December security
We are planning for our usual additional security during the holiday season. Why so early? Because we need to advise the service provider of the number of guards that we will require in good time as they must hire them in and ensure that they are properly trained to comply with the relevant legislation regarding security guards. This cannot happen overnight. We urge members to commence contributing towards the December security fund so that we can assess our resources for the project by the end of October 2022. Please donate generously. We require approximately R 175 000 – R 200 000. Payment can be made as follows:
BRRAG: Standard Bank:
Branch Code: 051117
Kenton on Sea
Account Number: 281116393
Reference: Guards.xx.Street.Name.
Please send an email notification to bushmansratepayers@gmail.com to help us identify the correct houses that are contributing towards this protection plan.
Riversbend owners, please encourage neighbours to assist – we have traditionally contracted for fewer guards for a shorter period due to the lack of contributions.
Also note, that the amount above only allows for guards at night (18h00 – 06h00) and a slipway and sea carpark guard during the day. If we receive more than the amount above, daily roving guards can be added.
If you wish to pledge an amount now and pay later, that too is fine as it will enable us to do the planning well in advance.
Markings will be placed in the street outside the houses that contribute for easy identification by the guards during December.
Whatsapp group for members
We have established a WhatsApp group for paid up members of BRRAG. It is an additional communication channel to improve communication with members. If you want to read our communications or communicate with us, please send your name and surname and cellular number to us by return email. Send it to our email address bushmansratepayers@gmail.com with the words WhatsApp group in the subject line. We intend concentrating on getting newsworthy matters out as quickly as possible to members and not wait for our newsletter that also goes to some non-members. By using this platform, we hope to act immediately on issues that affect us all. We have the objective to enhance service delivery and communication. Examples are reporting of streetlights not working with street name and pole number; water issues; infrastructure reporting; signage repairs; refuse removal; security issues – please note this does not replace any of the security groups but serves as a reporting service.
December Christmas market
Our December Christmas market will be back on 23 December 2022. More info later in the year.
If you have contributions to make to our jumble sale / white elephant table, please drop us a line and we shall arrange to collect. The below decal will also be for sale at the market – but is free to paid-up members.
In memoriam
Our Village manager of many years, Corrie Swanepoel, sadly passed away during late July, a few months after Sheila passed away. We were saddened to hear of Corrie’s passing. He was an amazing father, husband, community member and an inspiration to all in how he dealt with his disabilities. He was a loyal friend of many of us for many, many years… the world has lost a good man! It is a tragic ending to a great chapter in the book of life. Corrie and Sheila were sheet anchors in making Bushman’s community a vibrant and united community and Bushman’s a wonderful village to live in. We wonder how many residents know the monumental effort they put into Bushman’s. Very few, except those who worked closely with them. May they rest in peace and we who knew them will remember them as great people.
Community members attended a small memorial service on 16 September and were addressed by Lötter who expressed a huge thanks to Corrie and Sheila for their dedication to Boesmans.
Annual membrship fees
We extend our sincere thanks to Veronique Jones who took on the job of reminding owners and residents about our annual membership fees. This led to new members joining us and longstanding members who forgot whether they renewed, to get up to date. Thank you, Veronique, and thank you to all our loyal members for paying up. It goes to a worthy cause. Please note that due to some financial assistance received from the Municipality (yes, true!!), we can keep our subscriptions at the same level as the past few years i.e., R 350. In addition, we shall be sending out accounts to current members as a reminder that subs are due for the 2023 year (our year-end is November, annually).
Tennis courts
The tennis courts may be revamped if we receive a new 5-year lease soon. The nets were refurbished, and we hope to have the surfaces cleaned from algae and attended to some fence repairs. Thank you to contributors to the tennis court fund for assisting us to be able to make the improvements. Please be reminded that we have an HONESTY BOX on the wall of the club house where donations for the use of the courts are gratefully received. A member is also using the facility for a private function and will so be contributing to our coffers.
Monthly BRRAG community braai
We are reviving the monthly braai usually held on the last Friday of the month. John Wesley and Bernard Miles have offered to be in charge of the functions. The BRRAG staff will prepare the venue on the Friday afternoon and clean up on a Monday morning. Residents who wish to receive notice of the braai will be added to a special braai Whatsapp group and be advised of any upcoming get-together. If you want to join the group to get notice, please email your name and cellular number to bushmansratepayers@gmail.com with the word BRAAI in the subject line.
