By Trevor Watkins, Chairman Jeffreys Bay Residents Association

Thursday, 11 August 2011

Wednesday, 6 July 2011

Thursday, 7 April 2011

Tuesday, 8 March 2011

Saturday, 5 March 2011

Nuusbrief 2 van 2011 / Newsletter 2 of 2011

Ja, Well, No, Fine the authorities

South Africa: Finding a Way Forward

R10 million saved in Nelson Mandela Bay

Afskeepkind kan magtige swaard word

Showing posts with label residents association. Show all posts

When the authorities wish to discipline their citizens for some action or omission, they usually start by issuing a fine. This is meant to remind you that you have done wrong, that you are being punished, and that if you do wrong again, you will be punished again. Given the enthusiasm with which the authorities fine their citizens for every imaginable type of transgression, this system works well for them.

If you forget to brake going down the hill into Humansdorp you might get a R500 fine. If you forget your ID book and drivers license when you pop out for a loaf of bread, that could cost you R200. If your dog makes a tiny little mess on the beach, that could cost you R300. As I am sure we have all heard the official smugly informing us, “I’m just doing my job. I don’t care what your excuses are. Sign here to acknowledge your guilt please.”

If your brake light on your car has burnt out and you get stopped, then you will get a big fine. If you go out in the same car tomorrow and get stopped again, you will get another big fine. Every citizen is subject to a possible fine every day. The authorities make an absolute fortune out of our inability to keep up with every little rule and regulation that we are supposed to know. It is just another tax upon the already over-taxed citizens.

So, why can’t we, as residents, fine the authorities when they mess up? When their incompetence turns our roads into deathtraps, when they fail to produce the correct documentation at the correct time, when they allow tons of sewage to spill onto our beaches, why can we not just “Do our jobs” and fine them for every transgression? If I see a large pothole on a municipal road, why don’t I issue a fine against the municipality for every day that the pothole remains unfixed? If I see raw sewage in a pool on the beach because the municipality did not maintain its pumps adequately, why do I not issue the municipality with a huge fine for every day that the sewage remains? And since this problem affects every citizen who wanders down to the beach, why not let every citizen issue a fine to the municipality? After all, they have no problem issuing a fine to every citizen whose dog wanders onto the beach.

Of course, if we held the authorities to the same standards as they hold us, they would quickly go bankrupt due to their incompetence. Its okay for them to hold a business to a high standard of hygiene, for example, but don’t expect themselves to be held to the same standard. It would be a bureaucratic nightmare, they say. It could never work. Actually, its really quite simple. The municipality does not need to pay out any cash to its citizens, and it does not even need to keep a record of fines issued against it. We will keep a public record of fines against the municipality, and the amount of the fines will be deducted from any fines owed TO the municipality by citizens and residents. In other words, any traffic fine or municipal fine against you can be set off against any fine you have levied against the municipality. Good plan? Sure. Would the authorities agree to it? Never – its not in their interests. We are the sheep to be shaved, not them.

At least we can do one side of this arrangement. The Jeffreys Bay Residents Association has setup a page on their website at https://sites.google.com/a/jbayra.com/jbayra/opinions-menings/municipal-fines

Where anyone can add an incident to the database and assess a fine against the municipality. You can also view all the fines assessed by other residents so far.

Make your anger and indignation at the shabby way you are treated by the authorities heard. Fine them, again and again, for every act and omission they are responsible for.

Keynote address by John Kane Berman, Chief Executive of the South African Institute of Race Relations, at the SwissCham Southern Africa luncheon, Johannesburg, March 10 2011:

I will try to answer three questions this afternoon

1. Which way are we going?
2. Why?
3. Can we find a better way forward?

Apart from racial policy, the institute I head has been documenting almost every aspect of South Africa since our foundation in 1929. It was inevitable then that when the ANC came to power in 1994, people asked us why South Africa should not become just another African disaster.

I gave the usual list of advantages: a greater pool of skills, good infrastructure, a resilient private sector, our strong international economic linkages, a tradition of political pluralism, independent trade unions, a free press, and the vigour of our NGO sector. Since then the country has won golden opinions for macroeconomic policy management, reflected most recently in a heavily oversubscribed 30-year government bond.

Despite this, we now learn almost daily of things that prompt the question once again: are we headed for the list of African failures. Recently an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease occurred because a vital border fence with Mozambique had been neglected.

Such problems are not isolated. We have slipped further down global tables as a destination for mining investment, police behaviour seems to be increasingly lawless, maternal and infant mortality rates are rising, millions of schoolchildren have started another year without textbooks, and the country's commercial capital is run by people who are out of their depth. We also have much higher rates of youth unemployment than countries to the north that recently chased away their rulers.

Specific problems aside, among the main reasons we are going wrong are the following:

· Affirmative action, which has denuded the State of both skills and institutional memory

· Labour laws which protect unionised workers at the expense of the jobless

· The cadre deployment policy, making loyalty to the party a key criterion for appointment to offices of state, and

· Use of a model of government which makes elected institutions more accountable to party headquarters than to voters.

Apart from policies and practices, the problems confronting us arise in part from assumptions and attitudes that affect the policy environment. These include:

· limited understanding of what entrepreneurship requires

· ideological hostility towards business

· poor appreciation of how markets work or even antipathy towards them the belief that the pockets of our small number of major taxpayers are bottomless, and

· too much faith in the efficacy of the State, leading to more and more regulation

To these harmful factors must be added others:

· corruption said by the deputy president to be "worse than anyone imagines"

· lawlessness on the part of the State

· a love of the grandiose, such as new bullet trains to Durban while we can't fix commuter rail services

· the callousness towards ordinary people found all too often in service departments, and

· no accountability even for preventable deaths of mothers and babies in public hospitals

Then there are two key problems in the way policy is made.

