A severe weather alerts issued by the Cape Town Weather Office today, 25 February 2020.
Hazard
Alert Level
Valid From (SAST)
Valid To (SAST)
Damaging Winds
Watch
27/02/20 00h00
29/02/20 00h00
1. Strong to gale force SE winds (55 to 65km/h) are expected between Cape Columbine and Cape Agulhas, as well as Cape Metropole Thursday (27/02/2020), spreading along the south coast to Mossel Bay on Friday (28/02/2020) until Saturday (29/02/2020).
2. Strong interior winds (55 to 65km/h) are expected over the Central Karoo (Western Cape) Thursday (27/02/2020) and Friday (28/02/2020).
Just under a month after its official opening which took place on 25 January 2020, Executive Mayor of Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM), Cllr Memory Booysen, faced his fear of heights (and hard adventures) by riding the world-renowned Mossel Bay Zipline. He was joined by supporters from Mossel Bay Municipality and onlookers from the town.
Executive Mayor of Garden Route District Municipality, Cllr Memory Booysen and his wife, Elethu Booysen geared-up before riding the Mossel Bay Zipline.
Before his Zipline-ride, Mayor Booysen said: “This is a big thing, not only for the Garden Route but also for the Western Cape and I truly believe this should be the attraction for South Africa.” He further added “I am going to tell my peers to also come and experience it”.
According to Mayor Booysen, his wife Elethu convinced him to do it. “He is scared of heights and especially hard adventures, but we do these activities as long as I do it with him. I also gave him the option to pull out if he feels too scared,” she said. This was his also the first time Mayor Booysen did a hard adventure activity, he has only done some soft adventure activities like “hiking at Robberg in Plettenberg Bay and Wilderness,” said Elethu. The next adventures she plans to convince him to do include bungee jumping at Storms River and whale watching in Plettenberg Bay.
After the ride, Mayor Booysen said: “This is the best adrenalin-shot you can ever have, anywhere in the world – this was fun!”
Mossel Bay Zipline
This one-of-a-kind activity happens over the ocean in Mossel Bay. It is the longest over- ocean zipline in the world at 1.1km. The Zipline construction was approved by Mossel Bay Municipality in 2017. It is 90m above sea level and those doing it can reach a speed of up to 90km/h. The cost for a ride is R450 per person. More information about this adventure activity is accessible here: https://mosselbayzipline.co.za/
Mayor Booysen coming down the 90m high Zipline in Mossel Bay, which offers views of the beautiful ocean.
Regional Tourism
The Garden Route and Klein Karoo Tourism is a central point for people visiting the region to find out what’s on offer in the region in terms of activities and experiences – visit www.visitgardenrouteandkleinkaroo.com to find out more and click on the “Explore” button to see what each town in the region offers.
Editor’s note:
Hard Adventure
Hard adventure refers to activities with high levels of risk, requiring intense commitment and advanced skills. Hard tourism includes the activities like climbing mountains/rock/ice, trekking, caving etc.
Hard adventure activities are highly risked in nature. Professional guide, advance level skills are required to perform these activities. Many tourists died during climbing mountains, caving every day. There is an interesting fact that is for K2, world 2nd highest mountain, for every two people who submit one dies.
Soft Adventure
Soft adventure refers to activities with a perceived risk but low levels of risk, requiring minimal commitment and beginning skills; most of these activities are led by experienced guides. Soft tourism includes the activities like backpacking, camping, hiking, kayaking etc.
Soft adventure activities are low risk in nature. These activities are led by professional guides. Soft adventure is a popular category in adventure tourism. On average, 25% trips taken from North America and Europe are soft adventure trips.
Veld Fire Conditions expected over the West Coast District interior (Western Cape) today and tomorrow (24-25/02/2020),including the Central and Little Karoo, as well as Cape Winelands tomorrow(25/02/2020).
Warning
24/02/20 08h00
25/02/20 18h00
Description: Dangerous veld/bush fire conditions
Whenever there are prolonged periods of little and no rain coupled with warm dry winds, veldt or bush fires can easily be sparked and will spread rapidly in strong winds.
