STOP Edgemead CID

19/05/2026

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22/10/2025

No participation. No business plan. No CID.

So the Edgemead CID Steering Committee (or what’s left of it) has decided to keep pushing ahead, because apparently our “no” doesn’t mean anything. This so-called “revised” Urban Management Survey isn’t progress. It’s a second attempt dressed up as community engagement, banking on us having short memories.

Don’t fall for it. This round will be have no better outcome than the first.

The CID proposal survives on one thing: people taking part. Without responses, they can’t produce a revised business plan. No business plan means they’re right back at square one.

They need at least 20% participation in this second survey to keep their scheme alive—and, just like before, that number can be conveniently lowered, and likely will be, because we all know how keen the City of Cape Town is on double-taxing their voters and property owners. After all, R50m over 5 years is at stake.

If you oppose the CID, the most powerful action is STILL TO DO NOTHING.

No surveys.
No forms.
No consent.
No respondents means no business plan.
No business plan means no CID.
It really is that simple.


STOP EDGEMEAD CID

12/10/2025

The Sea Point CID has been in operation for over 25 years. That's a quarter of a century of levies, escalations and billing that never took a day off.

If the Edgemead CID is approved, we’re not signing up for a short-term experiment. We’re stepping into a lifelong financial commitment — and not just us, but our children too if they continue to live in the area.

Once a CID is in place, it doesn’t politely leave after its first term. It’s permanent.

The cost of “just R200 a month”

R200 per month + 15% VAT:

• 5 years (no escalation): R13,800
• 25 years (no escalation): R69,000

R500 per month + 15% VAT:

• 5 years (no escalation): R34,500
• 25 years (no escalation): R172,500

But here comes inflation

Let’s peg it at 4.5% CPI — a conservative IMF forecast for South Africa by 2030.

With annual escalations:

• R200 base levy + VAT over 25 years: ~R123,000
• R500 base levy + VAT over 25 years: ~R307,000

That’s not a small monthly levy. That’s a sizeable share of anyone’s wallet. And like that bad gym contract that you forgot to cancel, the fees are just gonna keep on coming.

Let’s stop and think what that money means for each of us.

That’s how many bond payments?
Money towards schooling or varsity for your kids?
Payment on a new car?
Some unforgettable family holidays?
Money in the retirement kitty?
Medical aid?

And for some, that will eat hugely into the drawdown from retirement savings, after working and paying taxes their entire lives. It might even force them into having to sell and leave the area.

Instead of investing in your life, your family’s future, or your financial security, that money would be paid to a CID, who guaranteed won’t know your name but will never forget to collect its dues.

Dissolving a CID is a bureaucratic obstacle course

The City of Cape Town’s 2023 CID by-law is brutally clear on how a CID can be dissolved:

28. (1) The Council may dissolve a CID:
(a) upon written application signed by the majority of owners within the boundaries of the CID who are liable for paying the additional rate.

That’s not symbolic. That’s 50% + 1 of every property owner inside the boundary — real signatures, formal paperwork, and a bureaucratic maze.

For Edgemead, that’s at least 1 849 owners. And even if that mountain of paperwork gets done, there’s still a formal Council process to contend with. And let’s be honest: the Department of Spatial Planning and Environment — Mr McGaffin, Mr Joubert, and friends — don’t exactly inspire confidence based on our experience to date, do they?

And that “we can just opt out after 5 years” line? Pure fiction.

There’s no automatic sunset clause. CIDs don’t dissolve themselves. Once established, they keep going unless a massive, organised effort forces a shutdown. Sea Point CID is a case in point.

What the Edgemead CID means for us

• R50 million stripped from the pockets of Edgemead property owners over five years.
• Households forced to pay R200–R500 + VAT per month, escalating yearly.
• SAPS stats show crime already down 27% overall (2024–2025).
• Burglaries down 77%, robberies down 67%, property crime down 63%.
• Services promised by the CID are already delivered by the City of Cape Town, SAPS, Metro Police and our incredible the Neighbourhood Watch.

Our message is simple:

❌ NO PARTICIPATION. Do nothing and sign nothing during the consent phase.
📝 Abstaining counts as a NO.
⚠️ The only way to stop this is to ensure the 60% consent rate is NOT reached.

What you can do in support

🗣 Talk to your neighbours, friends, and family about the CID and its costs. Make sure they understand that there is no opt-out clause. If you are an eligible rate-payer, and this CID passes, that’s what you will have to pay. No IFs or BUTs.