August 110 club draw winners:
- Jean-Pierre du Toit R525
- Leon Schmidt R380
- Simon Cooper R295
Congrats to the winners.
Caravan Park
The caravan park lease between the Municipality and the tenant ended. Some of the current lessees in the park clubbed together and formed the Boesmans Caravan Park Cabin Owners’ Association and are vying for another 10-year lease. BRRAG assisted the Association to the best of our ability, and we hope that they will be successful in their quest.
Old townhall
We have approached the Municipality with a request for the use of the old town hall and beach kiosk. The building has been virtually unused for a number of years, and we are certainly able to use the office space and hall.
AGM
Please diarise 27 December 2022 for our AGM. We still have a need for additional committee members. Please raise your hand.
Community camera fund
Why should you donate your R50.00 a month or R600.00 PA to the community camera fund.
All the entrances and exits of the entire community are covered by *NAVIC* ANPR (Automated Number Plate Recognition) Cameras. This is linked to the national crime intelligence database. Any vehicle linked to any form of crime is flagged and responded to by SAPS, NIGHT WATCH KENTON ON SEA / BOESMANSRIVIERMOND NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH (NHW) / COMMUNITY POLICE FORUM (CPF) and Hi-Tec Security. There have been many successful arrests in our area because of this. This aids tremendously to keep the criminals out of our communities.
Shopping with safe peace of mind in the CBD for your benefit. There is no municipal or government funding to help with this. (We Stand Alone at this stage)
Peace of mind on our beaches, boats moored on our rivers and trailers at trailer parking areas.
All of this comes at a huge cost with ongoing maintenance and monitoring on a monthly basis.
Camera lenses must be cleaned almost daily at the rivers and beaches.
Wear and tear on cameras and telemetry equipment.
Camera replacement.
Telemetry costs to get the signals sent back to the Hi-Tec control room.
Maintenance on Eskom and solar power supply costs to all the 158 cameras that are all out there.
Monthly monitoring costs to Hi-Tec Security.
Monthly subscription to the national data base for NAVIC ANPR.
The list goes on for future development.
It is not fair that some people get the benefit from the cameras and don’t contribute, and others do.
There are NHW / CPF members that work hard behind the scenes for no renumeration to look after your non-Hi-Tec secured property and your streets through the camera network. This enables you to keep your property values to levels that you like to keep.
We do understand there are some people that cannot afford contributions and that is why we as a community need to all work together and stand together as Unity is Strength.
Don’t take it for granted that you are not part of our community. Every homeowner and business have a responsibility to our entire community. Join and support your ratepayers and recognised community organisations. They work extremely hard for you.
The greatest highlight and a huge shout out are to all those wonderful people and families that have and continue to generously contribute to the community camera fund, you Rock our community.
Community Camera team
Community Camera Fund, Standard Bank, Port Alfred, a/c 28 262 348 5 or BRRAG and we shall pay over to the Camera Fund BRRAG Standard bank Account number: 281116393.
Night watch notice
NW is in desperate need of funds and would appreciate your donation to this worthy cause. With your help we can help in securing our neighbourhood.
Hi Tec has the mandate to look after their clients and support our mandate as a Neighbourhood Watch to look after our greater community streets. We are also a disaster management team in response to fire fighting and accident response. We are not just glorified security specialists as we have been labelled. When your house is burning down, we will be the first to be there or any other incident for that matter. Our own firefighting equipment that was sponsored for use is stored at the fire station and in all strategic spots around our communities.
*Night Watch is the official registered Kenton-on-Sea and Bushman River Mouth Neighbourhood Watch, CPF member affiliate of *Afriforum GVE nationally.* NW is a member of the *East Cape Security Network*, *NCA (National Crime assist)*, *NAVIC integrated surveillance systems Eastern Cape*, *SDSG (Service Delivery Support Group)* for community safety and security, and Community Camera monitoring team*
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the people that donated to our Night Watch fund for fuel and equipment to keep us operational. Our team thanks you sincerely.
If you wish to donate to our worthy cause, please see account details below.
BRRAG
STD BANK
Acc No. 281116393
Ref. N-watch / NAME.
