Dial F for Failure: SA's local government disaster

A good article and book review on the problems with Local Government at http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-08-03-dial-f-for-failure-sas-local-government-disaster

Trevor Watkins

Ideological Drive Project (IDP) a short review

Please note: This represents my personal opinion

 

The Kouga 2012-2017 Integrated Development Plan is a curious mix of desktop research and pure fiction, something clearly not envisaged by the Municipal Systems Act. On the one hand it is unfortunate that the “development plan” not only has legal force but it is binding for the most part on the municipality for five years (by which point a new set of fantasy is likely to take over), on the other hand the we have no reason to believe that the municipality will comply with their own IDP any more than they do to any other set of rules or regulations. What is clear though is that the document is nothing other than a project to drive an ideological position that despite overwhelming empirical evidence to the contrary the Kouga Municipality is a well run progressive entity that is hamstrung by mistakes of the past (code for apartheid and that component of the previous administration which the current administration have political disputes with).

Curiously despite the IDP and draft budget being presented in public meetings together the two documents contradict each other with the curious case of the budget assuming a collection rate of 95% and the IDP striving for 90% – perhaps the 5% shortfall can be recovered by recouping some of the monies wasted on municipal graft.

There are intriguing tales of public meetings being held regularly and that 15 of the 15 ward committee are functioning. I greatly look forward to meeting a Community Development Worker in Jeffrey’s Bay such that he/she may tell me about these regular public meetings. More importantly I look forward to my next visit to the previously vacant monstrosity that is the Ward 11 office which as of two weeks ago was an unused empty building because according the IDP “the Municipality has established offices for the Ward Councillors, they have Ward coordinators, secretaries and the offices are well resourced”.

If you are in the market for a tragic welding together of systemic failure and wasted opportunities the Kouga IDP document is well worth a read, otherwise it is simply 250 pages of evidence that Jeffrey’s Bay is a nice town in spite of the Kouga Municipality.

How municipalities profit from electricity.

Extracted from Moneyweb. 

Author: Malcolm Rees |

28 March 2012 14:40

JOHANNESBURG - Electricity surcharges by municipalities have become yet another "tax" for businesses in the country.

According to lead economist and an expert on SA’s electricity prices, Mike Schüssler, municipalities in the country are charging consumers for electricity at prices well in excess of the base price they pay for to Eskom.

The average domestic gross operating margin for municipalities on electricity (the difference between the price paid for electricity and the price charged for it) sits in the region of 40%, says Schüssler.

“I can promise you that Spar doesn’t have that sort of a margin, nor does Pick n Pay or anybody else,” he notes.

“For the municipalities and local government electricity is a big source of revenue.”

The latest data from Statistics South Africa indicate that in the last financial year municipalities received R61.9bn from customers (excluding non payments) and paid R40.7bn for that electricity indicating that municipalities get nearly 52% more for electricity than they pay for it.

That is a gross operating margin of 34%, according to Schüssler  “which is lower than was the case some years ago”.

However, exacerbating the price discrepancy the fact that the calculated margin excludes money lost to bad debt.

Adding about R6.8bn in unpaid electricity bills (over 90 days old) would indicate that the actual operating margin is over 40%

“What happens is that business tariffs in a place like Johannesburg are more expensive than those of Eskom; that fact is that businesses are used as a way to get taxes,” says Schüssler.

“Effectively, on a local level, electricity is a tax collection exercise.”

But the price discrepancy “is also true of people who pay electricity on a household side”, he says.

For the financial year ending June 2011, municipalities generated an combined revenue in the region of R204bn, according to Schüssler.

Of that, R58bn is outstanding revenue (unpaid bills aged over 90 days) some of which has been accumulated in years prior.

A significant component of the net revenue is attributable to electricity revenue, while water, which has also been increasing in double digits for the past three years, takes up another large chunk.

Based on these figures “you could say that overall municipalities generate very close to 7% of SA’s gross domestic product (GDP)”, according to Schüssler.

Considering what municipalities charge for water and electricity and the margins they add to the cost of water and electricity, “they don’t just have a 1% tax rate on the economy as we thought but its probably closer to between 3% and 4%”, he says.

