Arrangements are going well for the 2015 Dias Festival in Mossel Bay from 29 January 2015 to 1 February 2015, and,  as in 2013, the Eqstra Flying Lions aerobatics team in the Harvards will again be something to look out for.

With its theme of “Where Cultures Meet,”  entry to the festival, which is co-ordinated by the Municipality to market Mossel Bay as well as to stimulate the local economy, will again be free. 

Some of the country’s best-known artists such as  Emo Adams and his Take Note band and Idols finalists Lloyd Cele, Karin Kortje and Jody Williams will all be in action on the sound stage at the festival arena in the Santos caravan park. Other popular artists who will perform at the festival are Loyiso Bala, Armand Hofmeyr, Pieter Mohr, Freddie Nest, Gerrie Pretorius, David Fourie, Willem Botha, Ampie du Preez, Monique, Nadine, Michael Lindt and Snotkop.

There will be another motor sport gymkhana and folk dancers from several countries will also participate in the festival. There will also be a street parade. The programme will include a fun walk for dogs, while an air show as well as aerobatics championships  will also form part of the festival.

The festival will, as is customary, kick off on the Thursday night with a special cultural programme in the Bartolomeu Dias Museum. The festival will be opened officially by Dr Ivan Meyer, the Western Cape Minister of Finance.

Unlike the previous years, Bartolomeu Dias will this year arrive by tram at die festival arena. There will however be flag jumps with the flags of participating countries. At least three Consul Generals have already confirmed their participation in this year’s festival.

The Eden Disaster Management Centre has issued a warning to the effect that the Eden District, which includes Mossel Bay, is busy entering another drought period of an estimated 18 months.  This follows on the debilitating drought of just over two years from  November 2008 to October 2010 when Mossel Bay, together with other districts, was declared a disaster area.

At that stage the level of the town’s main source of water, the Wolwedans Dam, with a capacity of 24,7 million cubic metres, decreased to less than 13%. However, thanks to forward planning, Mossel Bay is now prepared much better to cope with such a drought as several emergency water projects were put in place with financial contributions from the State and other parties. This increased Mossel Bay’s water security substantially.

The projects include:

• A seawater desalination plant with a production capacity of 15 million litres of water a day.
•  A wastewater reclamation plant with a capacity of 5 million litres a day.
• Boreholes with an average yield of 1,4 million litres a day.

With the assistance of water restrictions, Mossel Bay’s total daily municipal water consumption was reduced to just under 14 million litres a day during the abovementioned drought.

At the time of going to press with this newsletter the levels of the four reservoirs from which Mossel Bay gets its water were as follows:

•  Wolwedans Dam: 92,6 per cent.
•  Klipheuwel Dam: 101,05 per cent.
•  Ernst Robertson Dam: 101,23 per cent.
•  Hartebeeskuil Dam: 62,41 per cent.

The joint capacity of the latter three dams is approximately a third of that of the Wolwedans Dam.

Mossel Bay won the annual Greenest Local Municipality competition in the Western Cape for the second consecutive year. This was announced at a function in Stellenbosch on 3 November 2014.

Mossel Bay snatched the first prize of R130 000 for 2014 away from sixteen participating local municipalities out of 24 local municipalities in the Western Cape.  Mossel Bay will now also represent the Western Cape in the national competition for greenest municipalities.

Apart from being the overall winner, Mossel Bay also won the categories for Air Quality Management and  Leadership, Compliance, Institutional Arrangements and Public Participation.

The Hessequa Municipality was the first runner up while Knysna came third in the category for local municipalities. The Eden District Municipality won the category for district municipalities out of four participating district municipalities. 

“We are of course very proud of this latest achievement of the Municipality as the competition is getting tougher by the day. To have been the winner twice and runner up once in the four years that the competition has been held, is proof of the Municipality’s commitment to the environmentally friendly management of our beautiful town.

“The competition is judged according to strict criteria which cover waste management, energy efficiency and conservation, biodiversity management, coastal management and beautification, water management and conservation, air quality management and  leadership, compliance, institutional arrangements and public participation.

