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Author: Herman Pieters

13 December 2022 Media Release: Resource management, land restoration and legislation take centre stage in the Garden Route

Media Release: Resource management, land restoration and legislation take centre stage in the Garden Route

For Immediate Release
13 December 2022

“The Southern Cape and Garden Route is experiencing rapid development and has to make provision to accommodate a fast-growing population, and this more often than not generates friction and anxiety between authorities and landowners where legislation and capacity to e.g. process applications hampers development or where various sets of legislation are seemingly contradictory where for instance land rehabilitation and invasive alien plant eradication is of concern,” says Cobus Meiring of the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF).

“ GREF is hosting its annual key- stakeholder report-back event on 13 December in Wilderness, where regional conservation and environmental management entities and individuals will provide insight on matters pertaining to resource management and land restoration.”

“There is a continued need to understand the linkages between ensuring a high standard of living in the Southern Cape, new development, loss of biodiversity, destruction of wetlands and wildlands and unsustainable pressure on natural resources such as water, and the finding of solutions for environmental challenges are increasingly relevant.”

“In addition to the matters mentioned above, the Garden Route is already experiencing and recording evidence of rising sea levels and climate change, and these are all the more reasons for those who share a concern for the state of the environment to make their voices heard and intensify the environmental debate in order to ensure that sustainability and resilience of natural resources remain top of the regional agenda.”

The Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) is a public platform and think tank for all those in the Southern Cape involved in active and ongoing conservation and environmental management efforts. Those interested in the event can email Louise Mare louisamare@gmail.com.

Caption: The Garden Route is a place of natural scenic beauty, and every effort must be made to conserve its sensitive environment

ENDS

iStock.com/piyaset

09 December 2022 Media Release: The effects of drought growing and prolonged electricity disruptions are increasing

Media Release: The effects of drought growing and prolonged electricity disruptions are increasing

For immediate release
09 December 2022

Local municipalities throughout the Garden Route and the country at large, are experiencing difficulties because of the persistent load-shedding caused by ESKOM. This has a ripple effect on the supply of water, sanitation services and budgets of all municipalities. In light of this, the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) Council has given the GRDM administration the go-ahead to do everything in its power to avert any crisis that may happen as a result of the ongoing outages and drought. GRDM Disaster Management will coordinate the short- and long-term interventions required.

According to Ald. Memory Booysen, GRDM Executive Mayor: “The administration is investigating if declaring a local drought disaster is necessary, be it for one area, a few or the entire region”.

“We also need municipalities to state if they support the GRDM to become a water services authority or not because if we have their support we will stand a greater chance to become one and will be able to act more proactively to safeguard the region from water-related disasters.”

Over the past few months, the region grappled with below-normal rainfall patterns. Severe drought in particularly the Klein Karoo, vandalism and theft all over the region and other challenges have left many municipalities focusing a lot of time to do damage control.

Some of the public concerns raised are that water infrastructure is deteriorating; load-shedding causes frequent and continuous interruptions of water supply; repairs to leaks are not always done speedily; generators are not maintained; not all municipalities have water infrastructure maintenance plans in place for the foreseeable future.

The cost of generators and maintaining them remains a challenge. Not enough funding is speedily routed back from other spheres of Government to Local Government to roll out emergency interventions. It requires declaring a region as a disaster to be able to access large sums of funding. For instance, when purchasing a 100KVA generator to pump water from a borehole, a municipality would require more than R400 000 for the infrastructure, R40 000,00 for security per month per generator; more than R140 000 per month for diesel per generator; R10 000,00 for maintenance per month. This will then only serve one borehole.

The running costs per generator will, therefore, be R200 000,00 per month. This is on top of the estimated R400 000,00 to purchase one generator. Generators are also on backorder, meaning that the district will only be able to get generators in three (3) months.

