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.
Executive Mayor, Alderman Memory Booysen
Deputy Executive Mayor, Alderman Gert van Niekerk
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.
Municipal Manager, Monde Stratu.
Chief Financial Officer, Jan-Willem De Jager.
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.”
MPAC Chairperson, Danie Ackier (left), APAC Chairperson, Alewijn Dippenaar (right) and Cllr John-Patrick Buys (member of MPAC).
AGSA Manager for the GRDM Audit, Ashiq Allie.
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).
Mayor’s World Aids Day Message – Alderman Memory Booysen
01 December 2022
Globally, HIV and AIDS have been an epidemic for decades. My message today is to encourage our nation, especially our Garden Routers, to commit themselves, unite in the fight against HIV, show support for those living with HIV and remember those who have lost their lives to the disease.
As Garden Route District Municipality, we want to remind you that you can reduce the risk of getting HIV by:
Practising abstinence – while you are waiting for the “right’ partner or until you’re ready for a sexual relationship;
Use condoms;
Ensure that your partner who lives with HIV is taking his or her treatment;
Using PrEP, a medicine blocking HIV from infecting oneself;
Never sharing needles but rather using sterile needles and syringes for all injections, and lastly;
Regularly getting tested and treated for sexually transmitted infections.
In honour of World Aids Day, let’s not forget that HIV remains a reality and that we must continue to fight prejudice, stigma, and discrimination. It is important to change our attitude and understand that people living with HIV and taking ARVs, are suppressing the virus and preventing its spread.
So, I want to end by emphasizing that World AIDS Day remains as relevant today, as it has always been. HIV has not ‘died’ away. We must continue to create awareness about it, end stigma and discrimination, and do our part to improve the quality of life for people living with HIV.
Please find included the Impact Based Warning for the Western Cape and Namaqua Region of Northern Cape regarding Damaging Winds valid from 12:00 to 23:00 on 2 December 2022, as follows:
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.”
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).
Impact Based Weather Warning – Veldfire Conditions
Please find included the Impact Based Warning for the Western Cape and Namaqua Region of Northern Cape regarding Veldfire Conditions valid from 8:00 on 30 November to 18:00 on 1 December 2022, as follows:
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.”
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.
A close-up of a contaminant found on the beach.
Hartenbos Blue Flag beach has a public foot cleaning stations for accidental contamination in front of Elvisbrew. This will be duplicated in other parts of the region.
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).
Media Release: GRDM De Hoek Mountain Resort transitioning to a green accommodation facility
For Immediate Release 29 November 2022
As part of its strategic objectives, Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) is keeping to its promise of being a leading district in pursuing green energy. In 2017, GRDM installed a 150kwh solar system on its parking lot at its George head-office. Now the municipality has done it again at their resort situated 35 km outside Oudtshoorn, De Hoek Mountain Resort.
On 25 November 2022, the GRDM Executive Mayor, Alderman Memory Booysen, the GRDM Municipal Council and officials launched this initiative with stakeholders to celebrate this event.
Municipal Manager, Monde Stratu, during his address said that with the summits that GRDM hosted over the past few years, this event is a result of one of the summits, the Green Energy Summit. The Summit contributes to the municipality’s Growth and Development goals. Through these initiatives, Stratu said: “We look at what is it that we can do as an entity to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and to produce energy, so that we can reduce our municipal bills of our own properties and buildings”. Adding to these words, Stratu added: “we have to ensure that our facilities (resorts and buildings) are gradually taken off the grid of ESKOM, so that we can reach a point where we are independent and to sell back to ESKOM the electricity that we produce from our own sources”. Stratu also used the opportunity to extend words of appreciation to Passmore Dongi, Project Manager at GRDM and the Unit, for the efforts that they have put into this project.
GRDM Executive Mayor, Alderman Memory Booysen, during the keynote address.
Municipal Manager, Monde Stratu explained the purpose of the event and the background of the project.
Executive Manager for Planning & Economic Development, Lusanda Menze, directed the programme.
Passmore Dongi, Project Manager at GRDM, explained how the project unfolded.
Menno Sulsters, Director of SEM Solutions, explained how the small-scale embedded generation system operates
Cllr Jobieth Hoogbaard, Portfolio Chairperson for Properties, welcomed all present at the launch.
Deputy Executive Mayor, Ald. Gert van Niekerk, delivered the vote of thanks to all stakeholders involved.