“This could only have been achieved through an excellent team effort involving everybody, from the Municipal Manager, Dr Michele Gratz and the management team of the Municipality through to the most junior person at the Municipality. They must all receive the credit for this achievement,” said the Executive Mayor, Alderlady Marie Ferreira in her comment on this success of the Municipality.

The competition is arranged by the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. It was previously known as the Cleanest Town competition. It aims to promote improved service delivery that restores community pride and commitment in caring for the living environment. It also focuses on improved integrated sustainable development strategies in municipalities.

The arrangements for the Yak-52 and Intermediate Class World Aerobatics which will be held in Mossel Bay from 26 November 2014 to 3 December 2014 took another step forward with the signing last Friday of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Municipality, the Mossel Bay Aero Club and the Sports Aerobatic Club of South Africa.

The Memorandum spells out the responsibilities of the three parties. While the responsibilities of the two Clubs relate mainly to the competition itself, sponsorships and marketing, the Municipality will be hosting the official opening on 26 November 2014 and provide marketing support as well.

The Municipality will also cover the costs of the fire and rescue services for the duration of the event but not for the practice sessions prior to the event.

It will be the first time that the event will be held outside Europe and a total of sixty pilots from sixteen countries have already been confirmed as participants in the two events. Countries that have confirmed that they will be sending teams are Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Luxemburg, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Russia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.

The pilots will all fly South African-owned aeroplanes.

The contest director will be John Gaillard, who is also the vice-president of the International Aerobatics Commission (CIVA), and the vice-president for the Africa region of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. 

The event co-ordinator is John Boucher, secretary of the Mossel Bay Aero Club.

Photo: Copyright: Willie Bodenstein.

The Mossel Bay Municipality received sharp criticism since the outbreak of riots in the town on Sunday, 10 August 2014, supposedly because of service delivery issues. Many allegations have been made in the media, and incorrect information was published frequently in the mainstream media as well as in social media.

The Mossel Bay Advertiser in particular thought it good to publish an editorial (How can we afford it?) which is clearly biased, bordering onto the sanctimonious and displaying gross ignorance of the dynamics involving the uncontrollable in-migration of people and the Constitutionally-based roles of the different spheres of government in terms of the provision of housing as well as basic services.

Instead, and without having established the facts first, the newspaper suggests that “authoritarian systems,” the absence of “open platforms,” a “lack of negotiation and participation” and the lack of an “approachable attitude towards community concerns” were at the heart of the recent tragic events.

The following is therefore brought to the attention of readers:

1. The Municipality reiterates its stance that the riots were politically motivated to coincide with a municipal by-election in Mossel Bay during the week. Although political flags were present, the issue of illegal electrical connections was stated as the cause of the riots. Criminal elements were involved and incidents of xenophobia as well as looting on a large scale occurred. A school, a police station a Thusong multi-purpose centre, housing inter alia a new state-of-the art community library, and even streets were also targeted and damaged. An ABET centre in the municipal building in KwaNonqaba was destroyed as well.

2. The incident which allegedly caused the riots was a notice issued to approximately 300 illegal consumers of electricity to stop illegal connections, or face prosecution. The notice was issued in response to inter alia a petition by legally connected and paying residents in the area who are concerned about the very real safety risks posed by the illegal connections, especially for children, as well as in terms of the Municipality’s responsibility to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

No illegal connections were disconnected from the time that the notice was issued, and it is a blatant untruth that the Mayor had said that the power would be connected again. She merely undertook that the Municipality would not proceed with the aforementioned steps until such time as discussions had been held with the leaders of the rioters.

Discussions were in the meantime held under difficult circumstances. During discussions that took place under police protection on Thursday, 14 August 2014 a threat was received that the building would be burnt down with the Mayoral delegation inside. The Municipality would like to point out that discussions were complicated by the fact that new alleged leaders were pushed to the fore every time. They also refused to work through their democratically elected Ward Councillors and Ward Committee members.

Further discussions were held on Friday, 15 August 2014 and the delegates were informed as follows:

(a) that the Municipality already appointed a contractor for the electrification of 350 informal dwellings before the riots started and that the contractor will start within two weeks.