One is a habit of putting the cart before the horse - for example, embarking on ambitious education or health schemes without first fixing the basics such as training enough teachers and reversing the decline of public hospitals.

The second is failure to apply the lessons of admitted mistakes. To its credit, the Government has admitted the failings of outcomes-based education but the ANC nevertheless plans to forge ahead with a national health system without considering the State's capacity constraints.

These various aspects of our problems show that we are facing not just a few wrong-headed policies, but a challenge arising from the very nature of the Government and how it runs the State. Most of them have a direct impact on business.

Part of that challenge arises from the fact that the ANC is not a normal political party. When a party with a two-thirds majority in Parliament is still committed to a "national democratic revolution," we must ask what it is that they wish to stage a revolution against. The economic system? Probably. Democracy? Perhaps. The rule of law? Very likely. The Constitution? Possibly.

The Press pays little attention to the national democratic revolution, but the ANC is committed to it. This is one of the risks we face. Another is that tougher affirmative action requirements lead to a drain from the country of the most skilled segment of the population.

Yet another is that public spending gets out of control as the ANC promises more free things to more people and puts more of them on to the public payroll, including now members of Umkhonto we Sizwe. We might also see a more rigid labour market, destructive interventions in agriculture, attenuation of property rights, damage to private health care, more malfeasance with mining licences, further corruption of the criminal justice system, and more local governments collapsing.

It is ironical that we are expanding our social security commitments at the very moment when rich countries are having to cut back. It is also ironical that we are seeking to extend controls of the labour market while Europeans are trying to make their labour markets more flexible.

A further piece of irony is that we are lengthening the arm of the State at the very time when China and India are continuing to liberalise economically, when parts of Africa are liberalising, and when even Cuba is showing signs of liberalisation.

I have painted some dark clouds and the challenge now is to find the silver linings. Like a contrarian investor, we must look for signs of change that may not be obvious. One of these is the very fact that the Europeans, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Cubans have been here before and are having to reverse thrust.

The international context in which we make policy has changed. Africa is also having to pay more attention to good governance than in the past. Already, some African countries are more attractive as mining destinations than we are. If we don't look out, we may find that our lead as the most important economy in Africa is shrinking.

Despite the ANC's close historical ties with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, it was unable in 1994 to follow a communist path because the USSR had in the meantime imploded. As welfare and dirigiste states elsewhere come under pressure, so will the ANC have to recognise that those role models are also unworkable.

Despite this country's achievements since the advent of democracy in 1994, we are pursuing an unworkable political model. This model will have to be abandoned just as communism and apartheid had to be abandoned. How long this will take I do not know. The evolution of liberal democracy can be a slow and difficult business. But we need to find ways of helping the process along, while also trying to minimise the fearful human and economic damage that may be done in the interim.

Among the reasons why apartheid disintegrated, two are relevant today. One is that its contradictions - notably the belief that you could run a modern economy without exploiting the skills of the whole population and granting them political rights - became unsustainable.

The second reason was that, as the policy crumbled under the weight of critical scrutiny and its own contradictions, the ruling elite began to lose faith in it. Disillusionment spread from the Dutch reformed churches, to the Afrikaans Press, to academia, to business, to the ruling party, to the Cabinet, and not least to the Broederbond. This made Mr FW de Klerk's bold actions on 2nd February 1990 both necessary and possible.

Parallels between the last 25 years of National Party rule and the first 15 years of ANC rule are becoming quite striking.

The most obvious is on racial policy. The NP thought it could run a successful economy without fully exploiting the skills of the black population. The ANC thinks it can run a successful state without fully exploiting the skills of the white population. The evidence that this cannot be done is apparent all the time at all levels and in all branches of government. And it is beginning to cause instability at local level and hurt the party.

Unfortunately, however, one of the parallels with our past is that failed policies are sometimes intensified rather than abandoned. This happened with the pass laws, for example, before PW Botha finally repealed them in 1986. It may also happen now with the Employment Equity Act, with its provisions for heavier fines to enforce racial quotas upon all employers - when the Government cannot even get Denel, or Eskom, or SAA, or Transnet to meet its racial targets at management or skilled levels.

But there are other parallels. Just as the National Party steadily lost support among the intelligentsia, the same is happening with the ANC. Some black newspaper editors and journalists are at least as critical of the ANC as their white counterparts. In discussions with black business leaders over the past few months, my Institute has been struck how some of them have become very critical of the government - more so than most of their white counterparts. Moeletsi Mbeki probably speaks for more people than we think.

Some of the squabbles in the ruling tripartite alliance are about spoils and patronage, but others are about policy. There are divisions over whether "decent" jobs should be placed above the need to generate more jobs. A growing minority is beginning to question the deployment policy. Others would like to have a professional civil service instead of one subject to ministerial whim. Racial policies are now also becoming a source of division, as we saw last week with Trevor Manuel's public attack on Jimmy Manyi.

This spat is causing the ANC to tie itself into knots. When my Institute pointed out that forcing employers in the Western Cape to conform to the national racial breakdown would necessitate the (illegal) dismissal of thousands of coloured workers, President Jacob Zuma said companies would have flexibility to conform to national or regional demographics.

This, however, is not what the proposed amendment to the Employment Equity Act says. Now the general secretary of the ANC, Mr Gwede Mantashe, has weighed in to the effect that national companies will have to use national demographics and provincially-based companies provincial demographics. This is the opposite of the flexibility of which Mr Zuma speaks.

In November last year the minister of finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan, told an audience in London that economic empowerment policies designed to improve the standard of living of the black majority after 1994 had not worked. After all the employment equity, labour, and land reform legislation, not to mention hundreds of billions of Rands in BEE deals, this is quite an admission. In the short term it may lead to an intensification of failed policies, but in the long term these policies will have to be abandoned.