Precautions: Dangerous veld/bush fire conditions
Don’t make fires in the open and/or leave fires unattended. Don’t throw cigarette butts out of cars or in the open veldt. Don’t throw bottles in the veldt as they can magnify the sun’s rays and start fires. Prepare and maintain fire breaks in controlled manner. In the case of a large fire report it immediately and move away from the area to let the professionals deal with it. Never throw water onto a fire started by an electrical fault or fires started by oil or paraffin lamps. In this case sand or a blanket should be used to smother the fire. Listen to the radio or TV for warnings and obey the instructions from disaster management officers.
Description: Extremely High Temperatures
When temperature and the humidity is high at the same time or when the temperature exceeds a certain threshold, human’s ability to cool their bodies through sweating is reduced. This can be a real threat that leads to hyperthermia.
Precautions: Extremely High Temperatures
Stay indoors in a cool room near a fan if possible. The old and infirm must take extra care to stay hydrated and cool. Avoid strenuous outdoor activity, playing excessive sport and hard labour. Dress in light weight clothes and drink plenty of liquids NOT alcohol. Listen to the radio or TV for warnings and obey the instructions from disaster management officers
From left to right, are: Mr Stratu (GRDM: Municipal Manager), Mr Lumka, Ms Naidoo (GRDM: HR Practitioner: Training), Cllr De Vries and Mr Loliwe (GRDM: Strategic Manager).
Discussions revolved around the upcoming Garden Route District Municipality Skills Summit which will take place in Knysna on 19 and 20 March 2020 and how the DHET and SETA can add to the success of the outcomes of the summit. Added to this, outcomes in terms of the implementation of learnerships, skills programmes and multiple access routes onto A21 Apprenticeships, were also discussed.
Garden Route District Municipality has been informed by various members of the public of a scam doing the rounds by a person requesting random community members to donate funds to an “Eden Municipality Sports Tour”.
As a result of this, a case has been opened by the South African Police Services and the matter is currently under investigation.
We urge the public to be vigilant about these type of fraudulent activities and to always contact organisations to confirm if such donation requests are, in fact, true. Please do report such scams to your nearest SAPS office.
The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM), in collaboration with the B-municipalities in the district and the Western Cape Provincial Government, will be hosting its annual District Skills Summit on 19 and 20 March 2020 in Knysna (as per the 2019 Summit Resolutions). The overarching objective of the summit is: “Bridging the skills gaps in order to position the district towards investment and economic development opportunities” with the following added – “while gearing all sectors to make the most of the fourth industrial revolution”. The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. Advances are merging the physical, digital and biological worlds in ways that create both huge promise and potential peril.
According to the Executive Mayor of GRDM, Cllr Memory Booysen, “Progress is only possible through collaboration across all stakeholders with the Business community leading, supported by all spheres of Government, Organised Labour, the Community sector as well as the LGSETA and other SETA’s and the National Skills Fund. International best practice shows where employers are willing leaders and other stakeholders willing partners, success is achieved in the overall planning and implementation phases of skills development projects. All these progressive ventures take place under the ‘umbrella’ of the Skills Mecca concept for the region.”
This year’s summit follows a resolution taken at the 2018 Garden Route District Skills Summit held on 01 February 2018 in George, during which it was resolved to take the concept of a Garden Route Skills Mecca forward and review progress on an annual basis. The idea of a Skills Mecca originates from the Garden Route Rebuild Initiative (GRRI), which followed the devastating fires that hit the district (Knysna/Plettenberg Bay) in June 2017. Since last year’s summit, municipalities in the district, in collaboration with various stakeholders, among others, the local Business Chambers and Provincial Government, progressively worked together in order to bring about and implement the Garden Route Skills Mecca concept.
The 2020 Skills Summit will focus mainly on the achievements of the previous year’s implementation of the summit resolutions. The “show and tell” (presentation/competition) will give municipalities an opportunity to showcase a project that was implemented within their respective municipal areas. The 2020 Skills Summit will also be focused on how to accelerate the district-wide Skills Mecca, and also to evaluate the resolutions determined in 2019 towards making the Garden Route a preferred pristine destination for learning in the country and continent.
Other role-players involved are:
Local Businesses
Garden Route Business Chambers
MECs
District Mayors
District Municipal Managers
Corporate Services Managers
LED Managers
Tourism Managers
Skills Development Facilitator
Youth Coordinators
Various government departments
Western Cape Government
Local NGOs
The following resolutions were taken during the 2019 Skills Summit:
Continue and accelerate collaboration and cooperation among all District skills development role players.