See here: How load shedding is tearing through South Africa’s economy

ENDS

5 December 2022 Media Statement 4: Several beaches given the ‘green light’

Media Statement 4: Several beaches given the ‘green light’

For Immediate Release
5 December 2022

One week later and clean-up operations of beaches along the Garden Route will continue following the reports of stranded hydrocarbon, low-sulphur oil droplets. These droplets were found along the coastline of the Garden Route towards the end of November 2022.

According to Gerhard Otto, GRDM Manager: Disaster Management, several beaches are now classified as ‘green’, and priority is to finalise cleaning busier beaches, including Blue Flag ones, as the holiday season moves closer. “We are also meeting less frequently now as beaches return to normal. We will only meet at 14h00 on Thursday again.”

There have been no reports linking the oil spill to humans, birds, or marine life.

Members of the media and public can access the real-time colour-coded map of the region here to see the status of beaches: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/2dff978cb8e9493dadc58ccd2ab9163b/

The status of beaches is included below:

 

Next update: Another update will be issued tomorrow, 8 December 2022.

If any member of the public notices small black pellets on any beach along the Garden Route, please report it to the Emergency Call Centre, 044 805 5071.

The Garden Route District Municipality Multi-Agency Command Centre (MACC)  includes the following stakeholders:  Garden Route District Municipality, Bitou, Knysna, George, Mossel Bay and Hessequa Municipalities, Provincial Disaster Management Centre, South African Maritime Safety Authority, DFFE: Oceans-to-Coast, Transnet, CapeNature, PetroSA, South African National Parks (SANParks) and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB).

ENDS

2 December 2022 Media Statement 3: Beach monitoring and clean-up activities continue along the Garden Route coastline

Media Statement 3: Beach monitoring and clean-up activities continue along the Garden Route coastline

For Immediate Release
2 December 2022

Clean-up operations will continue over the weekend. Feedback received during a multi-agency response session this morning about the stranded hydrocarbon, low-sulphur oil droplets, indicates that we are nearing the end of the incident. Along the Garden Route beaches, the windy conditions and high-impact swells have yielded little to no new oil droplets.

According to Gerhard Otto, GRDM Manager: Disaster Management, it is important to note that there are manual and natural clean-ups of beaches. With this, it is meant that within three days, the droplets will no longer be visible to the naked eye, depending on their size.

There have been no reports of the spill affecting humans, birds, or marine life. According to Dr Nina Viljoen, Head of Environmental Management at GRDM, no estuaries along the Garden Route have been contaminated. Nevertheless, continuous assessments will be conducted over the weekend, responders will be on standby, and monitoring will take place for any further evidence of oil contamination. In the multi-agency response engagement, it was stressed that monitoring of birds would be extended if the response was scaled down since it is difficult to catch flying birds.

In collaboration with the municipality’s Geographic Information System Unit, GRDM Disaster Management developed an interactive map showing beach colour codes in real-time. This platform can be accessed here.

The current status of beaches is included below:

Next update: Another update will be issued tomorrow, 5 December 2022.

If any member of the public notices small black pellets on any beach along the Garden Route, please report it to the Emergency Call Centre, 044 805 5071.

The Garden Route District Municipality Multi-Agency Command Centre (MACC)  includes the following stakeholders:  Garden Route District Municipality, Bitou, Knysna, George, Mossel Bay and Hessequa Municipalities, Provincial Disaster Management Centre, South African Maritime Safety Authority, DFFE: Oceans-to-Coast, Transnet, CapeNature, PetroSA, South African National Parks (SANParks) and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB).

ENDS

2 December 2022 Media Release: Another clean audit for Garden Route DM – a promise kept!

Media Release: Another clean audit for Garden Route DM – a promise kept!

For Immediate Release
2 December 2022

As promised, the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) has maintained its clean audit outcome. The culture of good governance and accountability remains unmatched when comparing the GRDM to some of the 44 district municipalities in South Africa.

The fiscal discipline, rigid financial planning, and continuous oversight, combined with hundreds of internal controls added to the institution’s achievement. Clean audits and improvements by municipalities reflect the tone set by municipal managers and institutions.