The new constitution ushered in democracy in 1994. Ironically, however, the ANC's model of government - based on the Leninist idea of "democratic centralism" - in terms of which party headquarters dictates to local communities whom they must elect - is causing growing dissatisfaction at local level as the municipal election on 18th May approaches.

Though many officials are hostile to white farmers, others recognise that no one else has the expertise to reverse the failures of land reform. Despite antipathy to the private sector, some of the ruling elite see a growing role for it in getting our ports working more efficiently, in electricity generation, in the rescue of local government, in AIDS testing, and in sorting out the problems of further education and training colleges.

Indeed, as the failings of the State become more and more apparent, thanks in part to a critical media, more and more people in government will turn to the private sector for help. Even Cosatu wants private sector involvement to be mobilised when Postbank gets a banking licence.

These inconsistencies will multiply as the ANC continues to pursue mutually contradictory policies. Promises of creating millions of new jobs are incompatible with key components of official policy, among them affirmative action, the deployment strategy, restrictions on immigration, tightening up the labour market, and adding to the regulatory burden on business. Eventually the contradictions will become unsustainable. Either some of these key policies will have to be jettisoned, or the quest for millions more jobs will fall by the wayside.

In the meantime, what do we do? The first thing is to keep exposing the contradictions, so providing arguments for those in the ruling alliance who wish to see more realistic policies. Arguments for the liberalisation of our damaging labour laws need to be refined and intensified. The climate to do this is now more favourable than at any time since 1994.

I suspect that affirmative action and cadre deployment policies have also done more damage to this country than most people care to admit. Can you really run a modern industrial state if you would rather leave posts in the public sector vacant than appoint whites to them? The major victims of this folly have been blacks rather than whites.

The connection between these policies and lost growth and investment, high unemployment, shoddy RDP houses, inability to obtain social grants or medicines, preventable maternal and infant deaths, high crime rates, perilous roads, poisonous rivers, mismanagement of flooded dams, fraudulent passports and IDs, and a great many other problems needs to be repeatedly pointed out.

The ANC's economic objectives simply cannot be achieved while everything is subordinate to racial ideology and the imperatives of the "national democratic revolution". This message needs to be hammered home without reservation or apology until a critical mass of opinion within the ruling alliance comes to recognise it.

Secondly, it is necessary to stand firm in the defence of vital practices and institutions as they come under increasing threat, not only the rule of law but also academic freedom, independent civil society, a free Press, an independent legal profession and prosecution service, and independent courts. It is also necessary that organisations other than business come to the public defence of the free market system, private enterprise, and entrepreneurship.

Not for a second should anyone in the ruling alliance be allowed to forget that the money the Government spends on education, health, housing, child support grants, and everything else - including its lengthening list of promises to its constituents - arises from taxes extracted from the private sector and private individuals.

This is a point that needs much more emphasis than it gets. Business might wish to think of ways of getting the point across more strongly in public as well as to parliamentarians, civil servants, and other members of the ruling alliance.

Thirdly, keep proposing alternatives to present policies. Business may not necessarily see a direct role for itself here, but it is nevertheless essential that alternatives be put forward. Here is my list of a dozen:

1. Cut back on the size of the State
2. Put inspectors back into schools
3. Systematically extend private education
4. Radically redesign land reform
5. Democratise Parliament
6. Liberalise the labour market
7. Make economic growth rather than redistribution the topmost priority
8. Change our welfare state into one that promotes entrepreneurship
9. Direct all state interventions at helping the poorest of the poor regardless of race
10. Replace the deployment system with a professional civil service
11. Increase our global competitiveness as a destination for foreign direct investment
12. Repeal all racially discriminatory laws

Some of these may seem fanciful right now. However, given growing contradictions, policy failures, and paralysis in government, the climate is in fact auspicious. Detailed policy work on alternatives will of course be necessary. But the main point at this stage is to undertake a tenacious campaign to change ideas, preparing the soil, as it were, for new policies to be planted. This will be a long haul and a hard slog, so the sooner it is stepped up the better. The ruling party must be a prime target, both direct and indirect.

Don't forget that ideas predate policies and that their power, for good or ill, should never be underestimated. It was after all, that great incendiary journalist and armchair revolutionary, Karl Marx, who produced some of the most powerful ideas in history. Despite their murderous consequences some of these ideas still have an iron grip in South Africa.

They need constantly to be countered by the ideas that underpin liberal democracy. In particular, we need to keep on propagating the idea that the real alternative to apartheid is not another form of social engineering designed to promote an impossible equality of outcomes but an open society committed to equality before the law, political and economic freedom, corruption-free and proper democratic government, and rising living standards for all.

Social and racial engineers failed in South Africa last time around, and they will fail this time too. That is cause not for despair but for eager anticipation.

The following letter is a good example of what an active and alert Residents association is capable of. In this case, a completely unnecessary expenditure of R10 million of council funds on an "Election Mobilisation" campaign was avoided, although it required a lawyers intervention to do so.

The Executive Mayor

Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality

Town Hall

PORT ELIZABETH

Dear Sir

We act on the instructions of the RATEPAYERS ASSOCIATION OF THE NELSON MANDELA BAY METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY, civic organization acting in accordance with section 5 of the Municipal Systems Act No 32 of 2000.

This letter is addressed to you in your official capacity and for the attention of all the members of the Municipal Council.

Our client has noted various announcements regarding your council’s “resolution” on Thursday 24 February 2011 to vote an amount of R10 million to implement a 2011 municipal election mobilization programme, including a circular on “Groupwise” to all staff and councilors, a formal press release by the municipal spokesman and subsequent media stories.

