in the Bellville CBD include crime rates (76%), lack

of parking (60%), rental costs (52%), the negative image of the area (46%) and slow growth

rate in the area (25%).

Figure 8: Disadvantages to running business in Bellville CBD

Products and services that businesses find it most difficult to source in the Bellville CBD area

are captured in figure 10 below.

Figure 9: Items businesses find difficult to source in the Bellville CBD

Despite the disadvantages listed by businesses in the Bellville CBD, the majority of

businesses 71% have not considered relocating their businesses from the Bellville CBD,

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%76%

60%

52% 46%

28% 25%

17% 15% 15% 15% 14% 14% 13% 11% 11% 10%

Items that businesses find

difficult to find in the Belville CBD.

Food products

Machinery parts

Textiles

Electrical Appliances

Furniture

Clothing Fabric Products (clothing, materials,

catering, deco)

Page 11: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

11

closing or selling their business. Only 5% of businesses have considered closing their

business, while 13% have considered selling their business, and 11% considered moving their

business outside of the Bellville CBD. Reasons advanced for moving, selling or closing

include crime and grime (40%), high rental (26%), and changing the focus of business

activities (13%).

Figure 10: Businesses considerations

3.4 Future plans Fifty-seven percent of businesses indicated that they envisioned change in their current

business activities in the next two years. These changes include expanding their business

(40%), modernizing their business (25%), adding production lines (7%), adding new service

offering (4%) and enhancing their mix of goods and services (4%).

Figure 11: Businesses plans for the future

71

11 13

5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

None of the above Selling their

business?

Moving business out

of Bellville CBD?

Closing their

business?

39%

25%

20%

7% 4% 4%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Expand Modernise

facilities

No change Add production

line

Add services Change/mix

goods/services

Page 12: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Businesses surveyed projected an optimistic view of the sales outlook of their businesses with

more than half (58%) anticipating that business and sales will improve in the next three years.

Only 15% predicted a decline and 14% predicted that business and sales will stay the same in

the next three years.

Figure 12: Sales and business outlook for next 3 years

The reasons for these outlooks include:

Anticipated improvements in business and sales based on planned expansion of the

business.

An increase in the size of the consumer market due the proximity of tertiary education

institutions and associated student accommodation, as well as the establishment of a

new Home Affairs office. Both these factors bring additional feet into the area and

expand the market for the goods and services offered by business in the Bellville

CBD.

On the other hand some businesses argued that the market was shrinking and that

there was a marked decrease in customers in the area mostly due to increases in

prices, the negative image of the Bellville CBD and high levels of crime.

The high costs of doing business in the Bellville area as a consequence of high

electricity costs, cost of living rises and high rental costs were cited as reasons for

predicting either a decline or no change in business and sales for the next three years.

The five main constraints to expansion were identified high levels of competition (62%), lack

of adequate space (37%), small market share (37%), lack of finance (32%) and energy costs

(30%).

58%

15% 14% 13%

Improvement in Business

and Sales

Decline in Business and

Sales

Business and Sales will

remain the same

No Response

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Page 13: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Figure 13: Major constraints to expanding business in Bellville CBD

Businesses identified improved staff skills (41%), new products (39%), better networking

(28%), improved management skills (25%), and access to government incentives (18%) as

drivers of expansion in the next twelve months.

Figure 14: Factors improving business performance in the future

62%

37% 37% 32% 30%

25% 21%

15% 14% 13% 11% 11% 8% 7% 7% 7% 6% 6%

3% 3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

41% 39%

28% 25%

18%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Improved Staff

Skills

New Products Access to

Networking

Opportunities

Improved

Management Skills

Access to

Government

Incentives

Page 14: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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3.5 General Business generally has a positive view of government with only 14% reporting that they have

experienced any problems when dealing with government. Interactions with Department of

Labour and the Department of Home Affairs with regards to work permits and issues with the

municipality’s provision of services relating to crime and grime, parking, problem buildings

and environmental problems were the most frequently cited areas in which business had

experienced difficulty when interacting with government.

Figure 15: Experiences of problems with government

The 14% that have encountered problems with government departments elaborated that they

have experienced problems with Department of Labour and Home Affairs with regards to

work permits for their employees, while experiencing problems with local government with

regards to.

The interruption of an electricity supply in the first half of 2015 to avoid excessive load on

Eskom’s generating capacity interrupted economic activity across the City of Cape Town.

However, in the Bellville CBD, the majority (51%) of business were not affected by the load

shedding. Twenty-eight percent of businesses were only occasionally affected, while 15%

were moderately affected and 6% indicated that their businesses have been severely affected

by load shedding.

Yes

14%

No

86%

Page 15: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Figure 16: Effects of Load shedding on business

Businesses that were affected by load shedding were in most cases forced to close their doors

during load shedding to prevent criminals from entering, resulting in a loss of custom and

revenue. Suggestion to reduce the impact of load shedding included doing it at night when

they were not trading, and the rollout of sustainable energy infrastructure that could provide

extra capacity in the system.

Seventy-eight prevent of businesses surveyed were not affiliated to any business associations

or chamber of commerce. Of those that were, 73% were members of the Somali Business

Association. Furthermore the awareness of businesses in the Bellville CBD of the existence

of the Greater Tygerberg Partnership is low with only 29% of businesses having heard about

it and only 3% being members.