Ensure that the Skills Development leverages digital infrastructure as far as possible to ensure learning and processes methods are and remain cutting edge.
As far as possible link Skills Development to Investment and Economic Development opportunities to the advancement for all.
Ensure that all Skills Development processes in the Garden Route ALWAYS proactively considers renewable energy.
Engage with all willing partners, in particular the SETAs and the National Skills Fund, to explore the development and implementation of projects across the District.
Consider and leverage local skilled people, including retired people, within the District, to accelerate the growth of the Skills Mecca.
All public and / or private skills development projects and/or programmes in all municipalities are acknowledged, recorded on Skills Mecca on line solution and supported within resource limitations.
Progressively support the development of the new apprenticeship of 21st Century (A21) in the District
Budget, plan and implement an annual Skills Summit that is held in a different local municipality rotationally and alphabetically….2020 – Knysna – proposed on 5 March 2020.
Municipalities are expected to prepare and present a case study of an actual skills development project implemented within their municipality at this year’s Summit. A ten minute presentation will form part of a competition to determine the annual Garden Route Skills Mecca Champion for 2020. Presentations will be evaluated by the delegates on the day of the event through a simple ballot system. Each case study will be judged against three criteria:
Did the partnerships in the project add value? – Yes or No?
Did the project support transformation in a creative way? – Yes or No?
Did the project make learners more employable? – Yes or No?
The envisaged outcome of the Summit is to ‘’fine-tune” the resolutions from 2019 and develop ideas on how to accelerate implementation of the Skills Mecca in the Garden Route. The Skills Summit will be an annual event on a rotational basis; municipalities therefore also need to budget and plan towards this purpose. The 2019 Skills Summit attracted approximately 180 people in Stilbay, while arrangements are in place to accommodate 200 – 250 people this year.
For more information contact the GRDM’s Training and Development Section, Mr Reginald Salmons at 044 803 1363.
Public Private Partnership with Eden Waste Management Pty Ltd
The Garden Route District Municipality, through a public-private partnership (PPP) with Eden Waste Management Pty Ltd, on 11 February 2020, celebrated the launch and sod-turning of the region’s first Garden Route Regional Waste Management Facility. This is the very first PPP of its kind in South Africa and is a leading innovation in creating environmental and social benefits for communities.
Executive Mayor of Garden Route District Municipality, Cllr Memory Booysen, during his address, said: “I am as old politically as this initiative.” He highlighted: “Thank you to Bitou Municipality who was one of the first municipalities to budget for this initiative, with Knysna who followed. Mayor Booysen also extended a word of gratitude to Mossel Bay Municipality by saying: “Whenever we submit plans, Mossel Bay does not sit on decisions – thank you Mossel Bay Municipality. He continued: “To our predecessors, you continued to support this initiative – thank you for not giving up on this project – if you can’t think it or dream it, you can’t do it”.
Executive Mayor of Garden Route District Municipality, Cllr Memory Booysen, during his address made it clear that when Council works together, communities will thrive.
This facility will provide a regional waste management service to accommodate approximately 8 500 tons of domestic waste generated per month in the municipal areas of Bitou, Knysna, George and Mossel Bay. However, it is also designed to accommodate domestic waste from Hessequa and Oudtshoorn Municipalities in the future, as Hessequa Municipality has already indicated their interest to dispose of domestic waste from the towns of Gouritsmond and Albertinia, once site becomes operational.
The Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Minister Anton Bredell, at the event, commended the District Municipal team for their hard work and commitment to get this project off the ground. “This is the first in South Africa and serves as key project for other municipalities too.”
To the Mayors and Municipal Managers in the Garden Route, MEC Bredell said: “You need to work hand-in-hand to make this a flagship in the Western Cape, but also in South-Africa. He congratulated the Bitou, Knysna, George and Mossel Bay municipalities for their vision in supporting this initiative.
MEC Anton Bredell urged all municipalities to work hand-in-hand with one another to uphold the reputation of the Garden Route and this flagship PPP.
Mr Jason McNeil, Chief Executive Officer of Eden Waste Management, who forms part of the public-private partnership, presented how the operations of the Regional Waste Management Facility will work and said: “This project will develop infrastructure and create jobs in the region”.