📄 Collect pamphlets from The Inkwell and hand them out face-to-face.

📱 Share electronic pamphlets in WhatsApp groups, on social media and by email.

📍 Join in distributing pamphlets at Edgemead Centre, the library, community hall events, sports events — anywhere lots of people gather.

If you consent to the Edgemead CID, you are signing us all up for decades of escalating costs.

🤝 Stay united. Together, we win. Divided, we pay.

Edgemead CID

09/10/2025

Some property owners in Edgemead are taking comfort in the idea that this proposed CID will never happen because “it’s too hard to get 60% + 1 of homeowners to agree.” Others soothe themselves with “oh well, we can just opt out after 5 years.”

Both comforts are illusions.

The City of Cape Town’s 2023 CID by-law is brutally clear on how a CID can be dissolved:

28. (1) The Council may dissolve a CID:
(a) upon written application signed by the majority of owners within the boundaries of the CID who are liable for paying the additional rate.

That’s not symbolic. That’s 50% + 1 of every property owner inside the boundary — real signatures, formal paperwork, and a bureaucratic maze.

For Edgemead, that’s at least 1 849 owners. And even if that mountain of paperwork gets done, there’s still a formal Council process to contend with. And let's be honest: the Department of Spatial Planning and Environment — Mr McGaffin, Mr Joubert, and friends — don't exactly inspire confidence based on our experience to date, do they?

And that “we can just opt out after 5 years” line?

Pure fiction.

There’s no automatic sunset clause. CIDs don’t dissolve themselves. Once established, they keep going unless a massive, organised effort forces a shutdown.

Meanwhile, the projected budget is R50 million over five years. That cost doesn’t fall from the sky. It’s funded by us — through an additional rate added to your municipal bill. There’s no opt-out clause for eligible ratepayers.

And before you start dreaming about that next meeting where the ECID comes back with a shiny revised business plan and a “reduced levy rate”, here’s your reality check: annual escalations. Levies hardly ever go down. Think of it like the greatest hits of long-term subscriptions: medical aids, household and life insurance. We've all experienced those steep annual increases. These are not likely to be any different.

In short, if this CID gets established, it will be almost impossible to dismantle. Our grandchildren will still be paying a “voluntary” tax they never voted for.

Our message is clear.
DO and SIGN NOTHING during the consent phase.

Zero participation = a NO vote.

United we can stop this CID. Divided, we pay.

Every YES signature during the consent phase is a step towards locking the entire neighbourhood into an expensive, hard-to-escape scheme with a R50 million price tag sewn directly into our pockets.

The choice is yours.

Image: The Sea Point CID - operational for 25 years. In Edgemead terms, that over R150 000 in levies from an individual property owner over the same time frame, or R500 per month + VAT.

08/10/2025

We note the Councillor’s report in the latest Edgemead News and wish to place the following on record to ensure residents have the full and accurate picture before any decision is made that could bind our community for years to come.

“Different spheres of government”

It is correct that the CID process does not fall under provincial government. However, that does not make the City of Cape Town a neutral observer. The City administers the CID process, authorises its establishment and collects the levies. It therefore benefits from the appearance of “enhanced service delivery” without increasing its own operational obligations.

Residents are effectively being asked to pay twice — once through existing municipal rates and again through an additional levy — while the City retains full control of authorisation and collection.

The result: the City gets the political credit for “improved services,” the CID board gets the headaches of running them, and Edgemead property owners get the R50 million bill.

“Councillors’ role and impartiality”

The Councillor’s report says that a CID “is not initiated, run, or controlled by councillors, the City, or political parties,” and that Section 4 of the CID Policy requires councillors to “remain impartial and may not take sides for or against a proposed CID.”

That is not what the policy says. Section 4 — Limited Role of Councillors — states:

“Councillors may not actively promote the establishment of any CID. This prohibition serves foremost to maintain the objectivity of councillors when deciding on establishment applications. In addition, it promotes the principle that the establishment of CIDs must be community-driven. Councillors may, however, advise and furnish information to the steering committee, proposed ARPs and the local community regarding any proposed application.”

The key phrase is “may provide.” Even so, this does not absolve the Councillor of responsibility. She is our elected ward Councillor — chosen by residents of Edgemead to represent and support them, and uniquely positioned to ensure residents are informed, that process irregularities are escalated, and that procedural fairness is upheld. Yet throughout this process, Edgemead residents have been left without the support, guidance, or advocacy that her office could provide, despite this being clearly envisioned in the policy.