Councillors, officials and stakeholders who attended the launch of the Solar System at De Hoek Mountain Resort.
During an emotional speech, Passmore Dongi, GRDM’s Project Manager responsible for renewable energy, praised the Municipal Manager and his management team, as well as the Executive Mayor, Ald. Memory Booysen and Council for their support with the implementation of the project. He also emphasised the importance of ideas and the potential they have to become reality. He noted: “You can only do something when you dream.” Therefore, “dream as many times as you can,” he said.
Dongi explained that De Hoek Mountain Resort’s current electricity bill amounts to R45 000,00 per month. However, in two years’ time, GRDM might only be spending R5 000,00 and the solar system would have already paid for itself. “What we ultimately want to see is a district that is energy-secure,” he said. Dongi added that most of these projects cannot be achieved by GRDM on its own. He thanked the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) for the funding made available for the Energy Master Plan that will direct the GRDM in going forward in terms of Green Energy projects. “The idea is to reduce energy consumption by 80 to 90% at the resort,” he explained.
Menno Sulsters, Director and Project Manager at SEM Solutions, said that it had been a long road, but a worthwhile journey. In technical terms, he explained how the small-scale embedded generation system operates. In conclusion he said: “During this summer period, the system will generate extra energy that will be sold back to the Oudtshoorn Municipality”.
Alderman Booysen during his keynote address, stated: “We are giving strategic leadership, often on behalf of other municipalities, and at other times for ourselves, so that GRDM continues to be unique”. In addition, Mayor Booysen noted that GRDM has made many promises since 2016, and has “given hope to the people of the Garden Route.” He also touched on the significance of district municipalities and referred to the ongoing debate over their existence. “Every time these debates come up,” he said: “I would say to my colleagues, ‘you may think what you want; while district municipalities still exist, we as GRDM are striving to be different’”.
In addition he said: “The people of the Garden Route need the GRDM and the GRDM has shown that it works for the people of the Garden Route. Adding to the words of Dongi, he said: “Even if we dream, we must wake up to implement the dream and this is exactly what the GRDM has proven all along”.
Before the ribbon-cutting ceremony, in his final remarks, Mayor Booysen encouraged all Councillors present with the following words: “This GRDM Council, your legacy must stand. We must reach a stage that no matter who comes next, they must not be able to dismantle what we have done. Whoever comes next must continue this journey and the GRDM must remain standing”.
Deputy Executive Mayor, Ald. Gert van Niekerk extended words of appreciation to all stakeholders, councillors and officials present to witness the launch of this ground-breaking project. In closing he said: “It was an honour and privilege to be part of this historic occasion”. He praised and congratulated the Municipal Manager and the GRDM team who had the vision to implement this project.
The ground-mounted, grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) system was installed, along with a grid-connected battery system, as a pilot installation that will demonstrate how a resort can save up to 90% on energy costs. A detailed study informed the decision, yielding that the optimum solar PV capacity is 45kWp together with a 160kWh/24kW battery system. With this system, the facility can be powered by solar energy while also charging the batteries, as it generates power during the day.
In the case of fully charged batteries, excess PV power is exported to Oudtshoorn Municipality’s grid, and De Hoek Mountain Resort is reimbursed. A grid-tied battery storage system will discharge and release energy into De Hoek’s electrical reticulation at night, ensuring that no electricity will be exported to maximize self-consumption during the day.
In total, three (3) tables of locally produced mounting structures were installed on concrete foundations, each holding 28, 28, and 26 PV modules respectively of 550Wp each. The Solar PV modules are also locally assembled, meeting the Department of Trade Industry and Competition’s local content requirements.
Now that De Hoek Mountain Resort is powered by renewable energy, it can boast of providing environmentally friendly holiday accommodation.
GRDM will continue to make all its buildings and properties eco-friendly.
Feature Image: Executive Mayor, Alderman Memory Booysen, in front of the Solar System structures at the De Hoek Mountain Resort.
Impact Based Weather Warning – Veldfire Conditions
Please find included the Impact Based Warning for the Western Cape and Namaqua Region of Northern Cape regarding Veldfire Conditions as follows:
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.”
Report any weather-related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at 044 805 5071.
The meeting will be live streamed on the municipality’s official Youtube channel: 
Report any weather-related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at 044 805 5071.
The various colour codes used at the moment.
Report any weather-related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at 044 805 5071.