JBRA Chairman's report for 2011/12

Jeffreys Bay Residents Association

Chairmans report delivered at AGM on 22^nd February 2012

Fellow residents, honoured guests, councillors and members of the JBRA committee,

It is my honour and duty to present the chairman’s report for our residents association for the past year. I wish to start by thanking the members of the committee for their efforts, particularly those who have survived an entire year.

When I accepted the position of chairman of the JBRA at the last AGM I set 3 major goals for the year. The first goal was to increase membership, the second goal was to engage effectively with the Kouga Municipality, and the third goal was to participate effectively in FEKRRA, the federation of residents associations.

The major reason for increasing membership is to improve communication within the Jeffreys Bay community. Our aim was to get current contact information for as many residents as possible by registering them in our database. The second reason is to be able to speak with authority when negotiating with the Kouga Municipality. Politicians are only impressed by the number of voters you represent. Although the JBRA needs an income to do its job effectively, increased membership income was never a major consideration.

Total registered membership of the JBRA now sits at 700 residents, an approximately 10-fold increase over the membership for the previous year. Of these 700, 181 have paid the annual fee and may vote at meetings such as this. Based on this registered membership, the JBRA is now the biggest and one of the most active residents associations in Kouga.

Our second goal was to engage effectively with the Kouga Municipality. The committee has had numerous high level meetings with the KM, submitted many documents, requests and demands, published articles on our blog and in the local press, largely to no avail. I regret to say that our impact on the governance of Kouga has been minimal. By and large, our many suggestions and requests have been ignored.  This frustration is shared by the other residents associations in FEKRRA, and was raised again with the mayor and MM at a meeting this morning. The JBRA has setup a system for filing individual disputes with the KM, which may assist in getting some issues resolved more effectively.

Our third goal was to participate effectively in FEKRRA. After the unfortunate death of Joe Oosthuizen, the FEKRRA chairman, this organisation became very quiet.  About halfway through the year a new committee was elected, of which I am vice-chairman.  I assisted FEKRRA by setting up a website, and also helped setup a website for our sister RA in Paradise Beach/Aston Bay. FEKRRA has had 3 meetings with the KM since then, the last as recently as this morning. If FEKRRA’s demands are not met soon then we can expect legal action to follow in the near future.

The main task of a residents association is to improve communication, between members, with the municipality, and with the world at large. The Arab Spring has highlighted the importance of modern electronic communications in civil society.  A lot of effort this year has been devoted to improving communication to residents and between residents:

• A comprehensive website was setup at www.jbayra.com. Local news, useful documents, links to relevant local sites, calendars, maps, online registrations are all available on the website.
• A new blog was setup, and many articles were posted by the committee.
• The JAG email discussion group was established.
• The Mobilitate website was discovered and put to use for J Bay issues.
• The Crimespotter CPF facility was setup, including the emergency SMS facility. 
• A database of all members details is maintained, and regular emails and SMSs are sent to all registered members. 

Despite all this effort, the involvement of J Bay residents in these initiatives has been poor. 

• Very few read the blog, almost no one comments, and only 3 or 4 people have submitted articles to the blog in a year.
• Only 50 people replied to several hundred invitations to join the JAG email group.
• Only 50 people have joined the Crimespotter CPF, and no one has logged any crimes in the past several months.
• Only 2 or 3 people have logged any issues on the Mobilitate website. So far, only one of the 3 councillors in the JBRA area has managed to register themselves on Mobilitate and respond to the 50 or so issues logged there. 

There are lots of reasons for this apathy, but very few excuses.  Instead of a vibrant and dynamic exchange of ideas about J Bay and its circumstances, we have the spectacle of 2 or 3 people shouting down a hole, uncertain if anyone is actually listening.