In her recent newsletter, Empower Yourself with Knowledge, our Councillor defines the role of a councillor as including:

Representing community concerns to the City;

Encouraging participation in local government;

Keeping residents informed; and

Ensuring governance actions and decisions are legal, fair, and in the public interest.

Given these defined responsibilities, Edgemead ratepayers, owners, and voters are entitled to ask: how has she supported the Edgemead community in this process? If her role includes keeping us informed and ensuring fairness, why have the many procedural and policy irregularities raised by residents not been escalated or clarified through her office?

We are not asking for her to endorse (or oppose) the CID. We do however think she should be aiding and guiding her constituents as we engage with a complex legal process that directly affects all of us.

“A community-led process”

In theory, yes. In practice, the process is being driven by a small, self-appointed, unelected group of four, aka the 'Edgemead CID Steering Committee'.

The process has been fraught with issues:

Randomisation requirement
Clause 8.1.2 of the City of Cape Town CID Policy requires that the Urban Management Survey on which the ECID's 'business plan' is based be conducted as a randomised sample of at least 20% of proposed ratepayers, unless a lower percentage is approved in writing by the Executive Director. The Steering Committee’s reliance on Facebook, WhatsApp, emails, and selective door-to-door outreach does not qualify as any recognised form of randomised sampling. Strike 1.

Oversight and pre-approval
Clause 8.1.2 of the Policy and Section 6 of the CID By-law require the Executive Director to pre-approve the form and content of the Urban Management Survey. Residents have repeatedly requested proof of this pre-approval and of compliance testing. None has been provided. Strike 2.

Reference to governing instruments
Annexure C of the draft business plan still cites outdated 2016 By-law and 2017/18 Policy documents, rather than the 2023 versions currently in force — a direct contradiction of Schedule 1 of the By-law. How was this allowed to stand, if the Executive Director pre-approved the form and content as is required by the CID policy? Strike 3.

In correspondence, senior City officials have repeatedly avoided direct, clause-specific answers, instead offering circular responses that fail to address the issues. This pattern undermines transparency and falls short of the Batho Pele principles that should govern public administration. Strike 4.

Our Councillor was copied on all these communications — including exchanges with the Department of Spatial Planning and Environment, as well as formal letters of complaint to the Ombudsman concerning the behaviour of Mr Joubert and Mr McGaffin. She was also copied on correspondence to the Speaker of Council and the City Manager regarding our complaint against the Executive Mayor for what we believe to be a breach of Section 4 during the 28 August 2025 meeting.

Response to any of these emails and the issues raised? Zero.
Strike 5.

“How to have your say”

Residents were told to email objections during the 30-day comment period, yet the Edgemead Steering Committee offered almost no genuine engagement. Email was the only contact channel, with some queries receiving a copy and paste templated response, or none at all. The Edgemead CID's WhatsApp group is locked to admin-only posts, and its page has not been updated since before the public meeting on 28 August 2025. This apparently is their definition of 'public participation'.
Strike 6.

“Threshold for approval”

While the Councillor correctly notes that 60% + 1 of property owners must give written consent for a CID to proceed, it must be clarified that NON PARTICIPATION counts as OPPOSITION, not support. The onus lies on CID proponents to collect verifiable, written consents. Those who oppose the proposal are advised to NOT PARTICIPATE - do not sign or submit anything, paper-based or online, during the consent stage.

“On costs and accountability”

CID levies are in addition to existing municipal rates. This means compounded annual increases of hundreds of rand per household each month for FIVE YEARS, with no opt-out. The City collects the funds, but control rests with an unelected non-profit company (NPC).

Once established, this NPC will control millions in ratepayers’ funds each year, yet will be governed by a small board answerable only to itself and to minimal City oversight. While the City is meant to review annual budgets and audit reports, such oversight is usually administrative, not substantive. Real accountability depends on active resident participation — attending AGMs, scrutinising budgets, and electing board members. Without that vigilance, accountability risks becoming symbolic rather than real.

Over five years, the proposed CID would extract roughly R50 million from the pockets of Edgemead property owners, with an estimated R12.5 million allocated to administration rather than services — a significant cost burden with little direct democratic control and benefit.

Let's be clear.

Edgemead is not in decline. Verified SAPS statistics show that crime has fallen sharply across all major categories. The suburb remains safe and well-maintained through cooperation among SAPS, Metro Police, our incredible Neighbourhood Watch, and the Edgemead Residents’ Association, and all this without a CID.