(b) that the Municipality applied in March 2014 to the Department of Energy for funding in the amount of R10 million for the electrification of formal houses as well as informal settlements. They were informed that the Municipality is dependent on the Department of Energy for the funding of the electrification of informal settlements and that the electrification has to comply with the Department’s policy requirements. The Municipality has also started with the expansion of its electricity bulk supply infrastructure to enable it to cope with the influx of people to Mossel Bay.

(c) that the Municipality will replace legal power boxes which may have been removed, provided that proof of this is submitted.

(d) that the Municipality will continue to remove illegal electricity connections, some of which have been laid over public roads, in the interest of public safety, especially those of children, and to comply with relevant legislation.

3. The Municipality can prove that it has replied to every petition received over the past five years within two weeks, but in most cases within a week. In the course of last week the Mayor, aided by Councillors and senior officials, addressed or met with the representatives of the protestors on Monday, 11 August 2014, Wednesday, 13 August 2014, Thursday, 14 August 2014 and again on Friday, 15 August 2014.

This refutes the suggestion in the abovementioned editorial that the Municipality “had refused to negotiate or even talk with the protestors,” or, as has also been alleged several times, that the Municipality had failed to give feedback to the community in the past.

It should be noted that the Municipality cannot negotiate any arrangement that is in contravention of an Act of Parliament or falls within the mandate of another sphere of Government.

The Municipality regularly communicates with residents on service delivery issues through platforms created for this purpose, such as its Integrated Development Planning and budgeting processes as well as through democratically elected Ward Councillors and the Ward Committee System as required in terms of the Municipal Systems Act. The Municipality’s community participation processes and structures have received recognition as “best practice” and it has been invited several times to do presentations on its practices to other municipalities at forums such as the SA Local Government Association (SALGA). The protestors indicated that they are not prepared to discuss any matters with their Ward councillors or Ward Committees.

It also interacts with the communities through several specialist forums which have been established and are administered by the Municipality to ensure that they remain functional.

4. Apart from the fact that the Municipality is one of the top performing municipalities in South Africa in terms of the delivery of basic services, namely electricity, water, sanitation and refuse removal, the Municipality provided the following services in the KwaNonqaba area in recent times:

- Potable water by way of pillar taps every 200 metres. This meets the standard set by the National Government.

- Completed 440 new houses in the 2013/2014 financial year, while another 220 are due for completion in March 2015.

- Serviced another 400 sites in 2013/2014 financial year, with another 250 due to be completed in March 2015.

- Built 441 Access to Basic Services units with flush toilets, basins and taps (one unit for every five households) for people who do not have a house or serviced site. Most of these structures have been vandalised in the meantime. Vandalism and theft continue to be a major problem

- Spent R10 million on roads and stormwater systems in 2012/2014. R6 million has been budgeted for this purpose in the current financial year.

- Weekly refuse removal services under difficult circumstances in all informal settlements.

The above facts are in stark contrast to the editorial which asks whether the privileged would accept no access to basic services. All informal settlements in Mossel Bay have access to basic services which comply with and in some instances are better than the standards as set by National Government.

5. There is a large uncontrolled influx of people to informal settlements in Mossel Bay. Informal settlements are mostly unplanned and often illegal. They tend to be located in inaccessible areas or too far away from existing infrastructure such as electricity, sanitation and water networks to be integrated without major and costly upgrading for the account of the town’s ratepayers. The Municipality is dependent on National departments to assist with funding

6. Human Settlement is a mandate of the National Government, which is responsible for the financing of top structures. The Municipality has a housing waiting list of 14 000 families, who must enjoy preference over the constant stream of new arrivals at informal settlements.

The Municipality would like to thank the law enforcement, traffic services and emergency services who kept the citizens of Mossel Bay safe.

MOSSEL BAY MUNICIPALITY

RIOTS STATUS REPORT: 08:00 – 14 AUGUSTUS 2014

The situation was again tense early this morning with some stone throwing having occurred at the N2/Dana Bay intersection. The situation is, however, under control and all roads were open. The public is nevertheless requested to exercise caution as the situation remains fluid.