Please take note that our client believes that the purported “resolution” was not in fact carried, given that after the votes were cast and counted, the Speaker ruled that the resolution was lost. Our client contends that once such an announcement was made and the meeting adjourned, the ruling by the Speaker stands as the official result of the voting. Neither you, the Acting Municipal Manager, nor any other official or councillor for that matter, can legally change that ruling. This is ostensibly what has happened in the instant matter.

Please note that any attempt to implement this so-called resolution, in any manner, whether by allocating funds or by procuring goods or services, would be ultra vires and we hold instructions to apply to the High Court, if necessary as a matter of urgency, to interdict any such attempt at implementation.

FURTHERMORE and in any event, our client contends that a vote to allocate the amount of R10 million (or any other amount) from the municipal coffers for the purpose afore stated, would be ultra vires the powers and duties of the Council.

It is common knowledge that this item does not form part of the budget or of any adjustment budget. It has furthermore been publicly admitted by spokespersons of the Council that the municipal budget has been over extended; it is contended that there are in fact no surpluses in any vote to fund the R10 million.

Our client has noted with concern that in the Acting Municipal Manager’s report to the Council he has sought the Council’s approval for the municipality to “provide logistical, advocacy and publicity support to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in ensuring free, fair and democratic local government elections in 2011” This is stated while the IEC itself has clearly and unequivocally denied that a need for such support exists. It thus cannot by any stretch of the imagination be argued that the need for such expenditure is either unforeseen or unavoidable (the only basis provided in the MFMA for unbudgeted expenditure).

In the light of the above our client maintains that there is no basis upon which the council may legally expend any sum on “support to the IEC”. Our client has given firm instructions to us to lodge an application for a High Court interdict, should your Council proceed with this course of action,

We are also instructed to refer you and all councillors to the provisions of the MFMA and other relevant legislation that imposes a duty on councillors and officials to act strictly in accordance with the laws pertaining to the expenditure of revenue. Our client maintains that voting an amount of R10 million (or any other sum) for this purpose, would constitute irregular expenditure. Our client wishes us to make it clear that it shall not hesitate to reclaim, on behalf of the ratepayers of the municipality, any sum regarded as irregular expenditure from the councillors and officials that are involved in the decision making, personally.

Kindly confirm by return of mail that you concede that no valid resolution exists in relation to the abovementioned purpose. In the absence of such confirmation, our client will be forced to conclude that you intend to implement as if it had been validly passed and to pursue the necessary court action.

We once again request you to bring the content of this letter to the attention of all councillors in order that they are informed of our client’s intentions. A copy of this letter will be delivered to the Acting Municipal Manager.

Yours faithfully,

PO Box 1101 Jeffreys Bay
6330 South Africa

Posbus 1101 Jeffreysbaai
6330 Suid Afrika

(:      042 293 1405
Ê:    0866 532 363
È:      083 44 11 721

š: info@jbayra.com
ü: www.jbayra.com
Bank: ABSA 1940 420 527

Jeffreys Bay Residents Association / Jeffreysbaai Inwonersvereniging

Newsletter 2 of 2011
6 August 2011

This newsletter provides an update to members on the activities of their residents association since our last newsletter in May.

The membership of the organisation continues to show healthy growth.  We now have:

152 voting members

315 non-voting members

6 business members, and

532 prospects (details in database, but no membership form signed)

This is a total of 1,005 individuals known to the JBRA, approximately one tenth of the total population of our area.
Two very successful recruitment mornings were held in local shopping centres in May. The committee is about to launch a post office box recruitment campaign. If you are already a member, please pass the membership form in your postbox to a friend or neighbour.
We are negotiating with several closed residential estates in J Bay to do a bulk registration of all their members. This saves individual estate residents the hassle of completing and delivering registration forms, and will also allow the residents of the estate to speak with one voice at JBRA meetings. Please contact the JBRA if you would like to do the same for your estate.

Membership of the committee has fluctuated, with several members leaving and being replaced by new members. Details of the current committee members are on the website.

Our 2nd quarter General Meeting was held on 15th June at the Newton Hall. Approximately 70 people attended this lively meeting. The address by Dries du Preez of Fountains Estate on the new low cost housing developments near Aston Bay resulted in considerable discussion. This project has been put on hold while a new Record of Decision is agreed upon by the various parties.

Numerous articles by the JBRA committee have appeared in the Our Times, generally once every 2 weeks. These articles are also posted on our blog, where members are welcome to add their own comments.
The website at www.jbayra.com remains our primary means of communication with residents. News items are regularly posted on the  News page. Residents are strongly urged to inspect these items from time to time, as they refer to documents or events with a direct impact on Jeffreys Bay, such as new Windfarm developments. Contact numbers under the Info tab contains the latest contact details for all the new councillors, as well as key municipal officials. The Calendar gets updated each month with upcoming municipal events and meetings. The interactive Jeffreys Bay map can be searched by street name, making it easy to find any address in J Bay (or the world, for that matter). An updated contact list for all the civic groups, churches and charities in J Bay appears under the JAG tab.

The JBRA committee has met with the senior officials of the Kouga Municipality (KM) on 4 occasions. Detailed minutes of these meetings are kept and can be viewed on the website. Many issues are raised with the KM officials, but the responses can only be described as poor. Committments are seldom kept, meetings are missed without apology, and some issues are simply ducked. While we have had some successes, much remains to be done.
A useful meeting with the new mayor, councillor Booi Koerat was held in late July. The mayor appears determined to root out incompetence and corruption within the council, and to bring good governance to our district. We will support him wholeheartedly in this endeavour, but we will also demand results in a reasonable timeframe.