We are not opposing improvement. We are opposing a poorly structured, opaque, and compulsory financial scheme being marketed under the banner of being “community-driven.”
We do not want or need a CID.

Edgemead CID

STOP EDGEMEAD CID
Cllr Miquette Temlett
Edgemead Residents Association

08/10/2025

In today's TygerBurger.

Edgemead CID

07/10/2025

See the September / October issue of Edgemead News for key facts about the Edgemead CID that property owners need to know.

Download a copy here and share it on your street WhatsApp groups, chat to your neighbours, help get the message out.

https://edgemeadnews.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Edgemead_News_Oct25_web.pdf

WHAT THE CID MEANS FOR US

💸 R50 million stripped from the pockets of Edgemead property owners over 5 years.
🏠 Households forced to pay R200–R500 + VAT per month, escalating yearly.
📉 SAPS stats: crime already down 27% overall (2024–2025).
🔐 Burglaries down 77%, robberies down 67%, property crime down 63%.
🚓 Services promised by the CID are already delivered by CoCT, SAPS, Metro Police, and the Neighbourhood Watch.

OUR MESSAGE IS SIMPLE
❌ NO PARTICIPATION. Do nothing and sign nothing during the consent phase.
✍️ Abstaining counts as a NO.
⚠️ The only way to stop this is to ensure the 60% consent rate is NOT reached.

WHAT YOU CAN DO IN SUPPORT

🗣️ Talk to your neighbours, friends, and family about the CID and its cost.
📝 Collect pamphlets from The Inkwell and hand them out face-to-face.
📲 Share electronic pamphlets in WhatsApp groups, on your social media and by email.
🏡 Join distributing pamphlets at Edgemead Centre, the library, community hall events, sports events or anywhere where lots of people gather

🤝 Stay united: Together, we win. Divided, we pay.

03/10/2025

WHY EDGEMEAD IS ANGRY
Edgemead isn’t angry because of crime.
Edgemead is angry because of arrogance.

Residents are being told they need a City Improvement District (CID), despite the fact that every piece of verified data proves the opposite. SAPS statistics show crime falling off a cliff: burglaries down 77%, robberies down 67%, property crime down 63%. The so-called “window removal burglaries” used to justify this scheme ended years ago. Yet the CID Steering Committee keeps selling a story of decline, using outdated stats and fear to try to squeeze millions from the community.

Is that just spin - or a lie?

FOLLOW THE MONEY
The CID will strip R50 million from the pockets of Edgemead property owners, with R12.5 million of that earmarked for “administration” — offices, salaries, perks for the very CID nobody wants. Not safety. Not services. Meanwhile, households already buckling under soaring City of Cape Town rates are expected to fork out R200–R500 + VAT every month (escalating annually!) for five years.

A PROCESS SO FULL OF HOLES, IT’S BASICALLY A COLANDER
The Urban Management Survey — the foundation of the CID's 'business plan' — reached only 16% of property owners. Less than 600 people, in a suburb of thousands, were used to claim “majority support.” The Steering Committee even dared to say they had “informed 90% of Edgemead” and stated that 62% of property owners were in favour of paying additional rates. In fact the 62% referred to 62% of the 600 odd people who took part in the survey - which is what, 370 people? At the August 28th public meeting, when asked who had heard about the CID before the meeting notice, three hands went up. Three. Out of more than 700 people in the hall.

Was this consultation - or imposition?

THE CITY’S CONTEMPT
As if the Steering Committee’s silence and spin weren’t enough, City officials doubled down.

• Residents who objected were dismissed as “disruptive.”
• Legitimate concerns about process and policy were brushed aside.
• Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis stood up in front of 700 residents and said he supported the CID – as a resident and as the Mayor, in open breach of the City’s own policy, while other residents weren’t allowed near the mic. Animal Farm comes to mind, with some residents being more equal than others!

When the people you voted for behave like this, anger is not just expected — it’s earned.

WILL THE REAL EDGEMEAD STAND UP?
Here’s the truth: Edgemead is safe and thriving without a CID. The City delivers an adequate level of service. SAPS and Metro Police are visible. Our legendary Neighbourhood Watch puts in thousands of patrol hours. The Edgemead Resident Association escalate service issues effectively. These are real people, volunteering their time, already doing the work.

And they do it without slapping a R50 million invoice on their neighbours.

