The City of Cape Town expresses its condolences to the family of Mr Craig Haskins (40), who was killed on February 03, 2009 in an accident, while cycling on Ou Kaapseweg in Cape Town, South Africa. Our thoughts are particularly with Candice, his wife, also a City employee, and his two young sons, Nathan and Jason. Craig’s sudden and untimely death will leave a void in both the City’s Strategic Development Information and Environmental Resource Management departments.
Craig was a committed member of staff, who served the City of Cape Town well in many areas during his nearly ten years of service. He held the post of Manager of Strategic Information at the time of his death.
Deputy Mayor, Cllr Grant Haskin, said “He was well known amongst his peers and leadership in the City as a hardworking and committed senior team member of the City’s Administration and we will always remember his contributions to our success, growth and development as a City, for the benefit of all Capetonians.”
Mr Piet van Zyl, Executive Director of Strategy and Planning, added “I trust that our many memories of Craig, as a sincere and dedicated professional person and valued colleague, will endure forever.”
Craig was a progressive thinker, passionate environmentalist and committed to trying to make sustainable development a reality in the city. He was popular among his peers with a keen sense of humour, which at times masked a steely determination and ability to implement effectively. His insightful input into the City of Cape Town’s strategic processes, including the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and a range of City reports enhanced the final products, in particular in respect of the City’s path to sustainability. Keith Smith, the City’s director for Strategic Development Information, said Haskins “was a good mobilizer and a motivator, very action-orientated.”
Prior to his recent position, Craig worked in the Environmental Resource Management department at the City as a Key Projects Researcher for six years. Perhaps his most substantial contribution in those early years was the production of the first State of Environment Report (SoE) for the City of Cape Town (for the year 1998). As a key part of this process, Craig researched and coordinated a process which led to the identification of a range of sustainability indices, many of which are still used in the City’s Sustainability reporting. “State of environment reporting is important given that information sharing and public participation are vital parts of developing an environmental management policy,” Craig wrote in this report.
Craig was also a core member of the team which developed Cape Town and Africa’s first ever environmental policy – the Integrated Metropolitan Environmental Policy or IMEP, and he recognised the importance of closely connecting the collection of strategic information in the SoE report to the establishment of the policy and its strategies.
He drove the formulation of the City's Energy and Climate Change Strategy and was co-ordinator for ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection Campaign (CCP) for Cape Town, project managing the expenditure of CCP funds so efficiently and productively that he was offered a contract post with ICLEI Africa to coordinate the CPP project countrywide. He opted against taking up the position.
More recently, Craig continued his work on sustainability programmes and was the co-ordinator of the City of Cape Town’s involvement in the Danish International Development Agency’s (DANIDA) Urban Environmental Management Programme (UEMP).
Ironically, Craig’s bicycle-related death comes as the City begins to implement its non-motorised transport routes in the city, ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, to promote cycling and walking as a safe means of travel. Already the Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, Cllr Grant Haskin, has called for swift action in this respect in the light of Craig’s death.