Monde Stratu, GRDM Municipal Manager proudly boasted about the achievement. “We’ve consistently worked on instilling a culture of being accountable and improving controls to sustain the Clean Audit Outcome.”

“I am also very proud of everyone who worked in the background to help us achieve such a wonderful milestone, it was a team effort,” said Stratu.

The Executive Mayor of GRDM, Alderman Memory Booysen, expressed his gratitude to the entire municipality, in particular, the Municipal Manager and Financial Services Department. It is an honour for us to be part of the Western Cape, a province that sets the highest standard of financial management in South Africa.” According to the Auditor General’s report to Parliament on 23 November, the Western Cape continues to be the province with the highest number of clean audit outcomes.

When presenting the Audit Outcome to a Combined Municipal Public Accounts Committee and Audit Committee of GRDM, Ashiq Allie, the Manager AGSA for the GRDM audit, congratulated the institution for achieving a clean audit outcome for the financial year under review. The Final Audit Report was submitted to the Municipality on 30 November 2022. He also commented that he knows it takes a lot of work on the ground to maintain a clean audit and that it is a combination of hard work by management and taking the AG’s findings seriously over the years.

MPAC Chairperson Cllr Danie Acker expressed gratitude to employees and Council for their commitment to a clean audit report. He further elaborated on the fact that the audit outcome is proof that coalition governments can work because they keep things together. “I am extremely proud and honoured about this achievement.”

ENDS

Notes by the editor:

Municipal managers are responsible for preparing and fairly representing their institution’s financial statements in accordance with the Generally Recognised Accounting Practice (GRAP) and the requirements of the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003. The Auditor General conducts an audit in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs).

1 December 2022 Media Statement 2: Several beaches re-opened while some still being cleaned from stranded oil

Media Statement 2: Several beaches re-opened while some are still being cleaned from stranded oil

For Immediate Release
1 December 2022

More than 100 trained individuals are cleaning-up stranded hydrocarbon, low-sulphur fuel oil droplets at more than twenty (20) beaches along the Garden Route. Efforts have resulted in several beaches already moving to green status, which include all the Blue Flag Beaches of Mossel Bay. While assessments found that several others in George, Hessequa, Knysna and Bitou were also affected by the spill, clean-up teams have already responded promptly to remove droplets.

According to Gerhard Otto, GRDM Manager: Disaster Management: “Holiday-goers and residents can be assured that the region is ready for its upcoming holiday season”. “The multi-agency response team indicated that most beaches will be cleaned by the end of this weekend, dependent on the 3.5m swells expected tonight.”

According to Otto, the reconnaissance flight planned for yesterday could not take place due to foggy weather conditions, thus, being postponed to today. The plane is currently flying from Plettenberg Bay to Gouritz along the coastline and will paint a clear picture of any visible patches of oil along the coastline and possibly identify the cause of the spill.

There are cleaning stations at beaches, and areas that need to be cleaned are clearly marked. It has not been reported that human health has been affected. No sightings of sea birds or marine life have been reported either.

Beaches that received green status will be visited again after the predicted 3.5m swell and a north-north-west wind, to ensure that no new wash-up of droplets is prevalent.

An outline of the status of beaches along the Garden Route is listed below.

Footage: Video footage taken during a reconnaissance flight today did not find any large areas where oil spills are visible.

Next update: Another update will be issued tomorrow, 2 December 2022.

If any member of the public notices small black pellets on any beach along the Garden Route, please report it to the Emergency Call Centre, 044 805 5071.

The Garden Route District Municipality Multi-Agency Command Centre (MACC)  includes the following stakeholders:  Garden Route District Municipality, Bitou, Knysna, George, Mossel Bay and Hessequa Municipalities, Provincial Disaster Management Centre, South African Maritime Safety Authority, DFFE: Oceans-to-Coast, Transnet, CapeNature, PetroSA, South African National Parks (SANParks) and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB).