NOT ANGRY. FURIOUS.
The shouting, the swearing, the anger boiling over is not because Edgemead is chaotic. It’s because Edgemead is being ignored. A community that’s already working, already safe, already united is being told it’s broken and is being held ransom to a process that only seems to be interested in money.

Call the CID what you like: levy, contribution, community upgrade. But when it’s imposed, when it’s sold with fear, when it’s binding for half a decade no matter what happens, there’s really only one word left to describe it.

---------------------------- (fill in your adjective of choice)

Edgemead CID

01/10/2025

We have written to the Tygerburger to request a right of reply to this article.

Article supplied follows:

Edgemead residents: crime is falling, not rising — CID fearmongering must stop

The proposed Edgemead City Improvement District (CID) is facing fierce opposition from residents, represented by STOP EDGEMEAD CID, a group of almost 800 residents, who say crime in the suburb is already falling, the community is thriving without it, and that the plan will force households to pay millions for a flawed and unnecessary scheme.

Last week, ECID steering committee member Dion Williams told the press that Edgemead faces “further decline” unless a CID is imposed. He pointed to burglaries from 2021–2022 as justification for a five-year, multi-million rand levy.

The facts tell a very different story. Verified SAPS comparative statistics for Edgemead (1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024 compared with 1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025) show crime has dropped steeply, not risen:

Priority crimes overall: down 27% year-on-year.
Contact crimes (serious assaults and robberies): down 31%.
Property crimes (burglaries, thefts from vehicles): down almost 63%.
Residential burglaries dropped by 77%.
Robbery crimes fell by 67%.
Shoplifting and other thefts plummeted by 75% and 28% respectively.

The only categories that rose were commercial fraud (+52%) and drink-driving arrests (just two more cases) — neither of which a CID would ever prevent. The “window removal burglaries” of 2021–2022 are long gone.

Williams’s narrative of decline is misleading fearmongering designed to manufacture consent for a scheme that will cost households an additional R200–R500 plus VAT every month in year one, escalating annually thereafter. Over five years, the CID would strip around R50 million from the Edgemead community, with as much as R12.5 million of this earmarked for administration — salaries, bonuses, offices, vehicles and perks — not services.

Opposition to the ECID is massive. More than 700 residents attended the 28 August 2025 meeting to make their opposition to the ECID known. The STOP EDGEMEAD CID Facebook group, which was formed on 19 August 2025, now has over 800 members and continues to grow daily.

Opposition is centred on three main issues:

Financial burden
Residents are already struggling financially. These additional levies would place many residents in a precarious financial situation, with some having to sell their properties or downscale, and in the case of tenants, seek more affordable rentals — potentially outside of Edgemead.

Procedural flaws
The Urban Management Survey, the basis for the ECID’s draft business plan, reached only 16% of owners, yet was presented as enjoying majority support. Outdated by-laws were cited, leading questions were asked, and the majority of residents were excluded.

The survey also failed to conform with the explicit randomised sampling survey requirement of the City of Cape Town’s CID policy.
Services already exist

The CID promises “top-up” safety and cleaning, but Edgemead already benefits from strong partnerships between SAPS, Metro Police and the Neighbourhood Watch. The Edgemead Residents’ Association, run entirely by volunteers, is highly effective in escalating service issues with the City, as is our elected ward councillor. In short, the services a CID claims to offer are already in place, funded solely by the rates and taxes we already pay.

The ECID public participation process which concluded on 29 September 2025 has only added fuel to the flames: it was marked by poor communication, bias, and procedural irregularities. The Steering Committee was largely absent, with a WhatsApp group locked down to admins, a page not updated since before the public meeting, and hundreds of emails from residents unanswered.

City of Cape Town officials worsened matters: Executive Director Robert McGaffin from the Department of Spatial Planning and Environment dismissed objectors as disruptive, refused further engagement despite unresolved concerns, and now faces an ombudsman complaint.

Additional complaints have been lodged: with the Ombudsman against CID Manager Joepie Joubert for repeatedly dodging procedural questions, and with the Council Speaker and City Manager against Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, for what we believe was his public endorsement of the ECID at the 28 August meeting — a direct and serious breach of Section 4 of the City’s CID policy.

The reality is clear. Edgemead does not want or need a CID. We are already a safe and well-maintained community thanks to SAPS, Metro Police, the Neighbourhood Watch, the Edgemead Residents’ Association.

We urge Edgemead property owners to make sure they understand the facts before signing a CID consent form. Consent — and the associated levies — is binding on all Edgemead residents for five years if the CID is formed. Refusing to pay these levies would leave a resident in default to the City of Cape Town.

