Update From The GUIP Chairman

Greetings Everyone

As most of us are slowly but surely returning to some level of normality during these strange times, I thought I would just update you on where we are with the GUIP at this stage.

As you know we are completely dependent on funding our organisation from the Special Rate that is levied by the Ethekwini Metro and paid over to us on a monthly basis. I am sure that you have also all seen that the level of rates collections has dropped to just over 50% on average across the Metro in the past few months The Metro in turn has drastically reduced the portion of the rates due to all UIP’s including the GUIP. We also only get notification in the last week of each month as to what amount will be payable for the following month  – for instance we were told last week that  the amount payable for June would be just over one third of our normal allocation. We therefore had to make some drastic last minute further adjustments to our budget to ensure that we were in a position to pay for the services we are offering. The steps we have taken for June are as follows:

1. We have decided to continue with the 24/7 armed response vehicle but we have negotiated a reduced rate with Ensure Security;
2. We have done away with the qualified security officers all together at this stage;
3. We have started using the ambassadors again on a reduced rate and within the limits of our remaining budget. We expect to have between 15 and 20 ambassadors deployed in our precinct at any time during June.
4. We have had to ask the management team to make significant salary sacrifices during this period;
5. We have negotiated rate reductions wherever possible with other suppliers.

I would firstly just like to thank all concerned but particularly the management team for the way they have accepted the difficult changes that have been forced upon us and for the commitment they have shown to this project at this difficult time. Unfortunately we are going to have to live pretty much on a month to month basis for the foreseeable future and make adjustments each month based on the income we receive. Hopefully things return to normal within an acceptable period and we can start offering our full level of service again asap. However this depends on circumstances beyond our control.

We will keep you informed on a monthly basis.