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22 June 2022 Media Release: Chairperson appointed to the GRDM APAC

Media Release: Chairperson appointed to the GRDM APAC

For Immediate Release
22 June 2022

Today, during an Ordinary Council meeting, the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) Council approved the proposed appointment of Alewijn Dippenaar as the new Chairperson of the Audit and Performance Audit Committee (APAC). The previous Chairperson, Dr Adele Potgieter’s role came to an end on 30 March 2022 after she formed part of APAC since 1 November 2012.

Dippenaar has a special interest in auditing, performance management, and relevant fields of legislation and training. He has in the past served as an APAC member for Swartland Municipality for 10 years, 6 years for Mossel Bay, George, Kannaland and for the GRDM years ago. He is also currently the Chairperson of Oudtshoorn and Prins Albert Municipalities’ APAC. These are only some of the leadership and other key roles he has fulfilled to date in the Local Government sphere.

Council also today resolved to appoint Christo Lamprecht as a member of APAC for a period of three years. Lamprecht is a registered Chartered Accountant (SA) and has vast experience in internal audit and accounting fields. He also served as APAC Member, APAC delegate to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) and Risk Management Committee (RMC) Chairperson at George Municipality for the period 2018 – 2021.

Council also requested the administration to re-advertise for a 5th member in the APAC to ensure there is a fair balance between race and gender on the Committee.

According to Pamela Lufele, GRDM Chief Audit Executive: “In accordance to Section 166 of the MFMA relating to the constitution of Audit Committees as well as the execution of their duties, it is integral that the Committee possess different skill sets in order to efficiently and effectively perform their function. I am proud to state that the formation of GRDM’s APAC has skills relating to Performance Management, Risk Management, IDP, Policy formulation, Finance, Internal Audit and Legal to name a few. This provides the end-user departments confidence that the oversight provided by the committee will be of value and enhance the processes of GRDM and bring the successes of the municipality to even greater heights.”

The full list of the four (4) current APAC members include the following:

Alewijn Dippenaar (Chairperson), Suren Maharaj (member), Lindiwe Mtunzi (member) and Christo Lamprecht (member).

Section 166(4)(a) of the Municipal Finance Management Act states: “An audit committee must consist of at least three persons with appropriate experience, of whom the majority may not be in the employ of the municipality or municipal entity”.

The GRDM APAC Charter requires its members to collectively possess the following skills and experience to efficiently fulfil their duties:

  • Private and public sector experience;
  • An understanding of service delivery priorities;
  • Good governance and/or financial management experience;
  • An understanding of the role of GRDM’s council and councillors;
  • Familiarity with risk management practices;
  • An understanding of internal controls;
  • An understanding of major accounting practices and frameworks (ISO 9001) and public sector reporting requirements;
  • Familiarity with legislation applicable to municipalities;
  • And understanding of the roles and responsibilities of internal and external auditors;
  • An understanding of the treatment of allegations and investigations;
  • An understanding of the performance management system; and
  • At least one member must have expertise in performance management.

Feature image: The GRDM Council approved two appointments today, that of the Chairperson and a new member to APAC.

ENDS

22 June 2022 Impact Based Weather Warning for Disruptive Rain: 23/06/2022 – 24/06/2022

The Cape Town Weather Office has issued an Impact Based Weather Warning for Disruptive Rain valid from Thursday, 23 June 2022 (6:00) to Friday, 24 June 2022 (00:00), as follows:

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.

22 June 2022 Media Release: Garden Route District sources smoke detectors for Qolweni and Bossiesgif

Media Release: Garden Route District sources smoke detectors for Qolweni and Bossiesgif

For Immediate Release
22 June 2022

Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM), in conjunction with Bitou Municipality, and Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) employees, installed 1 368 smoke detectors in Qolweni and Bossiesgif informal settlements in March 2022.  The intervention came after shack fires destroyed several informal structures and claimed the lives of three (3) Garden Routers in 2021. During incidents, 13 informal structures were destroyed, leaving 50 people homeless. Many residents are temporarily displaced during structural fires or do not have the means to rebuild their lives.

Lee-Ann Joubert (GRDM Disaster Management Officer), Bongani Kraya (EPWP) en Morné Zietsman (GRDM Disaster Management intern) all worked together to ensure the smoke detector installations happened according to plan.

Cllr Nompumelelo Ndayi, GRDM Portfolio Chairperson for Community Services, said: “I am grateful for the intervention that was initiated by the GRDM’s Disaster Management Centre and for the Western Cape Provincial Disaster Management Centre who donated the smoke detectors, as well as for Bitou Municipality’s assistance during the installation of the devices. I have already been informed of these early warning devices have saved several lives in Qolweni and Bossiesgif”.