The 2011 committee launched a number of initiatives in the course of the year:

• voting and non-voting membership
• Residents Projects, where residents undertake their own local civic maintenance, such as the cleanup undertaken by the committee during the municipal strike
• declaring individual disputes with the KM using a local lawyer
• a quarterly public meeting and a quarterly newsletter
• the Legal Watchdog committee
• the idea of issuing fines to the KM for services not correctly performed
• the proposal to form a consulting group to advise and assist the KM for free

I believe the JBRA was instrumental in

• having the new housing development in Ocean View sent for further investigation
• focussing attention on the billing fiasco at the KM
• focussing attention on issues such as sewage spills, brown water in Wavecrest, potholes, etc
• influencing the development of the 2012 IDP and budget
• focussing attention on financial irregularities in the KM
• resolving some issues at the J Bay Caravan Park

I believe that our new mayoral committee and council are somewhat better than the previous  disastrous bunch,  in the same way that a poke in just one eye with a sharp stick is better than a poke in both eyes.  The auditor general has declared the KM officially bankrupt, a fact which we pointed out 6 months ago. Like the rest of South Africa, the Kouga Municipality finds itself  dealing with the inevitable consequences of bad policies and bad management. This steady decline to 3^rd world standards can only be reversed when sensible policies are implemented by competent managers.

However, despite all the doom and gloom, most of us in this room stay in nice houses on clean streets with electricity, running water and reasonable sewage. That puts us way ahead of most of the rest of our fellow citizens in Kouga, a fact we forget at our peril.

In conclusion, I believe that the JBRA has made some significant strides in the last year, by increasing membership, by communicating better, by engaging with the KM regularly. However, I believe that the situation in J Bay has got worse in the last year, not better, and that much remains for the new committee to tackle.

Trevor Watkins

Gemors and remorse

This blog article is written by Trevor Watkins in his personal capacity, and not on behalf of the current or previous JBRA committee.

Having wreaked havoc within the ranks of the local DA, the “The Courier – Die Koerier” has now turned its school-masterly eye towards the Jeffreys Bay Residents Association. It is so easy to attack the people nearest you, while ignoring the real and dangerous opponents at a distance.

Japie Bosch, the Jeffreys Bay equivalent of Georgie W Bush, described the recent JBRA AGM as “’n gemors van ‘n gemors ….”, because the meeting started late and a politician spoke for too long, as though this were an unusual occurrence in South Africa these days, or in the past.  He then maunders on about Elza Van Lingen, complains because the meeting chair did NOT  rudely interrupt the guest speaker (as he no doubt would have done), then reports that the DA councillors walked out of the meeting (as though this was a new or unusual event). Finally, he gets his facts wrong about the make-up of the new committee. The JBRA is indeed fortunate to have a young and enthusiastic new chairman. Most, if not all, of the existing committee has agreed to stay on, myself included, and I believe a new person has offered their services.

Japie conveniently forgets that the AGM he organised the previous year failed to keep a register of attendees, failed to get key changes to the constitution passed because they were poorly thought through, and had a guest speaker who was later dismissed from the municipality under questionable circumstances. His entire committee, with 1 exception, were not available for re-election, leaving the task of forming a new committee entirely to yours truly.

Presumably Japie did not wait for the chairman’s report, read in absentia. So he did not report on the 10 fold increase in registered membership of the JBRA since his time on the committee. He had nothing to say about the new website, the Mobilitate issue reporting system, the new CPF functionality, the email discussion group, the regular newsletters and general meetings, the revival of FEKRRA, and the new legal dispute mechanism recently instituted. No, because the council employee opened the hall late, and the meeting went on a bit long, all he could see was “’n gemors”.

Ludwig Vorster, a former member of the committee who resigned without a word of explanation (at least to me), obviously prefers to be outside the tent spitting in. If he had stayed on the committee he could have helped check the hall booking 3 times in the prior week, he could have made an arrangement with a municipal official the week before to ensure at least 120 chairs were available, and he could have arrived at the hall early to ensure everything was on track. Instead, in his absence, the chairman did all these things, despite having other issues to deal with too.  If Ludwig had stayed on the committee, he could draft the angry letter to the municipality demanding to know why the facilities were not available as arranged.  Instead, someone else will need to undertake that task.  Like Japie, all Ludwig could see is what was wrong with the situation. As Churchill said, it takes some intelligence to see what is right.

Ludwig must also remember that when he sings “De La Rey”, many others will also sing of Biko and Hani.  I am deeply grateful that, despite all our problems in South Africa, we are still able to discuss most of the problems peacefully.