Following a meeting with 2 concerned JBRA members, the committee facilitated the first meeting of the "Legal Watchdog Project". The aim of this project is to ensure that the actions taken by the KM comply with the legal requirements of the various municipal acts. For example, certain committees such as the Financial Oversight Committee are obliged to meet at least once per month, and to issue written reports. If these legal requirements are not met, the Legal Watchdog Project will raise this with the KM, the JBRA, the council, and the Province. Anyone interested in assisting with this project can contact Dr Gustav Barnard at 042 293 4224.

The infrastructure in Jeffreys Bay is deteriorating at an alarming rate. Following the recent heavy rains, potholes are everywhere, sewerage overflows are common, bridges are collapsing. The cash-strapped KM is not coping well with these problems, as we are all aware. However, to address these many problems, we must first identify and list them, then allocate responsibility for them, then record when they are actually fixed. This could be a huge task. Past committees have felt this was  beyond the scope of a voluntary residents association.
Fortunately some very kind people in Gauteng have developed a remarkable website called www.Mobilitate.co.za, which addresses just these problems, and have made it freely available to all South African towns and districts. The JBRA is using this website to log all the small and large infrastructure issues around our town. Any JBRA member is welcome to register on the website, view existing issues logged on the interactive map, and log their own new issues (including photos).
Each time an issue is logged it is automatically referred to the appropriate councillor by email. The councillor is then expected to follow up on these issues until they are resolved, then mark them as fixed on the website. The councillors performance can be monitored, issues can be escalated, outstanding issue lists can be printed, emails can be sent, all from the Mobilitate website.

The JBRA committee has been trying to arrange a meeting with the Jeffreys Bay Councillors to discuss this and other issues since the election, so far without success. As we all have the welfare of Jeffreys Bay at heart, we expect to have these necessary discussions soon.

Crimespotter is another brilliant feature on the Mobilitate website. Like the www.Gotcha.org.za site (which will be phased out in favour of Crimespotter), you can log crime incidents in J Bay as they occur on an interactive map, allowing crime patterns and realistic crime stats to be extracted.
You can also log crime Alerts for crimes or incidents in progress. Mobilitate will then send an SMS to everyone registered for alerts, for free. This is ideal for alerting Blockwatch members and interested residents to any developing situation very rapidly. It could also be a key component of an effective disaster mangement system. Crimespotter also includes a blockwatch management and scheduling system, amongst other facilities.
The system has been demonstrated to the head of the J Bay Blockwatch, who is very enthusiastic about using it.

Anyone can register on Crimespotter at http://gotcha.crimespotter.co.za/, log issues, log crimes and receive alerts. To control rogue registrations by email spam sources, new registrations must enter a "Captcha" code (random characters readable by a human but not by a computer), and your email address must be confirmed, by replying to a confirmation email. If you have any difficulty with the registration process, call Mobilitate direct at 012 809 3231 or Trevor Watkins on 042 293 1405 for assistance.

One of the biggest challenges the JBRA faces is effective communication with the residents of J Bay. Residents seem to be extraordinarily reluctant to make their voices heard, on our blog, on our website, on Mobilitate, in emails, even in letters to the JBRA. It may be fear of publicity, or fear of technology, or fear of the authorities, or simply fear of the effort involved. The JBRA does not wish to be a one way megaphone, shouting information at the residents but rarely hearing anything in reply.
To make it really easy for a 2 way conversation to occur, we have setup an email Googlegroup for the residents association. Once registered on the Googlegroup you can communicate with everyone else in the group simply by sending one email to one address(jag1@googlegroups.com). You will also receive an email every time anyone else communicates with the group. You can leave the group anytime you want, by selecting an option included in every email received, or you can change how often emails from the group are received (1 summary per day, 1 summary per week).
Googlegroups is an ideal way to conduct an email dialogue between people sharing a common interest. Everyone can have their say, issues can be debated, past discussions can be reviewed, consensus can be developed. The JBRA will also use the googlegroup to post any important information received, such as Council notices, meetings, etc.
To join our JBRA Googlegroup, visit http://groups.google.com/group/jag1 or send an email to info@jbayra.com.

Every municipal ward is required by law to appoint a ward committee of 10 residents, reporting to the ward councillor. This ward committee is required to meet regularly (at least once per month), to discover issues and problems within the ward, to report these to the ward committee, and to follow up on their resolution. The ward councillor must then raise the issues identified by the ward committee at the council meetings. A small stipend may be paid to ward committee members to cover any expenses.
Ward committees are generally elected at a public meeting in the ward, shortly after the municipal elections. Kouga ward committees will be selected in the very near future (dates are not yet available). Please consider whether you would like to stand for a ward committee, and who you would like to elect as members of your local committee. You can communicate with your local councillor, with the KM, or you can send an email to info@jbayra.com.

The JBRA is a completely independent organisation, responsible only to the residents of Jeffreys Bay. Our boundaries extend from Woltemade Street in the south to Kabeljous in the north and the R102 in the east. Other areas in Kouga have their own ratepayers and residents associations, such as Paradise Beach and St Francis. All these residents associations share many common problems, such as dealing with the KM, rates assessments, crime, and so on. To avoid constantly re-inventing the wheel and to make best use of scarce manpower and resources, an umbrella body for residents associations in Kouga was formed, known as FEKRRA (FEderation of Kouga Ratepayers and Residents Associations). FEKRRA has been very active in tackling issues of mismanagement and corruption in the past, under the chairmanship of the late Joe Oosthuizen. Following Joe's untimely death, a new FEKRRA committee has recently been elected, with Louis Geldenhuys of Oyster Bay as chairman and Trevor watkins of JBRA as vicechairman. You can find out more at www.fekrra.org.

Jeffreys Bay is a unique, beautiful town. It is our town. It can become a thriving tourist attraction, or it can become yet another failed South African municipality. The future depends on us, the residents of J Bay. What are you doing to secure the future of your town?