ENDS

30 November 2022 Media Statement 1: Clean-up of Garden Route beaches underway

Media Statement: Clean-up of Garden Route beaches underway

For Immediate Release
30 November 2022

The Garden Route District Municipality’s (GRDM) Joint Operations Centre (JOC) hosted a meeting today with a number of key stakeholders to discuss the current state of the small-scale oil/hydrocarbons spill that was detected on some of the Garden Route beaches in the last day or two. The key objective is to mitigate the effects of oil droplets on the environment and marine life, as well as to promptly clean the temporarily closed beaches and re-open them before the holiday season.

Cleaning teams on the ground in Mossel Bay use a water filtration system to float off droplets of oil from exposed areas of sand collected from the affected beaches. This will be duplicated elsewhere where beaches are temporarily affected by the contaminants. In addition to this, estuaries that are currently open i.e. Hartenbos, Kleinbrak, Knysna, as well as Keurbooms, are closely monitored for any droplets.

The droplets are notably higher in density during high tide and their size of them differs per area. The Hessequa local municipality indicated that the ones found at the Gouritz beach were only the size of the head of a match, Bitou Municipality found 5mm size ones and  Mossel Bay found larger ones.

The way forward is for GRDM to have specialists from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, as well as South African National Parks, do a reconnaissance flight later today or early tomorrow morning (dependent on the weather), to scan the coastline from Gouritz to Plettenberg Bay. This will assist them to determine the origin of the spill as well as monitoring if any others are still en route to any of the Garden Route beaches.

While the clean-up and isolation actions are underway, beaches will be classified according to specific colour codes: green, orange, and red. These indicate the readiness of beaches for the public to access them again. The following beaches in the Mossel Bay municipal area have already been classified.

 

The various colour codes used at the moment.

An idea of how the density of droplets on beaches is linked to the colour-codes.

 

CAUTION

Members of the public are urged to stay pro-active by not walking on beaches that are closed or swimming in red or orange-classified beach areas until further notice. For those who mistakenly access areas where beaches are closed and come into contact with the oily substance, foot-cleaning stations will be set up. There is already one at the Hartenbos Blue Flag beach.

Possible cleaning methods if you do come into contact with oil droplets:

Step 1: Combine a teaspoon of baking soda and a quarter of a cup of normal white vinegar in a mixing bowl.

Step 2: Scrub your hands with the baking soda and vinegar mixture.

Step 3: After rinsing your hands in water, wash them with regular soap and water.

Or use a normal grease-cutting hand cleaner.

TOURISM

It is not likely that the temporary closure of some beaches will have an impact on the holiday season ahead. Cleaning of beaches are underway, and several beaches are ready to be re-opened again.

Next update: Another update will be issued tomorrow, 1 December 2022.

If any member of the public notices small black pellets on any beach along the Garden Route, please report it to the Emergency Call Centre, 044 805 5071.

The Garden Route District Municipality Joint Operations Centre includes the following stakeholders:  Garden Route District Municipality, Bitou, Knysna, George, Mossel Bay and Hessequa Municipalities, Provincial Disaster Management Centre, South African Maritime Association, DFFE: Oceans to Coast, Transnet, CapeNature, PetroSA, South African National Parks (SANParks) and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB).

Impact Based Weather Warning – Yellow level 1: Damaging Winds on 23 November 2022

Impact-Based Weather Warning –  Damaging Winds

Please find included the Impact Based Warning for the Western Cape and Namaqua Region of Northern Cape.

Report any weather-related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at 044 805 5071.

ENDS

Legal notice:
“This warning from SA Weather Service must be communicated as received and may not be altered under any circumstance.
It must be forwarded or communicated in its entirety and no portion hereof may be replicated or copied and distributed.”

Impact Based Weather Warning – Veld Fire Conditions on 23 November 2022

Impact Based Weather Warning – Veld Fire Conditions

Please find included the Impact Based Warning for the Western Cape and Namaqua Region of Northern Cape.

Report any weather-related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at 044 805 5071.

ENDS

Legal notice:
“This warning from SA Weather Service must be communicated as received and may not be altered under any circumstance.
It must be forwarded or communicated in its entirety and no portion hereof may be replicated or copied and distributed.”