Message from new JBRA chairman, Garth Ford

Dear Residents and Ratepayers

Firstly , thank you very much to our past Chairmen , Trevor Watkins ( for reviving the JBRA and especially for developing our website ) and to Paul Hjul ( for his legal expertise and for helping to organise the very successful protest march and subsequent lengthy Legal follow ups ) as well as the JBRA Committee Members for developing and supporting the JBRA so diligently. And, of course, a big thank you to our loyal members, voting and non-voting.

Meeting over a cup of coffee, the 2 past chairmen and the current chair came up with the idea of the J Bay Secretariat. This organisation will manage the administrative workload of the JBRA, for a fee, thus enabling the chairman and the committee to concentrate on tackling the issues at hand. The secretariat will also preserve useful expertise and knowledge as the committee changes from year to year. Since it has started, the new Secretariat has been absolutely invaluable.

Please remember that the Government is accountable to the Taxpayers and not the other way round !

One of our main agenda items for this year ( besides keeping Kouga Municipality accountable for service delivery ) will be to identify where we are being overcharged on our Municipal Accounts for electricity supplied . This is where we need your input please !

The Secretariat has set up and distributed an Excel spreadsheet (click here to see this article or here to download the spreadsheet) to members on which Ratepayers can enter their billing dates and the amounts they have been charged for electrical usage over a 2 year period. This only takes a few minutes to fill in. The spreadsheet will show how costs on the sliding scale are pushed up for longer billing periods.
This spreadsheet will enable you to identify where and by how much you are being overcharged on your accounts.
Just from our very first members submission , we have established that he was over charged by R1000 over one year.
This may not sound like much , but there are many people who are being overcharged by much more - if you add up all of the Ratepayers overcharged amounts, it may run into millions !!

We need as many Ratepayers as possible to enter their data into the spreadsheet, and to then email the spreadsheet to info@jbayra.com in order for us to establish how many people are being overcharged.

We can then approach the KM with comprehensive facts and figures to back up our case that we are being overcharged for electricity.

If this is successful then we will do the same for water and sewerage costs as well - so please all support this initiative as soon as possible!

This will be invaluable in keeping KM accountable for overcharged accounts.

Electricity is shortly going to go up by about 13% which will increase our accounts even more - so please join this initiative so we can find their mistakes before it is too late !

Among the important issues that we will be following up on this year will be our sewerage spill problems at main beach and other areas, as well as the serious water purification problems that we are experiencing , especially in Wavecrest. 

These and other vital issues that have been challenged by the DA are refused consideration and even submission in council and are being blatantly ignored. It is of course totally unacceptable that KM is continually ignoring management duties in order to cover up its shortcomings, corruption and  " missing money "  issues - amongst others. Unfortunately we do not recognise this as it is continually painted over as the acceptable norm - and we consequently mistakenly do so as well - to our great peril as our town slowly disintegrates and rots from the inside out ! 

They then try and bring the town down to their level of incompetence so that this appears "normal " .

Sadly for them , this is not going to continue !  

Please sign up as members and support us - the membership fee is only R100 , and you can even be a non paying member for free!

It is really a case  of many hands work together to make light work ! 

Please use our Blog to submit your grievances or contact me directly if you do not have a computer or are un familiar with computers - it is very easy .

We need to hear all of your stories and complaints .  We have these amazing communication channels - lets make use of them as much as possible .

Thank you .