Nuusbrief 2 van 2011
6 Augustus 2011

Hierdie nuusbrief dek die aktiwiteite van u Inwonersvereniging sedert die vorige brief van Mei.

Ons ledetal styg steeds teen 'n gesonde tempo, soos hieronder getoon. Ons het:
152 stemgeregtigde lede
315 lede sonder stemreg
6 besigheidslede, en
532 potensiële lede indat hulle op ons databasis is maar nie 'n lidmaatskaps-vorm voltooi het nie.
Die groottotaal is 1,005 persone wat op een of ander wyse met ons geassosieer is, dus een tiende van die totale inwonerstal in ons area.
Twee baie suksesvolle werwingsaksies is in plaaslike winkelsenta gehou in Mei.
Die komitee gaan 'n posbus werwingsaksie loots. Indien u alreeds 'n lid is, gee dan u eie posbus vorm aan 'n vriend of buurman.
Ons onderhandel ook met verskeie geslote gemeenskappe in Jeffreysbaai met die doel om met 'n massa registrasie al hul lede by ons te betrek. Dit sal al die rompslomp van voltooiing en terugbesorging van vorms uitsluit. Die inwoners van die gemeenskappe kan dan met een stem praat by JBIV vergaderings. Indien u in so 'n gemeenskap bly, kontak ons asb. sodat ons u ook kan betrek.

Lidmaatskap van u komitee het geskommel, met verskeie lede wat bedank het en met ander vervang is. Die details van die lede van die huidige komitee is op ons webwerf.

Ons tweede kwartaalikse Algemene Vergadering is op 15 Junie in die Newton Saal gehou. Daar was ongeveer 70 mense teenwoordig by hierdie vergadering. Dries du Preez van Fountains Estate het die vergadering toegespreek oor die nuwe lae-koste behuisingsontwikkelings naby Astonbaai. 'n Lewendige reaksie was die gevolg. Die projek is tydelik opgeskort hangende 'n nuwe ooreenkoms wat bereik moet word deur die verskeie partye.

'n Groot verskeidenheid artikels deur die JBIV se komitee het in die Our Times verskyn, normaalweg een elke twee weke. Die artikels is oop nou op ons blog, en lede is welkom om hul eie kommentaar daaroor op die blog te plaas.
Die webwerf, www.jbayra.com is steeds ons primêre vorm van kommunikasie met inwoners. Nuusartikels word gereeld geplaas op die Nuus gedeelte. Inwoners word aangeraai om gereeld hierdie nuus te lees en sodoende op hoogte te bly aangesien dit verwys na dokumente of gebeurtenisse wat direk vir Jeffreysbaai raak. Dit sluit projekte soos die voorgestelde Windplaas in. Kontaknommers onder die Inligtingsknoppie bevat die nuutste kontakdetails van al die nuwe raadslede, sowel as sleutel beamptes in die Munisipaliteit. Die Kalender word elke maand opgedateer met gebeure en vergaderings in die Munispaliteit. Die interaktiewe Jeffreysbaai kaart sal u details gee van straatadresse hier te lande sowel as in die res van die land en die wêreld. Onder JAG verskyn kontakdetails van al die plaaslike groepe, kerke en liefdadigheidsverenigings.

Die JBIV komitee het op vier geleenthede met senior beamptes van die Kouga Munisipaliteit vergader. Notules van die vergaderings word gehou en is ter insae op die webwerf. Vele knelpunte word op die vergaderings oorgedra aan die beamptes, met weinige reaksie. Afsprake wat gemaak word word slegs by wyse van uitsondering nagekom, met die ander wat sonder kennisgewing of verskoning vermy word. Dit behels normaalweg vergaderings wat netelige, en dus belangrike, onderwerpe moet hanteer. Ten spyte van enkele positiewe resultate, is daar nog veel te vermag. 'n Goeie vergadering wat gehou is met die nuwe burgemeester, raadslid Booi Koerat, het plaasgevind teen die einde van Julie. Die burgemeester skyn erns te hê met die uitroei van onbeholpendheid en korrupsie in die raad, en wil blykbaar goeie bestuur in ons buurt vestig. Hiermee wil ons hom heelhartig ondersteun. Ons eis egter ook dat dit moet plaasvind binne 'n redelike tyd.

Na aanleiding van 'n vergadering met 2 lede van die betrokke JBRA, het die komitee die eerste vergadering van die "Legal Watchdog Project" gefasiliteer. Die doel van hierdie projek is om te verseker dat die stappe wat geneem word deur die KM in ooreenstemming is met die wetlike vereistes van die verskillende munisipale wette. As voorbeeld kan genoem word dat sekere komitees soos die Finansiële Oorsigkomitee verplig is om ten minste een keer per maand te ontmoet, en skriftelike verslae uit te reik. As hierdie wetlike vereistes nie nagekom word nie, sal die Legal Watchdog Project hierdie inligting saamvat en voorlê aan die KM, die JBRA, die raad van die muninsipaliteit, en die provinsie. Enigeen wat belangstel om te help met hierdie projek kan dr Gustav Barnard by 042 293 4224 kontak.