51%

28%

15%

6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Not affected Affected occasionally Affective moderately Affected severely

Page 16: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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4. Prioritisation of Issues The results of the Bellville CBD BRE exercise were interrogated by the task team at a

workshop on the 28th

September 2015. Based on the results of the survey and the task team

member’s knowledge of the area the following issues were identified and prioritised using a

card exercise1.

Table 1: Priority issues in the Bellville CBD

Issue Votes

Cleaning up Bellville 12

More visible policing 8

Dealing with petty crime 7

Traffic management especially with regard to taxis 5

Dealing with negative perception of Bellville 5

Lack of parking in the CBD 4

Need to upgrade the transport interchange 2

Need for a business organisation 2

Business crime 2

Rental costs too high 1

Vagrancy 1

The workshop adjourned at this point and agreed to meet again on the 14th

October 2015

identify actions and develop a draft action plan. The purpose of the workshop on the 14th

October was to develop an action plan for the top priorities. It was agreed to address petty

crime and the issue of visible policing as a single issue.

1 See Annexure 1 for the outcomes of the issue identification and prioritisation exercise

Page 17: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Workshop participants brainstormed activities that were required for issues to be addressed

and these actions prioritised using the PASTA process2. Annexure 2 contains the outcomes

of this exercise.

2 The question was asked is the action: Popular, Achievable, Short Term, Affordable

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5. Action Plan The following action plan for the four priority recommendations was developed using the PASTA technique. Priority actions are highlighted in

blue. Those actions not highlighted in blue will need to be addressed but this will be done outside the BRE process by the relevant stakeholders.

Table 2: Action Plans

Priority 1: Addressing the Perceptions of Bellville

Bellville seen to be characterised by urban decay and a degraded public realm

The CBD is perceived (and experienced) to be unsafe

These perceptions are held by both businesses and customers

Activity Popular

(Champion)

Achievable Short Term Affordable Notes

1. Identify clusters of economic activity and use

this to attract similar business and customers

to the Bellville CBD.

(GTP))

This work has already been started by the GTP.

The action team would focus on understanding it

and identifying further activities.

Page 19: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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2. Promoting Bellville as a positive brand

a. Develop profiles of businesses that

have been trading in Bellville for 10

years and longer

b. Get positive stories about the Bellville

CBD and activities that are taking

place into the public domain

c. Commission an influential blogger to

write positive stories about Bellville

life covering street fashion, food ,

campus life etc.

(GTP)

These three actions were grouped together as

although they were different, they reflect a

similar approach to telling the good stories about

the Bellville CBD

3. Promote Bellville through events such as a

Street Carnival and Open Streets

GTP

maybe

4. Upgrade existing infrastructure and amenities

to improve the image of the Bellville CBD

CCT

X

maybe

Page 20: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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Priority 2: Making a clean sweep

Dealing with the litter problem

Increasing the frequency of cleaning

Improving the overall condition of the public realm

Activity Popular Achievable Short Term Affordable Notes

1. Involve formal and informal business in cleaning

the area and taking responsibility for the CBD. One

possible way to do this is for the CCT and VRCID to

organise a “Spring Clean Bellville” drive with

business?

(VRCID/ GTP)

2. Review of solid waste plan and educate the public

and other stakeholders regarding waste

management and disposal.

(CCT)

The action team should engage with

the sub-council manager’s process

around this issue that is currently

underway with the aim of providing

input on the needs of businesses in

the CBD and the approach that

would work best to tackle this issue.

3. The City must leverage its funding of existing

organisations to get them involved in dealing with

this challenge

(CCT)

X

(maybe in

12 months)

Page 21: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

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4. The VRCID must employ more workers to clean up

Bellville and empty bins more frequently

X

(VRCID)

maybe but would

need more funds

Priority 3: Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime

More visible policing is needed as a deterrent

Petty crime such as gambling, mugging, drugs needs to be dealt with

A forum must be established (SAPS, law enforcement, formal business, traders etc.) to identify and address the issues.

This could be an existing for or could be the proposed action team itself.

Activity Popular Achievable Short Term Affordable Notes

1. Establishment of a business WhatsApp group to

provide information on incidents of crime

(GTP)

2. Hot spots should be identified and monitored by

law enforcement

(VRCID)

Information on the location of crime

hotspots can also be provided to

businesses so that they can warn their

employees.

3. Recruitment criteria for VRCID security guards

need to be made stricter to prevent collaboration

with criminals in the Bellville CBD.

(VRCID)

At the very least recruitment criteria

should be made public to reassure

business about the integrity of the

security guards.

4. Additional SAPS and Metro Police need to be

deployed in the CBD

maybe maybe

5. Open satellite police station at strategic locations X maybe

Page 22: Bellville CBD BRE Final Report

22

such as the public transport interchange and the

Middestad Mall

Priority 4: Dealing with rogue taxis

Taxis stop anywhere and make a major contribution to congestion in the area

Endanger pedestrians

Need to take a two pronged, “carrot and stick” approach

Activity Popular Achievable Short Term Affordable Notes

1. Engagement with taxi associations

(CCT)

This is currently taking place. The focus

should be on how taxi can self-regulate

their behaviour, and how they can still

maximise their passenger numbers

without contributing to congestion and

endangering other road users.

2. More enforcement and visibility

(CCT/SAPS)

X

maybe

This issue could also be picked up as

part of the enforcement component of

Priority 3.

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6. Annexure 1- Priotisation of Issues

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7. Annexure 2 – Prioritisation of Actions