LET'S TALK The Village NEWS firmly believes in freedom of the press as well as the right of individuals to freely express themselves, as long as they don’t infringe upon the rights of others. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors therefore do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of The Village NEWS. Letters may be shortened and/or edited for clarity and style. Enjoy our paper. Send your letters to dewaal@thevillagenews.co.za.
Objections to Hermanus SRA business plan After a process of public engagement, voting and objections, on 25 March, the City Council approved three Special Rating Areas – Hermanus, Onrus/Vermont and Kleinmond. I am a Hermanus property owner and I was one of the few ratepayers who submitted an objection to the Municipality. I objected because I believe that the process was not legally compliant and that ratepayers were not informed what it is that the increased rates would buy. I did engage with the HSRA Steering Committee about my concerns but they did not give me any more information on what ratepayers will get for their money. They just said that they will follow a Request for Proposals (RFP) process to appoint service providers. I am concerned that ratepayers still do not know what the HSRA will spend their money on and it looks like the HSRA’s buying process may not be fully transparent and its governance questionable. Ratepayers should remember that they voted for this and my guess is that the Municipality will take a hands-off approach to governance – they will leave it to ratepayers to manage. The HSRA Steering Committee did not give any explanation for why they did not do all of the things that the law, by-law and regulations require of them. The municipality was totally silent during the whole process – when I sent my objection they did not engage with me at all. Hermanus ratepayers do know where their money will go, and the HSRA expects ratepayers to trust that they will benefit. Not being
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able to trust blindly, I looked into this matter. The HSRA will take R8.3 million of ratepayers’ money in the next year, increasing every year by around half a million for the next five years. This is considerably more than both Onrus/Vermont and Kleinmond SRAs. Per property, Hermanus ratepayers will be paying 3.2 times more that Onrus/ Vermont ratepayers and 3.6 time more than Kleinmond ratepayers. Now, some people may be inclined to play numbers games and say ‘that is not the right picture, look at the rates on property valuations’. Well, I did and Hermanus will still be paying around double what other SRAs are asking – no matter how one looks at the numbers. From their business plan all we know is that the HSRA will do some monitoring, security patrols and cleaning of public spaces. These things are not more expensive in areas with high property values, like Hermanus, compared to Onrus/Vermont and Kleinmond. To the contrary, I would expect that for similar services, Hermanus (with more expensive properties) would pay less per property that the other locations. What does Hermanus get for paying so much more than Onrus/ Vermont and Kleinmond? Do we get some sort of VIP service, or what? The answer is we do not know and the HSRA has not told us. The Onrus/Vermont business plan has more details than we got in Hermanus. The Hermanus SRA business plan was a draft and, despite strong objections, it was somehow processed and accepted by the municipality. André du Toit
Lending a helping hand C
ouncillors of the Overstrand Municipality and members of the community are working handin-hand to help the most vulnerable members of our society during the lockdown, including young children, the elderly, the sick, the homeless and disabled. While Cllr Christine May has provided shelter for over 40 homeless people in the Moffat Hall, Cllr Jean Orban is coordinating efforts with, amongst others, Deputy Mayor of the Overberg District Municipality, Archie Klaas, William Ntebe and Fikiswa Gxamesi of the RDP Centre in Zwelihle, and Louine le Roux-Boothway of the Overberg Wheelchair Association to feed the needy. A food bank has been set up at the Shofar Church Hermanus in collaboration with their disaster management arm, Relief.Life and the Red Cross, where donations are sanitised and packaged into weekly packs for four people, costing approximately R350 each. The food packs are collected and distributed by Overstrand Municipality’s Disaster Management office. In addition, countless local residents such as Natalie Munro, who started the Food4Love project, and local businesses such as Food Lover’s Market and York Cash & Carry are supporting these efforts in various ways, from financial
Deputy Mayor of the Overberg, Archie Klaas (right) picking up a donation of food from Woolworths Hermanus. contributions and the donation of food products, to cooking meals and assisting with deliveries. Everyone can make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable members of our communities during this challenging time by donating the following, much-needed items: 5kg maize meal, 2kg rice, 2kg samp, 2kg beans. Canned foods: tomato & onion mix (braai relish), baked beans, pilchards. Any other non-perishable food products are also welcome, as long as they are sealed in their original packaging. Toiletries: soap bars, toothpaste, toilet paper, female sanitary towels, baby nappies, hand wash/sanitiser. Household goods: heavy-duty black bags, anti-bacterial cleaning products and dishwashing liquid, washing powder (machine and hand-wash), household gloves. If anyone is able to supply homemade cloth masks (non-medical) that would also be hugely appreciated. Marked trolleys have been
installed at the entrance of the following shops: Pick n Pay (CBD), Checkers (CBD and Whale Coast Mall), Woolworths (CBD and Mall), Food Lover’s Market (Mall), OK Foods (Gateway), OK Mini Market (Onrus and Voëlklip). Donations of food products can also be dropped off at Shofar Church on weekdays between 10:00 and 12:00. You can simply drive by and leave the goods on the steps of the church, without any personal contact. For financial contributions, please make use of the following bank account set up by the Red Cross for Overstrand Disaster Management: Standard Bank, SA Red Cross Local Committee Hermanus, Acc no. 082261938, Branch code 050312. REF: DM Covid-19 To assist the RDP Centre in their efforts to deliver meals to the sick, the elderly, the disabled and the children in Hermanus Child Welfare’s safe houses, contact William Ntebe on 076 969 5839. For any further information, Cllr Jean Orban can be contacted on 072 955 2986 or via email on jeanorban84@ gmail.com. – Hedda Mittner
