The City of Cape Town rewarded 48 tenants who live in its Council rental units (CRUs) for paying their rent consistently. Each tenant received a gift voucher to the value of R1 000. 
The oldest beneficiary of the City’s CRU awards incentive in this round was 83-year-old Gladys Baptiste from Leonsdale. A total of seven tenants are in their 70s, with the balance ranging in age from 40 to 69 years old.
‘The handover event was a heart-warming moment to share with some of our most senior tenants. I must commend them for consistently paying their rent, especially those who are pensioners. The awards are the result of an incentive scheme which goes back to 2010 and is an effort to increase our percentage of rental collections by rewarding those who pay their accounts regularly. Since the project’s inception, about 250 residents have benefitted from this incentive scheme,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Assets and Facilities Management, Councillor Stuart Diamond.
The incentive project helps the City to further improve the quality of rental stock in that when residents pay their rent regularly and on time, the City can perform maintenance and upgrades as required. As part of our new Organisational Development and Transformation Plan, we will seek to further cement this partnership to realise our transformational priority of excelling in basic service delivery. In this way, the City and residents can make progress possible, together.
Winners must have paid their rent consecutively for three months and must be legitimate occupants in terms of the City’s rental housing policy and tenant agreements.
Six winners are drawn each month. The most recent beneficiaries were drawn for the period June 2016 to January 2017.
The winners are selected from a computer-generated list of all paying tenants. A blind selection (no names or addresses) is made by two independent representatives with no relationship to the City’s Tenancy Management Department. The winners are from areas across the city including Strand, Hanover Park, Manenberg, Macassar, Leonsdale, Kewtown, Mitchells Plain, Heideveld, Ravensmead, Gugulethu, Bonteheuwel and Langa.
‘I would like to thank all of the recipients for their leadership in showing their loved ones and neighbours how to be model citizens despite the economic pressures they may be facing. These rental contributions help us to provide a better quality of life for all tenants. I encourage the recipients to brag about their achievement to everyone – you deserve this recognition and celebration. I would ask that the recipients spread the word and urge their fellow tenants to follow the example of being upstanding residents,’ added Councillor Diamond.