Hi All,

It has been some time since an update was circulated to bring you all up to speed with developments in the Residents Association. Here follows the latest interim report.
As mentioned at the AGM, Joe and Paddy have stepped down. The AGM also confirmed that a permanent employed position of a SFBRA manager be established. A new chairman was appointed and 2 assistant/vice chairmen to take over from Joe . I (Mike Simms) have (under duress) agreed to help out as chairman. We have had several excellent Admin Manager candidates and I am pleased to announce that from March 1, Jackie Green will be joining us as SFBRA Manager. This should go a long way in establishing a sustainable SFRBA organisation with legacy.

Offices are being secured and we will notify all when this is finalised.

This position will place an extra financial burden on the SFBRA and extra funds have to be raised, consequently membership fees will have to be raised to accommodate this. We realize that membership is totally voluntary, however we would like you to consider the following:- A guide line could be an annual fee of approx 2% of your annual municipal rates or a min of R20 per month. To put this into perspective compare this to the value of your house and the consequence of this value dropping 10 or 15% due to poor infrastructure, services, reputation etc.
Think of this payment as insurance money it will not necessarily stop corruption and poor service delivery but it will mean there is a permanent person, employed by yourselves, looking after your interests in St. Francis Bay. We really would not need this if our municipalities worked properly in RSA but we must face the realities of our times. A bulk email will go out soon to update our records and explain our budgets , finances and plans, once we have had your input in the matter.

We all know the parley state of municipalities today in RSA and despite KM assuring all in the press that Kouga is doing well this belies the scale of deception and mismanagement taking place and it is very easy to be lulled into thinking that we here in St Francis are ‘ok’. Due to extraordinary poor communication and obfuscation as well as systematic obstruction we have little direct view into the administration of the municipality. Many issues are’ leaked’ to us and verification and resolution is difficult as municipal officials are seldom forthcoming , seldom return calls or emails and frequently simply don’t attend meetings.
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A very relevant case in point is the Kouga electricity account with Escom. For some months now the area has been awash with rumours that the municipality, which collects our electricity payments monthly, has not been paying these monies onto Escom. Of course the municipality out rightly denied such an accusation ( carried in the local press). The Mayor went on to state, just before Xmas that the finances of the Kouga municipality were in good order and he therefore felt free to pay December bonuses. January had hardly started when we were regaled with stories of the first half year overspend… by some R30mill. A necessary freezing of all projects and works was announced, but..wait for it… so was increased staff expenditure announced …. due to extra staff being added. 3 weeks ago, we were reliably informed ( via Escom) that the municipality have been given 5 days notice to settle their account or else have the supply of electricity cut off…..(ie the whole of Kouga would have had their electricity cut off)…the arrears amount being R13 million …… many months of non payment…..

We still cannot get a statement of fact from the municipality but we have further hard evidence of blatant lies , deception and gross incompetence.

The most we got was a statement to Joe over the phone, that ‘ they were aware of the crisis and making some arrangements to avert it’ ….. wow……coming from folks who claimed there was no issue less than 6 weeks before……

Well the crisis was averted……but only after Joe had contacted almost every politician in South Africa and managed to get our new MEC ( who seems a professional) involved .

We are sure they just robbed Peter to pay Paul and something else is will get cut/not paid/go short…..probably the poor folks will suffer again….

Hopefully at last there is now some real pressure lining up for our boys at this municipality… this follows the latest severe audit committee drubbing (following last years ) , an intensified investigation by the SIU ( special investigations unit) followed by a special audit set up by the AG. However there is just so much non delivery at all RSA municipalities that it is certain that we have our work cut out for us for some time.

We remain vigilant and will keep you posted Jackie will be in touch with you shortly and we ask you all to give her your full support.

Mike Simms

Further reports below

Meeting with MEC:
A meeting took place between the MEC, Kouga Municipality, FEKRRA and Residents Association Members. The new MEC assured all present that the Supplementary Valuations which was previously promised and which the KM ignored, will now again receive attention. Ridwan Abdulla (CFO) agreed to draw up the procedure and let us have it by Thursday. To date nothing has been received. All other outstanding issues with the KM were also taken up with the MEC. The MEC and Kouga Municipality had an urgent meeting relating to the non payment of Eskom. Judging from the fact that we have not had a Power Cut, I presume that alternative arrangement were made.

Meeting with National Government re Thyspunt & Wind Farms:
Parliamentary Select Committee visits St Francis Bay
A Parliamentary Select Committee on Economic Development visited St Francis Bay on Tuesday, 22nd February, at the initiative of MP Elza van Lingen. The Committee of 11 MPs was accompanied by senior officials from the Departments of Energy and Public Enterprises, Eskom and the National Nuclear Regulator. Also attending were representatives from the Kouga Municipality.

The purpose of the visit was to better-inform advisers to the government on issues relating to the Thyspunt nuclear site and the proposed wind farms in the area, and to enable them to hear directly about concerns of the local community.

The group began the day with a site visit to Thyspunt. This was followed by a three-hour discussion between the various groups, which was attended by members of the Thyspunt Alliance and St Francis Kromme Trust as observers.

The afternoon was devoted to two focus meetings.

The first, on issues relating to the proposed wind farms, was addressed by St Francis Kromme Trust members, Frank Silberbauer and Maggie Langlands. The major points raised were the sudden “gold rush” of applications, in the light of the favourable rates being offered; that uncontrolled development of wind farms could seriously impact on landscape and tourism; and that there was an urgent need for guidelines, or better still, regulations, controlling applications for the establishment of wind farms. An appeal was made that no authorizations should be given until these guidelines were in place.

The second focus meeting was on Thyspunt, and was addressed by members of the Thyspunt Alliance. Trudi Malan spoke about the deficiencies in the siting process, which had been undertaken under apartheid legislation, and which had excluded anywhere east of Alexandria. She made a plea for an investigation of alternative sites. She also challenged the EIA process being followed. Prof Richard Cowling spoke about the environmental and heritage impacts, with particular reference to road access, wetlands, unstable dunefields and heritage sites. He pleaded that proper attention be paid to these long-term consequences.

Hilton Thorpe discussed the viability of the site in terms of emergency planning zones, drawing attention to both the population in relation to Nuclear Regulator’s rules, and to the combination of prevailing wind direction & speed, and single escape route, which jointly made evacuation from the area impossible under certain normal weather conditions. He concluded that there was no conceivable Disaster Management Plan which could address such a scenario. He also expressed concern that the EIA was proceeding before the Nuclear Regulator had had the opportunity to rule on viability.

Greg Christy discussed the economic impact of Thyspunt, with particular reference to the loss of chokka spawning grounds following the proposal to place 6 million cubic metres of spoil on the sea bed. This could threaten the entire viability of the chokka industry, which employed some 5000 people, and earned R500 million a year foreign exchange.

The MPs had the opportunity to challenge the speakers, with job creation as a major consideration.

Regards,
Mike Simms