NB this is the old Website for CIBRA and please use the new improved website at this URL/Link: https://cibra.co.za/home/
This old site becomes out of date after October 2021 and the new site contains the current information.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Click on the SUBPAGES here to read the information they contain:
What is CIBRA? Contact us via eMail at: citybowlratepayers@gmail.com
CIBRA stands for City Bowl Ratepayers’ & Residents’ Association. It results from the amalgamation in 1997 of the previously separate three civic associations in the City Bowl.
This amalgamation took place partly to provide a greater pool of volunteers and expertise to draw from and partly to meet Council’s aim that it need deal with only one organisation for each “Ward” (political or geographic). ClBRA’s mandate results from the enthusiastic inaugural AGM and its subsequent AGMs.
It is independent of any other organisations, receives no fund from the City and is run by the locals for the locals
Why a Civic Association: In a perfectly run city, there would be little need for civic organisations: a simple phone call from any aggrieved resident would be enough to get problems sorted out. Reality says otherwise.
What does it do: CIBRA represents the community of the City Bowl, especially in municipal matters. As the official civic association for the area, it receives from the City ofCape Town copies of various current processes or applications advertised to the more directly affected residents or property owners.
CIBRA then follows these processes, ensuring that they are executed properly and fairly, inform affected residents of the issues at hand, of their rights and the procedures afforded to them.
CIBRA is also invited to comment on or contribute to the drafting of policies. It speaks out on issues of general interest such as the environment, noise and pollution control, traffic, business encroachment, urban conservation and brings local problems to the City’s attention.
Our function is part watchdog, part liaison, part information gathering, part analysis for comments. How does it work: An executive committee of CIBRA members drawn from volunteers is elected at each AGM. Portfolios are drawn up to deal with the various types of issues and distributed among the Exco members.
CIBRA also relies on a permanent Advisory Panel of professionals in urban conservation matters, and ad hoc advisers for town planning issues.
Additional members can also be temporarily co-opted for specific tasks, projects or issues.
Who are these volunteers: local property owners and residents who give freely of their time, energy and expertise for no reward other than the satisfaction of doing something constructive and in the belief that local problems need not be like the weather: everyone talks about it but no one does anything about it!
Why become a member: Any association has costs to meet. In ClBRA’s case, it’s mostly correspondence, telephone calls, faxes, photocopies, our Newsletter, sundries such as advertising and our AGM. We run a very tight ship on a tight budget and receive no funds of any sort from the City, which guarantees our independence.
Membership costs only R120 per year (R30 for pensioners): for this you will receive ClBRA’s Newsletter, which with our Website keeps you up to date with the issues, updates important information and contact numbers.
Your membership fee also helps us help you. Without members’ fees, we could not function.
What area: CIBRA is the civic association for the residential City Bowl. (The CBD has its own, business- linked organisations to look after the problems of that area). In 2015 the Heritage Protection Overlay Zones (HPOZ) for Bo-Kaap and Vredehoek had not yet been confirmed by the City (see map on our Heritage Documents page) and those areas formed their own Civic associations, as did District 6 (having rejected the name Zonnebloem). This effectively undid what the City had asked when CIBRA was formed and therefore in Ward 77 CIBRA now mainly acts for Oranjezicht, Higgo Vale, Gardens, and Tamboerskloof. Additionally our Urban Conservation Advisory Panel deals with Ward 115 development referrals from Heritage Western Cape.
CIBRA is NOT a club: as a Civic Association, it acts on behalf of ALL living within the City Bowl, without distinction, property owners or residents, irrespective of which part of the area they live in or whether they are paid-up members or not. We do not exchange assistance for a membership. But we do need money to function. We may assist one of your friends or neighbours today, and you tomorrow.
So, help us help you and JOIN TODAY!
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To see a map of the CBD Ward 115 and our Ward 77 area click on this to look at the City Wards page.
