Good Day Castle Friends

It was about this time last year when the full might of the most devastating pandemic hit humanity.  The 356-year Castle was not spared and had to respond to the worst human and economic crisis in recent history.

Despite the debilitating operational impacts of the pandemic, the Castle Control Board (CCB) took a conscious decision not to lament but use the full might of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to advance their heritage, tourism, and conservation mandates.  During these extraordinary times, the CCB organised virtual tours, virtual seminars, virtual exhibitions, blended events and even hosted a couple of international film shoots.

The CCB joined forces with artists, performers, community organisations, religious leaders and exhibitors to launch a series of thought-proving exhibitions:

• "Posterity" with its focus on gender-based and other forms of societal violence and links with our colonial past;
• "If These Bones Could Talk" about rhino poaching;
• "Imam Haron" dealing with the life and times of this struggle cleric;
• "Dulcie September" dealing with this anti-apartheid activist's death by letter-bomb;
• "Cape Muslim Heritage Art Exhibition",
• the Cape Minstrel symbolic demonstration to usher hope into the new year;
• the Camissa Museum heritage initiative - a development with the potential to change the course of history and historiography in our land.

These exhibitions and other innovative events attracted unprecedented media interest, reaching an audience of over half a billion people.

During the current financial year, the CCB will endeavour to significantly beef up its income generation capacity by improving the restaurant, gift shop, and conference offering. We are thus extremely grateful towards all our loyal clients and supporters and in particular the Department of Defence, who threw out a life-line when we faced our darkest of hours.

On-site and perimeter security management remain a key priority. In this regard, the CCB and its on-site SANDF partners, are engaging the City of Cape Town, SAPS and private sector to improve crime prevention at the Castle's Grand Parade entrance.

Depending on the lock-down restrictions, the CCB will undertake a concerted marketing effort to get scholars, students, community members and tourists in their numbers back on site. The Board has again committed itself to clean, effective corporate governance and expects nothing but a clean audit for the year behind them. The latter, plus our global status as a heritage thought-leaders, will build confidence, the bedrock for our journey of recovery…

Yours in heritage for development

Chief Executive - Castle Control Board