The JBRA committee and I put a lot of effort into achieving our 3 goals in this last year. We are now the biggest residents association in terms of registered members in Kouga. We have engaged frequently with the municipal officials, and achieved some successes. FEKRRA is back as a viable force in our local politics. 

Nevertheless, given the responses of these 2 bloggers, and the low level of involvement in the JBRA from most residents, I personally don’t think it was worth the effort.

A brief AGM report

The Jeffrey’s Bay Residents Association (the JBRA) is, to use a bit of jargon, a voluntary association and a community based organization. As such it holds an annual general meeting at which the membership make essential decisions concerning the organization. The AGM for 2012 was held at Newton Hall on Wednesday 22^nd February with the Honourable Ms Elza van Lingen as the special guest speaker.

Apart from the address of the guest speaker - which I will return to - the meeting performed many of the functions necessary to give a voluntary association life. On a sad and unfortunate note the organization passed its condolences to the 2011 chairperson Mr Trevor Watkins, and his family, on the passing of his beloved wife. The vice chair Dr Barnard therefore assumed responsibility for conducting the meeting. A brief presentation of the finances of the organization was given and whilst we are by no means an affluent body our financial position is healthy and sustainable. Further an amendment to the association constitution was passed. This provides for a system of free non-voting membership.

Finally office bearers for the organization were selected. I (Paul Hjul) have been designated as the Chairperson for 2012 - a daunting task in light of the tireless service of my predecessor. I hope that, despite my (relative - as my younger siblings and mother remind me) youth, I will be able to build on the firm foundation on which the organization rests. I hope to contribute towards improving the town for the residents. Other office bearers were not finalized however a meeting of the committee approved at the AGM will be held soon.

General consensus appears to be that the special address delivered had a general effect of undermining the principal business aspects of the AGM, and causing harm to the association’s credibility as an independent community based organization. This requires me to make some comment, albeit with trepidation:

The JBRA is not a political party, nor is it aligned to any political party. The decision to invite the Honourable Ms Elza van Lingen was not intended to suggest any alignment with the politics of Ms van Lingen. Instead the invitation was afforded to a senior office bearer in the Parliament of the Republic and our provincial legislature. A person who has considerable knowledge on issues relating to this area. In previous years invitations have been extended to the Mayor of the Kouga Municipality - who was a member of a different political party.

As the chairperson of the association I will be writing to Ms van Lingen to establish whether there has been any misunderstanding between the JBRA and herself; as well as to apprise her of the complaints which I have received. However I believe it to be inappropriate for me, or the organization to comment on what Ms van Lingen should or should not have done with the platform afforded to her at the AGM of the JBRA. I therefore only ask that the public understand that at functions of this nature the person afforded the privilege of delivering the address is customarily afforded a great deal of latitude. They may express opinions which are not those of the organization. It has therefore happened around the world that university graduations have been on occasion marked by an address to the graduates which thoroughly (and even unfairly) criticises the University. As an organization in an open and democratic society - which prizes freedom - the idea of controlling an invited guest is not only inhospitable but also repugnant to our ethos. However the incident does highly the fact that the major political parties in South Africa are on a path that threatens the autonomy and integrity of residents and ratespayers associations. In light of this, after fully apprising myself of the situation and in consultation with other residents and ratespayers associations, I will write to the leadership of the major political parties to express the concerns. I trust that these steps are sufficient to put the potentially divisive matter to rest.

As a community based organization it is our purpose and duty to promote and develop the community of Jeffrey’s Bay. It is our job to make Jeffrey’s Bay a nice town, in a nice region. A nice town is an inclusive town. We have made a major stride towards enhancing our inclusivity by amending the organization’s constitution to entrench the practice of having a pool of free (non-voting) membership. We will not limit ourselves to the interests of a section of the community or to the supporters of a particular political organization - or religious denomination for that matter. We will continue our efforts to develop a sense of community within Jeffrey’s Bay and hope to see the emergence and growth of neighbouring residents associations.

I hope that we can succeed and request the assistance from the community to enable 2012 to be a prosperous year for the residents of Jeffrey’s Bay.