If you oppose the CID, follow a NO PARTICIPATION approach and do NOT complete or sign anything during the consent phase. By law, only “YES” votes count. Doing nothing is a “NO” vote — the most effective way to stop the CID.


Edgemead CID
Edgemead Community Business Network
Edgemead Notice Board New
The Edgemead Group
Edgemead Residents Association
STOP COCT - Smart Compact
STOP EDGEMEAD CID

30/09/2025

The City of Cape Town’s City Improvement District (CID) proposal for Edgemead was supposed to be a textbook case of local democracy in action. Instead, it now looks like a civics lesson gone off the rails. Three separate complaints—against the Executive Mayor, the City’s own spatial planning chief, and the manager of the CID programme—paint a picture so skewed it borders on a breach of the principles of public consultation.

The Mayor’s unhelpful hat collection

Let’s start with the star of the show. The Mayor arrived at the 28 August public meeting wearing, in his own words, “many hats.” Nothing wrong with a resident sharing an opinion. But when the resident is also the Executive Mayor and uses the microphone to tout a R350 million citywide security spend while assuring the crowd the CID is just a harmless “add-on,” the line between private citizen and political heavyweight doesn’t just blur—it disappears.

He painted a dramatic picture of the city’s finances: “The city is in a vice grip… the very rapidly growing population on one side and the declining amount of money we receive from the state on the other.” He said the City is “constantly picking up more and more slack,” describing the R350 million plan for five Metro Police officers in every neighbourhood—770 new officers, complete with vehicles, uniforms, fi****ms and 18 months of training—as a stopgap for work that “ultimately… SAPS should be doing.”

To illustrate “beautification,” the Mayor pointed to the business plan’s call for a more striking main entrance to Edgemead—better signage and landscaping—and compared the vision to Durbanville at least twice. Cosmetic upgrades with a R50 million price tag.

It’s the civic equivalent of a referee giving the halftime pep talk to one team while still holding the whistle. The Mayor will later help Council decide whether this CID goes ahead; his public cheerleading undermines both the reality and the appearance of impartiality.

Section 4 of the City’s CID Policy is explicit: councillors “may not actively promote the establishment of any CID.” Yet more than seven hundred residents heard the city’s most powerful elected official - in law a councillor first - do precisely that.

The mayor even acknowledged the cost objections and, in the next breath, promised the CID would “take the beautification to the next level,” - even if - our emphasis, it means making every household in Edgemead to pay between R200 and R500 extra per month, for the next five years.

Mr McGaffin’s vanishing inbox

If the Mayor was too eager to talk, Robert McGaffin, the Executive Director for Spatial Planning and Environment, was the opposite. After calling residents’ objections an “orchestrated attempt to derail the process,” he slammed the inbox door with a curt “will not be communicating further on these matters.” So what if the municipal codes, the Constitution, and the City’s own Ethics Code all insist on transparency and equal treatment? Mr. McGaffin instead treated residents like spam. For a party that loves to lecture the national government about consultation, the Democratic Alliance can’t be thrilled to have one of its senior officials starring in this episode of “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Mr Joubert's circular replies

Then there’s Mr. Joepie Joubert, Manager of City Improvement Districts, who perfected the art of saying nothing in as many emails as possible. Residents asked for clause-specific answers about random survey requirements, pre-approval of the Urban Management Survey, and why the draft plan still quotes outdated by-laws. Joubert responded with bland reassurances and non-sense answers, while dodging the actual questions. (If stonewalling was an Olympic sport, we’d have a gold medallist!)

Why it matters

A City Improvement District is not a bake sale; it’s a R50 million-rand levy that will reshape neighbourhood finances for years.

Residents deserve a process that is neutral and transparent. Instead we've seen a Mayor who appears to have pre-judged the outcome, a senior director who first insults constituents then shuts down dialogue, and a CID manager who turned answers into a game of hunt for clues.

The damage isn’t just procedural. It's a matter of public trust. If Cape Town wants to keep bragging about clean governance, it needs to prove that the rules apply to its own house. That means investigating these complaints, holding the Mayor to the same standards the DA demands of others, and reminding every official that “People First” is supposed to be more than a bumper sticker.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis
Democratic Alliance
Premier Alan Winde
Edgemead CID

John Steenhuisen
Edgemead Notice Board New
Edgemead Community Business Network
Cllr Miquette Temlett
Daily Maverick
News24.com
STOP EDGEMEAD CID