City rolls out its Identikidz project for the festive season
9 December 2019
The City of Cape Town’s Social Development and Early Childhood Development is hitting the beach this summer in support of child safety.
The Department is spearheading the City’s Identikidz project, which has become an integral component of the overall festive season safety plan.
‘The Identikidz programme has grown exponentially as more people become aware of it, and the results are truly astounding. It provides peace of mind to parents on busy beach days, when children can so easily become lost in the crowd, but it also makes the task to reunite them far simpler,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
During the 2018/19 festive season, just more than 100 000 children were tagged at participating beaches – a 132% increase on the previous year.
A total of 535 children were reunited with their families.
This year, the Identikidz project will be implemented at 15 beaches -Muizenberg, Fish Hoek, Strandfontein, Gordon’s Bay, Strand, Monwabisi, Harmony Park, Mnandi, Big Bay, Sea Point and surrounding area, Silwerstroom, Camps Bay, Lagoon Beach, Melkbosstrand, Milnerton Beach.
It will run over 16 days: 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29 and 31 December 2019. 1, 2, 4, 5, 11 and 12 January 2020.
All children who arrive at the aforementioned beaches on the specified dates will be registered and issued with an identification tag/armband so that they may be reunited with their family in the event that they get lost on the beach.
‘Identikidz is a massive undertaking and our staff work closely with other agencies, like the City’s enforcement staff, SAPS, and even the provincial Department of Social Development. We are doing everything possible to keep children safe, but this doesn’t absolve parents and caregivers of their responsibility.
‘We urge them to register their children with our Identikidz teams as soon as they arrive at the beach, and to ensure that they keep their cellphone close by and charged, in the event that we need to get hold of them. Getting lost is a very traumatic experience for a child and we want to limit the anxiety by reuniting them with their caregivers as soon as possible,’ added Councillor Badroodien.
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