The smoke detector installation project created temporary jobs for eight (8) EPWP individuals from Bitou who received comprehensive training on installing and testing the devices after concluding each task. The installation followed a phased approach to cover high-risk dwellings.

According to Lee-Ann Joubert, GRDM Disaster Management Officer: “Each installation had to be done according to a strict procedure, requiring the address, person’s name and surname and contact details to be provided. EPWP officials also recorded the ID numbers and contact details of those who stayed at dwellings without addresses.”

Community members were informed of the installations by means of loud hailing over weekends. Similar interventions will be rolled out to the rest of the region in all high-risk areas identified through a GRDM Disaster Risk Assessment. According to District’s risk assessment, Smutsville in Sedgefield, Kwanonqaba in Mossel Bay and Thembalethu in George, are in dire need of similar interventions. This will cost the GRDM Council R1 695 000 and include 4 500 smoke detection devices (including installation costs). The estimated cost per smoke detector is between R350 and R400 each and all installed devices in Qolweni and Bossiesgif were funded by the Western Cape Provincial Disaster Management Centre.

Through this risk reduction initiative, the most vulnerable communities are notified by a loud and timely alarm, allowing everyone to escape safely. During the installation, each household will continue to receive fire-wise education material too.

Feature image: EPWP workers who installed the smoke detector devices at dwellings in Bossiesgif and Qolweni.

ENDS

22 June 2022 Media release: Name and logo of Calitzdorp Spa changed to Calitzdorp Hot Springs

Media release: Name and logo of Calitzdorp Spa changed to Calitzdorp Hot Springs

For Immediate Release
22 June 2022

The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) Council has today decided to approve the renaming of the Calitzdorp Spa and to adjust its logo to Calitzdorp Hot Springs. The decision was made after several tour operators and guests expressed concerns about the hot springs that do not offer spa-related facilities. During the World Travel Market Africa, the District Municipality’s resorts and campsites were marketed and this is where similar questions arose about Calitzdorp Spa’s name. “Rename the accommodation facility to its unique selling point – hot springs,” is what tour operators said.

“The name Calitzdorp Spa is misleading in the sense that guests who have not yet visited the hot springs are of the opinion that it offers various spa-related facilities and services. It has been misleading, to say the least,” says Garden Route District Municipality’s Portfolio Chairperson for Properties and Asset Management, Cllr Jobieth Hoogbaard.

“Calitzdorp Hot Springs gives an accurate indication of what guests can expect,” says Hoogbaard.

The logo was adjusted by the communications department of GRDM and no additional costs were incurred by involving service providers during the process. The District will continue to manage the roll-out of the new identity cost-effectively.

Now that the new logo and name have been revealed with the GRDM council’s approval, an identity guideline will also be, which will include templates that can all be used for marketing purposes. To begin with, the new logo will be amended on the current social media and websites, which will be relatively inexpensive. All other Calitzdorp Hot Springs points of contact with the public will subsequently need to be updated or replaced in a phased approach.

Feature image: The old logo of Calitzdorp Spa (left) and the new logo of Calitzdorp Hot Springs (right).

ENDS

 

22 Junie 2022 Persvrystelling: Naam en kenteken van Calitzdorp Spa verander na Calitzdorp Warmbron

Media Vrystelling: Naam en kenteken van Calitzdorp Spa verander na Calitzdorp Warmwaterbron

Vir Onmiddelikke Vrystelling
22 Junie 2022

Die Tuinroete Distriksraad (Garden Route District Municipality Council) het vandag besluit om Calitzdorp Spa te hernoem en sy kenteken te verander na Calitzdorp Warmwaterbron wat in Engels bekend sal staan as Calitzdorp Hot Springs. Die besluit is geneem na verskeie reisagente en gaste hul kommer uitgespreek het oor die warmwaterbron wat nie spa-tipe fasiliteite bied nie, maar eerder by sy unieke verkoopspunt geïdentifiseer moet word. Tydens die World Travel Market Africa is die Distriksmunisipaliteit se oorde en kampeerterreine bemark en dis waar soorgelyke vrae opgeduik het oor Calitzdorp Spa se naam.

“Die naam Calitzdorp Spa is misleidend in die sin dat gaste wat nog nie die warmwaterbron besoek het nie van mening is dat hul verskeie geriewe en dienste verwag het – soos die ou naam wat “spa” insluit mens laat dink,” meen Tuinroete Distriksmunisipaliteit se Portefeulje Raadslid vir Eiendom en Batebestuur, Rdl. Jobieth Hoogbaard.

“Calitzdorp Warmwaterbron gee ‘n akkurate aanduiding van wat gaste kan verwag,” sê Hoogbaard.

Die kenteken is deur die kommunikasie-afdeling van die distriksmunisipaliteit aangepas en addisionele kostes is nie aangegaan om diensverskaffers te betrek tydens die proses nie. Die Distriksmunisipaliteit sal voortgaan om die uitrol van die nuwe identiteit kostedoeltreffend te bestuur.