“I am excited to be part of the 1st project of its kind and look forward to its implementation that will create a safe haven for waste management in the Garden Route district”. He concluded: “The facility will set a tone of how waste management must be done,” said McNeil.
The facility will have a lifespan of approximately thirty (30) years. The site will include a domestic waste cell (Class B landfill) and a separate hazardous waste cell (Class A), that will accommodate hazardous waste with low and medium hazard ratings. The services of a roaming chipper and crusher will also be made available to Mossel Bay, George and Knysna municipalities on a rotational basis in order to manage their green waste, construction and demolition waste, respectively.
Further to this, bulk waste transport services will be available to George Municipality to transport domestic waste from Uniondale and George Waste Transfer Stations to the regional facility. Other infrastructure includes roads, stormwater pipelines, a leachate storage dam, a contaminated stormwater dam, offices, a laboratory, a weighbridge, fencing and security infrastructure. The footprint of the waste management site will cover an approximate area of 115 hectares and the landfill waste cells itself will reach a maximum height of twelve (12) metres. Three individual domestic waste cells, and one hazardous waste cell, will be excavated to six (6) meters below ground level and filled sequentially.
“In 2007, we decided to commission our own waste management facility – having made use of the Petro SA landfill to accommodate our waste, due to lack of airspace in Mossel Bay, Knysna, George and Bitou municipalities. And so, today, we celebrate this incredible milestone – a facility that is aligned to long term environmental sustainability goals and the latest in landfill legislation,” Mayor Booysen continues. “However, given the need to meet changing legislative requirements in landfill design and compliance, the cost of municipal waste collection has been increased. We trust however, that our residents will understand the importance of a quality landfill site in managing the environmental impact of waste and that the long-term goals of sustainability and job creation are as close to their hearts as ours.”
Mr Morton Hubbe, Manager: Waste Management, was thanked by Mayor Booysen, MEC Bredell and other stakeholders for his persistence and his role in making the regional landfill facility a reality.
All relevant feasibility studies have been concluded and approved in order to ensure compliance with South African Waste Legislation. To this end, the following has been undertaken:
2008: An Environmental Impact Assessment started and was finalised in February;
2013: the municipality has been issued an Environmental Authorisation from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning;
July 2014: A Section 78 investigation, in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, No. 32 of 2000, was done, where it was finalised that an external mechanism or the use of an external service provider would be a more affordable option for the district municipality;
2014: The Public Private Partnership process started;
A Section 120, Municipal Finance Management Act, No. 56 of 2003, process was followed, and the project was registered with the Department of National Treasury as a PPP. The PPP process included several prescribed reporting and commenting stages with National and Provincial Treasury who were part of the process throughout;
GRDM received all four views and recommendation reports from both National and Provincial Treasury (TVR I, TVR II A, TVR II B and TVR III);
November 2015: Our Waste Management Licence was issued by the Department of Environmental Affairs (now the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries); and
13 December 2019: Council approved the appointment of the Private Partner and also approved the proposed PPP Agreement where Eden Waste Management (RF) Pty Ltd was approved as the Private Partner to build and operate the regional waste management facility over a period of 10 years from start of operation of the facility.
In addition to all legal requirements, GRDM also conducted an organic waste characterisation study in the district in order to determine the quantities and types of organic waste generated, to identify and determine the feasibility of possible alternative technologies. Through a district’s pilot waste minimisation project, it was found that households were very good at composting. Approximately 30% of our waste going to landfills consists of organic waste and can potentially be diverted by means of composting. As a result, GRDM is currently in the process of implementing alternative technology at their facility to accommodate certain organic waste streams.
In conclusion, GRDM Executive Mayor said: “A compliant facility that offers a safe, ethical and environmentally sustainable solution to the region – utilising the latest design and technology – is what we are aiming towards and we believe that, through our PPP, we are in a great position to meet this goal as well as ensuring that we are creating jobs. Through this development, we aim to drive forth a new era that will environmentally and socially benefit our communities of the Garden Route district”.
View the full gallery of images here: https://www.gardenroute.gov.za/galleries/sod-turning-and-launch-of-garden-route-regional-landfill-facility/
