Minutes of the Executive Committee of Bushman’s River Mouth Ratepayers’ Organisation Meeting held on 17 September 2021 at 09:00 at 14 Krogscheepers Street Bushman’s River Mouth.

1. Welcome

Lӧtter Wepener welcomed those present.

2. Attendance register and apologies.

In attendance: Lӧtter Wepener, Sheila Swanepoel, Dalien Pachonick, Jacques de Wit, Ferenc Toth.
In attendance: Gibbon Schickerling.
Apologies: Jack Dell, Sarel Marais and Wanda Nezar.

3. Confirmation of previous minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of 7 July 2021 be approved, and the chairman be authorised to sign them.

4. Correspondence

  1. Correspondence received / matters arising.
    A letter from Chistelle Miller seeking BRRAG support for a Pink Tyree Project was noted and BRRAG indeed supports the idea.
  2. Correspondence issued.
    We received no response from the municipal manager regarding the appointment of bylaw officer. The grapevine has it that the municipality will not be appointing such officers due to a lack of funds. RESOLVED that a letter be sent directly to director Booysen-Willy and a copy to deputy directors Fanie Fouche.The letter regarding an improvement to our roads also had no response. Jacques is attempting set up meetings with the relevant officials to encourage road maintenance and repairs.

    The letter requesting action on the illegal signage in Bushman’s and Riversbend received limited reaction as a few illegal signs were removed but many remain in place. RESOLVED to resend the letter and to include the sign in RB that obstructs the stop sign on the road to the SandBar and the estate agent signage in BRM. A letter is to be sent to the municipality in relation to the illegal structure at the RB entrance.

  3. Correspondence to be sent out / responses.
    See 4.2

5. Municipal Matters

  1. Legal Issues
    A duplicate vehicle registration certificate is still awaited. Jacques will follow up with the appropriate director.

    Water and sewage management: Both these service areas are in dire straits. Jacques is combining forces with KOSRA, Estuary Care, Chamber of Business and others to form a group (The Service Delivery Support Group (SDSG) of interested parties that will collaborate with Amatola, Department of Water Affairs and Ndlambe to attempt to secure better service delivery. The dangerous blue gum trees have been removed save that the high stumps that were left are to be trimmed down.
    Roads: Jacques is attempting to get a plan in place, but it is meeting with much laxity on the side of Ndlambe. Information boards: the information boards have been approved and will hopefully be in place by December. There may be delay with the SanParks board and we may have to consider funding it. The meeting with estate agent was a courtesy meeting where it was agreed that no signage be left in our towns. The exceptions are showhouses when boards may go up on Fridays but they must be removed on Mondays and in RB where empty stands may have for sale signs displayed.

  2. Legal Issues
    It was noted that we are POPI Act compliant and that we have a manual I two languages as is the requirement.

    Wanda’s appointment as information officer was also submitted. It was reiterated that our staff must be UIF registered and be registered, and contracts entered for purposes of the Compensation Commissioner. It was noted that the supervision of our two staff members must be taken over from sometime in October when Sheila will be moving to Johannesburg.

6. Finance

  1. Income and expenditure.
    The income / expenses were noted and approved.
    The following ring-fenced amounts were available at the end of August.

     

      Amount
    Tennis court fund 8 980
    Container storage fund 9,300
    December security fund – BRM 59 350
    Camera fund  Nil
    Nightwatch control 7 465
    Staff bonus fund 850
    Fire trailer 2 800
  2. Ferenc reported that the fire tender is in working condition and housed in the emergency centre. Mr Sauls of the municipality is busy with some upgrading, as undertaken.
    A contribution of R 7 495 to the camera fund to erect cameras at the picnic / ablution area was approved.

7. Village Maintenance

  1. Grass cutting and bush clearing.
    All work is ongoing and the Village is looking good. The two worker vests must be collected from Sewit in Port Alfred.
  2. Road markings and street signs
    Road painting is in progress.
  3. Three dates for inclusion in the refuse removal invoice are required.
  4. Manalek must be contacted to check the connection of the Christmas lights.

8. Village Infrastructure

  1. Ward Committee: Nothing to report.
  2. Municipal IDP: Nothing to report.
  3. Ablution blocks
    These will be inspected, repaired and locked for the December holiday.
    The state ablution at the townhall area is being pursued by Jacques.
  4. Water, sewers, and storm water drainage
    The SDSG (above) is following up on the water and sewer plants. The huge effort by Jacques was noted and appreciated.
  5. Car parks and slipway
    Nothing new.

9. Riversbend

Nothing additional.

10. Security

  1. Liaison with Hi-Tec
    Nothing to report.
  2. Security incidents
    Nothing to report.
  3. Camera fund
    Ferenc is in charge and some major new camera installations are being planned. There is a plan afoot to encourage residents to monitor the camaras at night and the project will be advertised soon.
  4. Security fence maintenance
    Nothing additional
  5. Liaison with SAPS / CPF
    Nothing to report.
  6. Liaison with local security groups
    A meeting was held about the crossing at Kenton where a new filling station is envisaged. Ferenc and Jacques attended and stressed the necessity to investigate traffic calming measures also at Boesmans / RB and the Marselle crossing.

11. Fire fighting

See above.

12. Website

App development is highly expensive and unlikely to be afforded by BRRAG.

13. Newsletter

Committee members should forward articles to Lӧtter.
The December security fundraising will commence. Jack offered to do the markings outside houses.

14. Estuary Care

Jacques reported that an EC worker is not available to assist us with the maintenance of the towpath.
EC supports the appointment of bylaw enforcement officers.
The possibility to moor boats at the RB area must be promoted.

15. Ndlambe Ratepayers’ Forum

Jacques will be promoting a number of issues at the upcoming meeting.

16. Chamber of Business

Nothing new.

17. Any other business

A drive to recruit committee members is required.
It was reported that Frankie Ferreira offered to donate a Kudu mower like our existing one to BRRAG. The offer was gratefully accepted. Once received, a letter of thanks will be sent.
We will require storge areas for all our equipment. Lötter will approach Walter Biggs and Ferenc will talk to Pedro to see if we can find space to place a storage container.

18. Closure and next meeting

Lötter thanked Sheila for her exceptional service to BRRAG and the Boesmans community over the past approximately 20 years and wished her and Corrie all the best at their new retirement home. Committee members agreed and extended their thanks for the service to our community over the years.

The next meeting will be held on 7 December 2021.

The meeting closed at 12h00

Dated on 7 December 2021

Chairman

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