Paul Hjul

Newsletter 4 in 2012/

	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 4 in 2012 30/01/2012 This newsletter provides an update to members on the activities of their residents association since our last newsletter in November. Please see the notice of the AGM on Wednesday 22nd February 2012 at 6pm in the Newton Hall at the end of this newsletter. At this AGM the following changes to the JBRA constitution will be proposed: Proposed Amendments to the Jeffreys Bay Residents Association Constitution To be voted on at the Annual General Meeting on 22nd February 2012 Clause 7.    Subscriptions    Add : e. There are two classes of membership, namely, Voting membership, which attracts the usual membership fee as determined above, Non-voting membership, which is free. Clause 13.      Voting rights and voting at meetings. Amend : d. Only voting members whose subscriptions have been paid up, shall be allowed to cast their vote. Add : e. Voting members may allocate their vote to a proxy, in writing. At any meeting where a vote is required, the proxy may vote on behalf of all such allocated votes. Nominations for 2012/13 JBRA committee Nominations for the position of chair and committee members for the new committee are urgently requested. Please submit any nominations to chair@jbayra.com, or post to PO Box 1101, Jeffreys Bay, 6330, or call Trevor Watkins on 042 293 1405. Individual declaration of disputes with the Kouga Municipality Many ratepayers and residents of Jeffreys Bay have ongoing disputes with the Kouga Municipality (KM) over issues such as property valuation, sewage removal, water quality, rates and services payments, and so on. In most cases the KM deals with these disputes in their own good time, or fails to deal with them at all, while the ratepayer keeps paying and waiting for a resolution of a sometimes urgent problem. A widespread rates boycott would need the support of many thousands of residents, many of whom do not have a current, specific problem with KM. In addition, a widespread rates boycott  would not solve specific problems, but would address governance in the KM as a whole. For these reasons, the Jeffreys Bay Residents Association (JBRA) is recommending that individual ratepayers and residents with a specific problem formally declare a dispute with the KM through legal channels. Once the dispute has been declared, the KM must formally respond to the dispute in writing through their legal department, and all disputed payments, levies and fines may be held in suspension until the resolution of the dispute.  For example, if you believe that your assessed rates are too high, and you have good grounds for this belief, then payment of the rates in dispute may be suspended until the resolution of the dispute. The JBRA has reached an agreement with Blignault & Vennote, a firm of attorneys in St Francis road, Jeffreys Bay, to formally file a letter of dispute with the KM on behalf of a JBRA member for the amount of R80.  The resident will provide  name and address and details of the dispute to the attorney, who will then draft and deliver a registered letter to the Kouga Municipal offices, and will keep the letter on file at the attorney’s offices.  The dispute will also be logged on the Mobilitate website. The R80 does not include further legal advice, or an assessment of the merits of the case. Any further legal costs relating to the dispute will be for the account of the resident raising the dispute. The contact details for Blignault & Vennote are as follows: Ernie Blignault BA.LLB.(Stell) 082 550 0391   042 293 2211 Blignault_vennote@telkomsa.net PO Box 1500 Jeffreys Bay 6330 JBRA Facilities The JBRA has developed a number of facilities in the course of the last year to improve communication between residents in our area. Unfortunately, the use of these facilities by residents has been quite limited, due perhaps to ignorance of their existence, or unfamiliarity with their use, or just plain apathy. A brief list of the facilities follows: Website The official residents association website is at www.jbayra.com. On this website you will find recent news reports relating to J Bay,  contact details for the committee, for your councillors, for the KM staff, for emergencies Links to the blog, to Mobilitate and many other useful sites Calendar of upcoming events Issues currently being dealt with Blog The JBRA blog is at http://jbayra.blogspot.com/. The blog provides a forum for informed and serious discussions of the many issues facing J Bay and South Africa, and allows for easy addition of comments by readers. Articles for the blog can be submitted to admin@jbayra.com. You can register to receive an email each time a new blog entry is added. Mobilitate Some very kind people in Gauteng have developed a remarkable website called www.Mobilitate.co.za, 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. Crimespotter Crimespotter is a facility on the Mobilitate website. 