Noudat die nuwe kenteken en naam onthul is deur die raad se goedkeuring, sal’n handleiding en -gereedskapstel saamgestel word, wat onder meer template sal bevat wat alle vir bemarkingsdoeleindes gebruik kan word. Om mee te begin, sal die nuwe kenteken op ons verskillende digitale platforms aangebring word, wat betreklik goedkoop sal wees. Namate die Warmwaterbron se ander kontakpunte met die publiek dan bygewerk of vervang moet word, sal ons die nuwe kenteken stelselmatig infaseer.

Foto van embleme: Ou embleem (Calitzdorp Spa, links) en nuwe embleem (Calitzdorp Hot Springs, regs).

 

EINDE

20 June 2022 Media Release: Environmental management and climate change under the spotlight at Garden Route Indaba

Media Release: Environmental Management and Climate change under the spotlight at Garden Route Indaba

For Immediate Release
20 June 2022

The Annual GREF/Garden Route Environmental Management and Climate Change Indaba will be hosted by the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) and the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) in Wilderness on 23 June 2022.

The theme for the event is:  “Preparing the environment for a changing climate.”  The Garden Route has been feeling the brunt of climatic changes during the past few years, manifesting in the form of unprecedented wildfire disasters and prolonged drought, in especially, the northern parts of the district as well as severe flooding in some coastal areas in November last year. In order for the GRDM to better prepare the region for what lies ahead in terms of climate change, stakeholders will gather to share experiences and ideas.

The Annual Garden Route Environmental Management and Climate Change Indaba in George is an institutional arrangement, and it continues to provide a strong and valuable platform for cooperation and communication between all entities on matters central to sustainable environmental management and climate change.

Environmental management under the spotlight following the Durban flooding disaster

“For years to come Durban and the surrounding countryside will suffer from, and personally experience the deadly and destructive impact of the 2022 floods. Government, as well as landowners and resident communities, will do well to learn and act from what happened, and that set of impacts also apply to the flood-prone Southern Cape and areas elsewhere along the coast and the interior of South Africa,” says Cobus Meiring, programme director for the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) event.

“Besides substantial and traumatic loss of life in Durban, the damage to the environment and hard infrastructure is significant and will require enormous amounts of money and human resources to recover and rebuild from scratch.”

“History proved many times over that KwaZulu-Natal is prone to flooding and should have been better prepared to deal with these events as and when they occur, but this time around, nobody could have foreseen the severity of the recent flooding.”

Says Meiring: “In hindsight, however, there were several actions and interventions that could have made a significant difference in nurturing and better managing the surrounding natural infrastructure (rivers, wetlands, catchments and feeder streams) in order to soften the blow to the city and environment. Many lives could have been saved and billions of rand damage to infrastructure and the significant knock-on effect to the already battered economy could have been prevented.”

“There are obvious and practical ways to better prepare any city for flooding and dramatically reduce the impact of severe flooding, such as ensuring that stormwater systems are permanently clean and free of obstructions. More often than not the dire state of many of our rivers, streams, catchments and wetlands detrimentally reduce their ability to deal with floods and the critical function they deliver.”

“Perhaps because of the costs associated with eradication and clearing, the destructive effect of invasive alien plants (IAPs) on natural infrastructure must be understood.”

“River systems clogged up by IAPs cannot fulfil their basic role which is to channel rushing waters and prevent damage to riverbeds and riverbanks. When invasive alien plants replace indigenous vegetation, rivers cannot keep soil structures intact and assist with recovery following floods. Vast amounts of invasive plant biomass washed away by flooding rivers in Durban accumulated en masse against infrastructure such as bridges, stormwater channels and culverts, and in the process caused their total destruction resulting in even more severe downstream devastation.”

According to Meiring, the function and ability of wetland systems to dramatically reduce the impact of flooding waters are still misunderstood. “Their unfortunate destruction over time – through channelling and draining the water they retain and release to make way for development and farming – and invasive alien plant encroachment worsened the Durban flooding exponentially.”

“Thousands of tons of litter and plastic washed down by flooding rivers are sure signs that rivers and catchments are used as dumping sites, and in the process lead to riverbank and hard infrastructure destruction. By reducing illegal dumping this effect can be reduced,” says Meiring.

“Illegally built structures along riverbanks, steep slopes prone to landslides and structures in low-lying areas prone to flooding will increasingly become a death trap as the likelihood of severe flooding increases with changes in rainfall patterns and as the impact, driven by climate change, take effect.”

“Lastly, in high-risk areas, local and regional authorities should invest in early warning systems and evacuation procedures. It is also critical to consider awareness creation and public consultation to ensure that community safety becomes a bigger priority,” adds Meiring.

