New bibs for parking attendants
The Winelands Safety Initiative (WSI) parking attendants, affectionately known as the Red Bibs that are seen in the Stellenbosch CBD in the evenings and on weekends, received new bibs last week at a function at the town hall. The function was attended by executive mayor Jeremy Fasser, municipal manager Geraldine Mettler, WSI director André Pelser, Dr.Gretha Groeneveld, as well as other partners – municipal law enforcement, Visit Stellenbosch, and private security companies.
Groeneveld briefed the Red Bibs on the use of an exciting technology, Community Wolf (CW), loaded airtime on their cell phones, and handed out CW beanies.
The Red Bibs will use CW to report suspicious activities in their areas which contribute to the secure CW database that identifies crime patterns and locations that are then mapped by Gretha as hotspots which can be targeted by safety and security roleplayers, predominately SAPS. The 34 men are all from Kayamandi and now become part of Business Against Crime (BAC), SA’s E2 (Eyes and Ears) project, a national collaboration between business, SAPS and private security companies to improve surveillance and communication in crime prevention activities.
WSI provided hot soup and vetkoek on a wet and cold day.
Mayor Fasser thanked Pelser for managing this invaluable project, praised the Red Bibs for their voluntary, unpaid service to Stellenbosch and committed the municipality to continued support of this initiative. His praise was appreciated and applauded by all present.
The Red Bib men all have SA IDS, police clearance, rely on tips from motorists for income and have been provided with Snapscan and Zapper to accommodate cellphone transactions, as many people nowadays do not have small amounts on hand for tipping.
Pelser, besides managing this project, is also chairman of the Stellenbosch Community Police Forum and a member of the managements of the Stellenbosch Homeless Forum(SHF), the Winelands Chamber of Commerce (a chapter of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and coordinator of the E2 steering committee in the Cape Winelands.
He calls on the Stellenbosch community to please show their appreciation for the role that the Red Bibs play in the CBD till late at night by blessing them with a tip. Red Bibs are not allowed to ask for anything and appreciate a smile and thank you.