Die infrastruktuur in Jeffreysbaai verswak teen 'n onrusbarende tempo. As gevolg van die onlangse swaar reën, het slaggate oral ontstaan, riool oorstromings is algemeen, en brûe stort in duie.Die bankrot KM is nie in staat om die mas op te kom nie, soos ons almal weet. Om hierdie vele probleme aan te spreek, moet ons hulle eers identifiseer en op 'n lys plaas. Die verantwoordelikheid daarvoor moet toegedeel word en dan moet vasgestel word of en wanneer hulle werklik reggestel is. Dit kan 'n reuse taak wees. In die verlede het komitees soos ons gevoel dit buite die bestek was van 'n vrywillige inwoners-vereniging.
Gelukkig het 'n paar besondere mense in Gauteng 'n merkwaardige webwerf ontwerp wat hierdie taak verrig. Die webwerf se naam is www.Mobilitate.co.za, wat net vir hierdie tipe probleme ontwikkel is. Die program is vrylik beskikbaar is vir alle Suid-Afrikaanse dorpe en distrikte. Die JBRA gebruik hierdie webwerf om al die klein en groot infrastruktuur kwessies rondom ons dorp aan te meld. Enige JBRA lid is welkom om te registreer op die webwerf, om bestaande probleme wat aangemeld is op te soek op die aanlyn kaart, en om hul eie probleme aan te meld, wat fotos kan insluit.
Elke keer as 'n saak is aangemeld is word dit outomaties verwys per e-pos na die betrokke raadslid. Van die raadslid word dan verwag om oor hierdie sake op te volg totdat hulle opgelos word, en dit dan af te merk op die webwerf as synde afgehandel. Die raadslede se optredes kan dan gemeet word, uitstaande probleme kan gelys word, en e-posse vanaf die Mobilitate webwerf webwerf gestuur word.
Die JBIV komitee het by verskeie geleenthede gepoog om 'n vergadering te reel met die Jeffreysbaai raadslede, sonder enige sukses. Ons verwag van hulle om, siende ons hopelik beide die welsyn van Jeffreysbaai op die hart dra, om wel die nodige besprekings en samewerking te vermag.

Crimespotter is nog 'n briljante funksie op die Mobilitate webwerf. Ons www.Gotcha.org.za word uitgefaseer ten gunste van Crimespotter. Hier kan jy misdaadvoorvalle in Jeffreysbaai op 'n interaktiewe kaart aanmeld sodat die misdaad tendense en geloofwaardige misdaad statistieke beskikbaar raak.
Jy kan ook op Alerts misdaad of pogings daartoe aanmeld. Mobilitate sal dan gratis waarskuwings SMS aan almal wat geregistreer is daarvoor. Dit is ideaal vir die vinnige inlig van Blockwatch lede en belangstellende inwoners. Dit kan ook 'n belangrike komponent vorm van 'n effektiewe rampbestuur stelsel. Die Crimespotter program behels ook 'n blockwatch bestuur en skedulering stelsel. geriewe.
Die stelsel is gedemonstreer aan die hoof van die J-Bay Blockwatch, wat is baie entoesiasties oor die gebruik daarvan.

Enigeen kan op Crimespotter registreer by
http://gotcha.crimespotter.co.za/, probleme en misdaad aanmeld, en kennisgewings ontvang. Om vals of spam registrasies per e-pos te voorkom, moet nuwe registrasies 'n "Captcha" kode (lukraak karakters wat 'n mens maar nie 'n rekenaar kan lees) gebruik, en jou e-pos adres moet bevestig word. Besonderhede op die webwerf. As jy enige probleme het met die registrasie proses, skakel Mobilitate direk by 012 809 3231 of Trevor Watkins by 042 293 1405 om hulp.

Effektiewe kommunikasie met die inwoners van Jeffreysbaai is een van die grootste uitdagings wat die JBIV in die gesig staar. Inwoners skyn uiters traag te wees om te hul stemme te laat hoor op ons blog, webwerf, op Mobilitate, in e-posse, en selfs in briewe aan die JBIV. Dit kan wees vrees van publisiteit, die tegnologie, die owerhede, of eenvoudig net die vrees van die poging om betrokke te wees. Die JBIV wil in tweegesprekke tree met sy lede.
Daarom het ons 'n groep op Googlegroup vir die inwoners vereniging geregistreer. Sodra jy geregistreer is op die Googlegroup kan jy met almal in die groep kommunikeer deur bloot 'n e-pos aan jag1@googlegroups.com te stuur. Jy sal ook 'n e-pos ontvang elke keer as iemand anders kommunikeer met die groep. Daar is verdere moontlikhede, inligting op die webwerf.
Googlegroups is 'n ideale manier om 'n e-pos dialoog tussen mense met 'n gemeenskaplike belang te voer. Enigeen kan hulle sê sê, dinge bespreek, vroeëre besprekings hersien en konsensus bereik. JBRA sal ook googlegroup gebruik om enige belangrike inligting soos Raadskennisgewings, vergaderings ens te plaas. Om aan te sluit by ons JBRA Googlegroup stuur 'n e-pos aan info@jbayra.com of, besoek http://groups.google.com/group/jag1.

Die wet vereis dat elke munisipale wyk 'n wykskomitee van 10 inwoners moet aanstel. Hierdie komitee doen verslag aan die wyksraadslid. Hierdie wykskomitee moet gereeld bymekaarkom (ten minste een keer per maand), om kwessies en probleme in die wyk te vind, om dit te rapporteer aan die wykskomitee, en om op te volg dat die problem opgelos word. Die wyksraadslid moet dan hierdie probleme by die raadsvergaderings opper. 'n Klein toelae mag betaal word om komiteelede se uitgawes te dek. Wykskomitees is oor die algemeen kort ná die munisipale verkiesings.verkies op 'n openbare vergadering in die wyk. Kouga wykskomitees sal in die baie nabye toekoms gekies word (datums is nog nie beskikbaar nie). Oorweeg dit asseblief om te staan vir 'n wykskomitee, asook wie jy verkies as lede van jou plaaslike komitee. Jy kan kommunikeer met jou plaaslike raadslid, met die KM, of jy kan 'n e-pos te info@jbayra.com stuur.