Feature image: Biomass from uprooted invasive alien plants in rivers and catchments during floods has a devastating impact on infrastructure and the environment.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Cobus Meiring: Programme Director for the Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) Climate Change Indaba Event
Cell: 083 626 7619
Email: cobus@naturalbridge.co.za

 

17 Junie 2022 Media regstelling: Netwerk24 Artikel

Media regstelling: Netwerk24 Artikel

Vir Onmiddellike Vrystelling obo Netwerk24
17 Junie 2022

In die berig “Goeie oudits vir W-Kaapse munisipaliteite verwelkom” is verkeerdelik gemeld dat die Tuinroete-distriksmunisipaliteit die enigste distrik is wat nie ’n skoon oudit behou het nie. Dié munisipaliteit se ouditmening het egter van die vorige boekjaar af verbeter tot ‘n skoon ouditmening vir die boekjaar ter sprake (2020-’21). Die fout het ontstaan met verwysing na die ouditeur-generaal (OG) se algemene verslag.

Netwerk24 vra om verskoning vir die fout en dit is intussen in die berig reggestel.

Skakel: https://www.netwerk24.com/…/goeie-oudits-vir-w-kaapse…

17 June 2022 Media Release: World Day to combat desertification and drought: Blossom’s Emergency Pipeline Project

Media Release: World Day to combat desertification and drought: Blossom’s Emergency Pipeline Project

For Immediate Release
17 June 2022

The Greater Oudtshoorn region continues to be plagued by ongoing droughts, and alternatives have had to be found to ensure water security for the region. Since 2018, the water supply from the Raubenheimer dam was under severe pressure as the amount of water available from the dam, exceeded the amount that could be relied upon with a 98% degree of assurance. The future and ongoing supply of water in the Oudtshoorn area is severely constrained and drastic measures had to be planned to address the situation urgently.

Furthermore, the Vermaaks Rriver boreholes near Dysseldorp are used to maximum capacity and the Huis River, which supplies De Rust with water, is unreliable during the summer months, which holds negative implications for the Klein Karoo Rural Water Supply System (KKRWSS).

The Blossom’s Emergency Pipeline is a project that was started in 2001 to investigate and develop alternative and additional water supplies for the Oudtshoorn area. Nine deep, and three monitoring boreholes were drilled in the Blossom’s wellfield, which were monitored and tested for 13 years. The test was completed in 2014, and it was concluded that the boreholes yield enough groundwater to supplement the water supply from the Raubenheimer Dam. It was determined that 60l/s (5Ml/day) can be supplied from 5 existing boreholes within the C1 Blossoms wellfield. The test also found that the impact on the environment would be minimal.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) approved a license for the total yield of 8 million m3/a for the ultimate full development of the Blossoms wellfield and gave the nod for the construction to commence. Originally, the project was intended as a medium to long-term bulk water augmentation intervention but given the current water crisis in the Oudtshoorn area, it will be implemented soon.

Funding for the current phases of the project, which started in February 2022, comes from the Municipal Disaster Relief Grant, which allocated a total of R47 million. To date, more than R150 million was spent, which was co-funded by DWS and Oudtshoorn Local Municipality. The current phase of the project is expected to be completed by March 2023.

ends

 

16 June 2022 Today is Youth Day – Let’s all lead by example

Today is Youth Day – Let’s all lead by example
16 June 2022

16 June 1976 was a very dark day for South Africa as many students lost their lives during an uprising against the Apartheid Government who issued a directive that Afrikaans should become the medium of instruction in schools. Students marched peacefully to protest and demonstrate against the Government’s directive but were met with force by heavily armed police, causing the uprising that ended tragically.

Those who lost their lives that day did not do so in vain as they helped to expose the brutality of the Apartheid Government, which received more international revulsion afterward. There are many lessons that 16 June 1976 has taught us, one of which is to lead by example. In other words, show, don’t tell.

Many children and students have already lost hope because of the COVID pandemic, not returning to school, and falling victim to drugs and alcohol abuse. It is up to the entire country to assist Government, NGOs, and parents to turn issues around and break the vicious cycle of hopelessness.

Leading by example can be many things and encouragement is one of them.

Maybe you are someone who fell into the same trap and managed to get out of it. If so, why not share your experiences with someone you know are in need of your positive message? Explain to them the challenges you faced but that it was not impossible. Show them the positive results your actions yielded and if you can, commit yourself to walk a journey with them.

Even if you have not had the unfortunate experience of staying away from school, you can help through encouragement and being there for others.

Remember, this is not something you have to do on your own. Ask your parents, teachers, community and religious leaders for advice.

Follow the example of those who stood together on 16 June 1976 and help rebuild a legacy of a prosperous South Africa.