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 management system. Crimespotter also includes a blockwatch management and scheduling system, amongst other facilities. Anyone can register on  Crimespotter at http://gotcha.crimespotter.co.za/, log issues, log crimes and receive alerts. To control rogue registrations, your email address and cellphone number must be confirmed, by replying to a confirmation message. 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. JAG JAG is an email Googlegroup for the residents association. Once registered on JAG 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). JAG is an ideal way to conduct an email dialogue between people sharing a common interest, such as Thyspunt, or wind turbines. Everyone can have their say, issues can be debated, past discussions can be reviewed, consensus can be developed. The JBRA will also use JAG to post any important information received, such as Council notices, meetings, etc. To join our JAG Googlegroup, visit http://groups.google.com/group/jag1 or send an email to info@jbayra.com.		Nuusbrief 4 in 2012 30/01/2012 Hierdie nuusbrief dek die aktiwiteite van u Inwonersvereniging sedert die vorige brief van November. Neem asseblief kennis van die kennisgewing van die AJV op Woensdag 22 Februarie 2012 om 6nm in die Newtonsaal op die einde van die nuusbrief. Tydens die AJV sal die voorgestelde wysigings van die grondwet voorgegee word. Voorgestelde Wysigings aan die Jeffriesbaai Inwonersvereeniging Grondwet Stemery sal plaasvind by die Algemene Jaar Vergadering op die 22 Februarie 2012 Klousule 7. Intekening Voeg by: e.  Daar is twee vorms van Lidmaatskap, naamlik , Stemgeregtige lidmaatskap wat die gewone Lidmaatskap Fooi  bepaal soos aangedui hierbo Geen stem Lidmaatskap het geen koste verbonde nie Klousule 13. Stem regte en stemmery by vergaderings Wysigings : d.                  Alleenlik  stemgeretig lede wie se ledegeld op betaal vir die huidige jaar sal toe gelaat word om hul stem uit te bring : Voegby : e.                   Stem geregtige lede mag hul stem oordra aan ‘n prokurasie  met ‘n geskrewe  magtiging’s brief, wat dan die prokurasie toestemming gee  om die lid se stem te pos. Nominasies vir die 2012/13 JBIV komitee Nominasies vir die nuwe voorsitter en komiteelede vir 2012 word dringend versoek. Stuur asseblief enige nominasies aan chair@jbayra.com, of pos aan Posbus 1101, Jeffreysbaai, 6330, of skakel Trevor Watkins op 042 293 1405. Verklaring van dispute met die Kouga Munisipaliteit deur individuele. Baie belastingbetalers en inwoners van Jeffreysbaai het nimmereindigende dispute met die Kouga Munisipaliteit. Dit betrek sake soos eiendomswaardasie, rioolverwydering, water kwaliteit, tariewe en dienste betalings, ens. In die meeste gevalle word hierdie probleme op die goeie langdradige tempo van die Munisipaliteit hateer, indien ooit. Intussen moet die belastingbetaler aanhou betaal en wag op 'n oplossing van 'n probleem wat ernstig kan wees, of wat vir hom/haar ernstig is. 'n Effektiewe algemene belasting boikot vereis die samewerking van talle duisende inwoners, van wie die meeste waarskynlik nie 'n huidige spesifieke probleem het met die KM nie. Verder, 'n algemene belasting boikot se funksie sal hoofsaaklik wees om die wanadministrasie van die KM in die algemeen mee aan te vat. Om hierie redes het die Jeffreysbaai se Inwonersvereniging (JBIV) die volgende roete daargestel vir die hantering deur individue en inwoners met dispute. Dit is om binne die reels van die reg formeel 'n dispuut te verklaar met KM. Nadat die dispuut verklaar is, moet KM formeel reageer, dit is 'n skriftelike reaksie op u brief van hul regsdepartement. Deur die dispuut te verklaar word aksie oor  alle betalings, heffings en boetes gestop tot die dispuut uitgeklaar en opgelos is. 