Die JBRA is 'n onafhanklike organisasie, wat verantwoordelik is vir die inwoners van Jeffreysbaai. Ons grense strek van Woltemade straat in die suide tot Kabeljous in die noorde en die R102 in die ooste. Ander gebiede in die Kouga het hul eie belastingbetalers en inwoners verenigings, soos Paradise Beach en St Francis. Al hierdie inwoners verenigings deel baie algemene probleme, soos die hantering van die KM, munisipale fooie, misdaad, ens. Om voortdurend die wiel wee riot te vind is swak gebruik van skaars mannekrag en hulpbronne. Daar is dus 'n oorkoepelende liggaam vir die inwoners verenigings in Kouga gevorm, bekend as FEKRRA (Federasie van die Kouga-belastingbetalers en inwoners Verenigings). FEKRRA was in die verlede baie aktief in die aanspreek van probleme van wanbestuur en korrupsie, terwyl dit onder die voorsitterskap van wyle Joe Oosthuizen was. As gevolg van Joe se ontydige dood, is daar onlangs 'n nuwe FEKRRA komitee verkies met Louis Geldenhuys van Oesterbaai as voorsitter en Trevor Watkins van JBRA as vise-voorsitter. Jy kan meer oor Fekra leer by www.fekrra.org.

Jeffreysbaai is 'n unieke, pragtige dorp. Dit is ons dorp. Dit kan weer 'n florerende toeriste-aantreklikheid word, of dit kan verval in nog 'n mislukte Suid-Afrikaanse munisipaliteit. Die toekoms hang af van ons, die inwoners van Jeffreysbaai, af. Wat doen jy om vir die toekoms van jou dorp te verseker? Kom ons staan saam vir die beter opsie.

By Japie Bosch, first published in Our Times on 3rd March 2011

Jeffreysbaai het ‘n afskeepkind.

Almal weet van hom, maar hulle steur hulle nie veel aan hom nie. Hy gaan maar so op eie aan.

Dié kind het nou al so hulpeloos en selfs hopeloos geword dat hyself nie meer lus vir die lewe het nie.

Eendag as die dorp hom nodig gaan hê, sal die mense hom uit die dode moet wek, tensy hulle hom nóú in hul huise begin verwelkom.

Dis nou die belastingbetalersvereniging (BBV), of te wel die inwonersvereniging, soos hy verlede week herdoop is.

Die afgelope paar jaar voer die vereniging ‘n sukkelbestaan. Uit die klompie duisend mense in die dorp het hy skaars 100 lede. By verlede week se algemene jaarvergadering was daar slegs sowat 70 lede teenwoordig.

Uit die geledere van die teenwoordiges was daar net vier wat bereid was om in die bestuurskomitee te dien. Ingevolge die vereniging se grondwet moet daar sewe komiteelede wees. Só, hulle kort nog drie. Swak, Jeffreysbaai, swak.

Dit is eienaardig. Maar ook nie.

Dis eienaardig, omdat belastingbetalersverenigings deur die land normaalweg ‘n goeie naam het. Hulle dien ‘n goeie doel, want hulle hou ‘n oog oor die manewales wat munisipaliteite uithaal. Dit was so in die ou Suid-Afrika. Des te meer nou in die nuwe Suid-Afrika.

Sê nou die burgemeester vra die vereniging: “Wie verteenwoordig julle? Hoeveel lede het julle vereniging?”

As die antwoord (soos nou) is: “Een honderd mense,” gaan hy in sy mou lag. As die antwoord is: “Een duisend mense,” gaan hy in sy moue en broekspype bewe.

Dit is voor-die-hand-liggend dat die kollektiewe krag van ‘n dorp se inwoners ‘n munisipaliteit opdraende kan gee.

Dis ook nie eienaardig nie dat die vereniging deur die inwoners afgeskeep word, omdat hy oor ‘n lang tydperk nie veel gedoen het om lede te werf nie. Hy het nie sy werk, veral sy suksesse, openbaar gemaak nie.

Het hy suksesse gehad?

‘n Ruk terug het die regering ‘n omdraai-strategie vir munisipaliteite aangekondig. (Nog niks het daarvan gekom nie, terloops.) Die vereniging kort ook ‘n omdraai-strategie.

Dr Barry Vosloo, die vereniging se pas-uitgetrede voorsitter sedert Julie verlede jaar, het met ‘n reeks inisiatiewe begin. Een daarvan was omvattende wysigings aan die grondwet wat verlede week goedgekeur is. Hy het ook ander nuwe strukture in die vereniging gevestig.

Hopelik sal mnr Trevor Watkins, die nuwe voorsitter, met vernuwings voortgaan. Hy het reeds onderneem om die vereniging se ledetaal teen die middel van die jaar tot minstens 1 000 te laat groei.

Jeffreysbaai se inwoners kort ook ‘n omdraai-strategie. Die vereniging gaan nie om sy bestuur nie -- daardie paar wat hulle beskikbaar stel en bereid is om werk te doen. Dit gaan oor sy lede en hul munisipale belange.

‘n Bewustheid van gemeenskaplikheid oor munisipale sake, veral dié wat verkeerd loop, behoort by Jeffreysbaai se mense pos te vat.

Gebeur dit nie, gaan die vereniging sterf.

En as hy eendag regtig benodig word, gaan daar miskien niemand wees om te lei nie, want wie wil lei sonder volgelinge?

Wíl Jeffreysbaai ‘n inwonersvereniging hê?

As die gemeenskap nie deelname toon nie, verdien hulle nie een nie.

· Om aan te sluit, kan u Jakkies Pieters bel of epos. Sy besonderhede is: 042/293-2940 (huis), 083/376-6764 (sel), jakkie@ mweb.co.za.

Ledegeld is ‘n bekostigbare R40 per jaar. Dis uitsluitlik vir administrasie.