*Our Financials are kept and audited by BRRAG and a CA. The public is welcome to view our financials anytime they wish for accountability. Corporate support would be appreciated. *
NIGHT WATCH TEAM
Water matters – follow up
Background information
The leadership of BRRAG, KOSRA, Chamber of Business and Tourism and Estuary Care formed a combined representative body, SDSG (Service Delivery Support Group) to engage with Ndlambe and Amatola to participate and support in the management and process of plant maintenance and management in an effort to ensure water availability to the community of wards 3 and 4.
A Water Management Committee (WMC) as well as a Technical Task Team (TTT) was established with representatives from SDSG, Ndlambe, Amatola and DWS and governed by a ground-breaking formal agreement or Terms of Reference (TOR).
The objective is to establish and maintain a collaborative approach harnessing the combined strength in a positive manner focussed on enhancing water service delivery. The main objective is to establish and maintain an environment in which collaborative efforts can be applied, this is of course not without conflict and disagreement but is positive when it leads to solutions found for the many challenges.
Current position
The Albany Water Plant (ACRO) remains under pressure to deliver enough water to the community with increasing needs for fresh water.
Challenges can be divided in two main categories: Managerial and Technical challenges, some of them are highlighted and progress provided.
Managerial challenges
- Amatola Board of directors was replaced 3 times in 3 years, which creates a continuity challenge.
- Amatola appointed an acting Chief Executive Officer during September 2022.
- Procurement processes not supportive of the RO plant in terms of reaction time. Some of them are being worked on by AW.
- AW Plant does not have the desired management structure required to support the ACRO plant. After the TTT and WMC put pressure on AW Board, a temporary Plant Manager was appointed for 6 months instead of one year as requested.
A formal request from SDSG and Ndlambe are in the process and will be escalated to ministerial level to rectify the situation. - Inadequate support to implement new conceptualized improvement solutions.
Technical challenges
- Provision of enough raw water to the plant without biological matter and sand remains the single most critical technical issue. Formal submissions were made to AW through the TTT and WMC to resolve the challenge, but unfortunately, the proposed solution by AW is not aligned with the formal submissions made and are in the process of being escalated to ministerial level.
- Membranes were replaced in the plant.
- Pump which broke down and had to be sourced from Dubai at high cost and big time delays, was replaced.
- Water leaks on pipelines from Diaz wells are being repaired.
- Two Diaz wells are scheduled to be repaired to provide more water to the system.
- Social and Environmental factors identified are in process to be addressed by AW.
- Bridge crossing: – pipes were procured and are on site, AW is in process to appoint a contractor to replace the existing pipeline.
- 1ML Water tank was cleared of sand.
- Multimedia filter was serviced.
- Ndlambe and AW are constantly fixing leakages in the water reticulation system.
Water supply
It is important to take note that the ACRO plant is a complex operation with many different moving parts, some of which are interdependent which makes the plant vulnerable to breakdowns, which requires agility and quick reaction time.
Water supply is showing a positive tendency with rising reservoir levels, resulting from the actions above.
Water restrictions and cuts are still required to ensure that enough reserves are in the reservoirs, which is required to ensure that higher lying areas receive water.
Future planning
SDSG is working with Ndlambe to introduce an additional water service provider for Ward 3&4 to mitigate the risk situation and reliance on the ACRO plant.
This is long-term solution, which requires formal investigation, process and approvals.
Continued active involvement with AW and Ndlambe is important to ensure water availability to our communities.
Future
There is not an easy or quick solution to the water challenges experienced in our area.
Active involvement in the process by the community organisations and supporting Ndlambe and Amatola are crucial as integral part of finding lasting solutions to the challenges to ensure long term sustainable and responsible water provision.
ACRO plant will in all probability not produce the 3.5 ML per day as required and will in all probability produce 2-2,5 ML per day which will result in water rationing and cuts especially during the peak season when higher demand are experienced.
In Conclusion
In South Africa, self-help has become a way of life, which is no different for water availability.
Our organisations have adopted this approach to be involved in the process pointed out in the introduction; we are also investigating alternative sources of water.
The public is requested to continue to report leaks in the reticulation system.
Our residents are strongly advised to install rainwater tanks to reduce reliance form the network.