'n Voorbeeld is, indien u op goeie gronde glo dat u aangeslane eiendomsbelasting te hoog is, dan word die betaling van u heffing opgeskort totdat die dispuut heeltemal opgelos is. Die JBIV het 'n ooreenkoms aangegaan met Blignault & Vennote, 'n prokureursfirma in St Francisweg, Jeffreysbaai om 'n formele brief van dispuut te stuur aan die KM namens 'n JBIV lid, waarvan die koste R80 beloop. Die inwoner verskaf hul naam, adres en details van die dispuut aan die prokureur wat dan die brief skryf en lewer aan die KM kantore. Hulle liaseer ook 'n kopie van die brief in hulle kantore. Die dispuut word ook op Mobilitate webwerf aangeteken. Die fooi van R80 sluit nie verdure regsadvies in of 'n opinie oor die meriete van die saak nie. Koste van verdere regshulp is vir die rekening van die inwoner. Die kontakdetails vir Blignault & Vennote is as volg: Ernie Blignault BA.LLB.(Stell) 082 550 0391   042 293 2211 Blignault_vennote@telkomsa.net Posbus 1500 Jeffreysbaai 6330 JBIV Fasiliteite In die loop van die afgelope jaar het die JBIV 'n aantal fasiliteite ingestel om die kommunikasie tussen inwoners in ons gebied te verbeter. Ongelukkig het min inwoners die  fasiliteite gebruik, miskien as gevolg van onkunde van hul bestaan​​, of onbekendheid met die gebruik, of net apatie. 'n Kort lys van die fasiliteite volg: Webwerf Die amptelike inwonersvereniging webwerf is by www.jbayra.com. Jy sal vind op hierdie webwerf onlangse nuusberigte met betrekking tot J Baai, kontakbesonderhede vir die komitee, vir jou raadslede, vir die KM personeel, en vir noodgevalle, onder andere. Links” na die blog, Mobilitate en baie ander nuttige webwerwe Kalender van toekomende gebeure huidige sake Blog Die JBRA blog is op http://jbayra.blogspot.com/. Die blog is 'n forum vir ingeligte en ernstige besprekings rondom die sake wat J Bay en Suid-Afrika in die gesig staar. Die blog maak voorsiening vir die eenvoudige toevoeging van kommentaar deur lesers. Artikels vir die blog kan gestuur word aan admin@jbayra.com. Jy kan registreer om 'n e-pos te ontvang elke keer' n nuwe blog inskrywing bygevoeg word. Mobilitate ‘n Paar besondere mense in Gauteng het 'n merkwaardige webwerf ontwerp. Die webwerf se naam is www.Mobilitate.co.za. Die program is vrylik beskikbaar vir alle Suid-Afrikaanse dorpe en distrikte. Die JBIV gebruik hierdie webwerf om al die klein en groot infrastruktuur sake rondom ons dorp aan te meld. Enige JBIV 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  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 gestuur word. Crimespotter Crimespotter is nog 'n funksie op die Mobilitate webwerf.  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. 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, nuwe registrasies moet jou e-pos adres bevestig. 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 te kry. JAG JAG is ‘n e-pos Googlegroup vir die lede van die JBIV. 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 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. JBIV sal ook JAG gebruik om enige belangrike inligting soos Raadskennisgewings, vergaderings ens te plaas. Om aan te sluit by ons JAG Googlegroup stuur 'n e-pos aan info@jbayra.com of besoek http://groups.google.com/group/jag1.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THE 2012 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING  OF THE JEFFREYS BAY RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION WILL BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2012 AT THE NEWTON HALL IN JEFFREYS BAY COMMENCING AT 18:00 AGENDA Notice of meeting Opening and Welcome Address by guest speaker. Minutes of the annual general meeting held on 22 February 2011 Chairman's annual report, 2011/2012 Financial annual report, 2011/2012 Amendments to the constitution Election of management  committee, 2012/2013  Questions Closure

KENNIS GESKIED HIERMEE DAT DIE ALGEMENE JAARVERGADERING, 2012  VAN DIE JEFFREYSBAAI INWONERSVERENIGING OP WOENSDAG, 22 FEBRUARIE 2012, BY DIE NEWTON SAAL JEFFREYSBAAI GEHOU SAL WORD BEGINNENDE OM 18:00 AGENDA Kennis van vergadering Opening en Verwelkoming Toespraak Notule van die algemene jaarvergadering gehou op 22 Februarie 2011 Voorsitter se jaarverslag, 2011/2012 Finansiële jaarverslag, 2011/2012 Wysigings aan die grondwet Verkiesing van bestuurskomitee, 2012/2013    Vrae Afsluiting