Referring to some media reports that the Municipality agreed to reconnect illegal connections, the Municipality wants to state it categorically that it has not disconnected any of the illegal connections although a notice was issued to certain residents that it planned to take steps against those who persisted with this illegal and highly dangerous practice.

The Mayor addressed the rioters for a second time yesterday and informed them that the Municipality will not act against the illegal connections pending the outcome of discussions with community leaders today.

MOSSELBAAI MUNISIPALITEIT

OPROERSTATUSVERSLAG: 16:30 - 14 AUGUSTUS 2014

Die situasie was weer gespanne vroeg vanoggend en klipgooiery het by die N2/Danabaai-aansluiting voorgekom. Die situasie is egter onder beheer, en alle paaie is oop. Die publiek word nietemin gemaan om versigtigheid aan die dag te lê aangesien die situasie vloeibaar is.

Met verwysing na sommige mediaberigte dat die Munisipaliteit ingestem het om onwettige elektriese aansluitings te herkonnekteer, wil die Munisipaliteit dit kategories stel dat dit geen onwettige konneksies ontkoppel het nie. ‘n Kennisgewing is wel aan sekere inwoners uitgereik dat die Munisipaliteit van voornemens is om stappe te neem teen diegene wat voortgaan met hierdie onwettige en hoogs gevaarlike praktyk.

Die Burgemeester het die betogers vir ‘n tweede keer gister toegespreek, en hulle meegedeel dat die Munisipaliteit optrede sal terughou in die lig van samesprekings wat vandag gevoer sal word.

The Mayor is deeply concerned about the events in Mossel Bay over the past few days and also the safety of the town’s residents.

It is understand that the main source of conflict is a notice which was issued regarding illegal electrical connections, mainly in Thembalihle, Mfuleni and Sijaji Streets in KwaNonqaba.  The Municipality is very worried about the safety hazards posed by these connections, particularly for children where these connections are laid over public roads.

However, for humanitarian reasons the Mayor has undertaken to postpone any disconnections until talks have been held with the leaders of the affected communities.

The Mayor reiterates her commitment which she made on Monday, 11 August, to the protestors to meet with their leaders regarding their issues.  The Mayor is prepared to commence with these talks as soon as possible, preferably within the next two days.

An appeal is made to the protestors to end their actions so that service delivery can return to normal. 

People who have built or started building on their properties without approved building plans can be liable for paying four times the normal tariff  for building plans, with a minimum of  R5 700.

The Municipality’s tariff list for 2014/2015, which became effective on 1 July 2014, makes provision for this for the first time.

If a property is purchased on which illegal building had taken place, the new owner will be exempted from the penalty if he or she can provide documentary evidence, including a sworn statement, that he or she was not responsible for building the illegal structures on the property.

People who want to establish new businesses in the old Mossel Bay Central Business District can apply for certain concessions with effect from 1 July 2014. Concessions also apply to Mossdustria and N2 Industria as well as  to certain desired businesses across the whole municipal area.

The incentives apply to new businesses only and not, for example, businesses that want to relocate from within the municipal area to the CBD. Types of new businesses that will qualify for discounts on inter alia building plans and capital contributions and concessions on electricity and refuse removal services include medical, accounting, law and architectural practices as well as coffee shops and restaurants, fresh produce markets, bookstores, tra-vel agencies, deli’s, pet shops, banks, florists, art galleries, pharmacies, photography shops and IT businesses. The CBD has been identified as an area for incentivising because of its importance to tourism. It includes the  area bordered by the sea, the Point and Montagu and Wassung Streets. Desired businesses to which a series of incentives will also apply are call centres, conference facilities, film studios, educational and skills centres and  scientific research centres and laboratories.

Applications can be addressed to the Municipal Manager, PO Box 25, Mossel Bay 6500. Enquiries can be addressed to Messrs Dries Cilliers ((044) 606-5071 or dcilliers@mosselbay.gov.za) or  Eddie Krüger ((044) 606-5070) or ekruger@mosselbay.gov.za.

The Mossel Bay Municipality has received high praise on Tuesday, 17 June 2014, in Parliament when it was one of eleven out of South Africa’s 278 municipalities to be singled out by President Jacob Zuma in his annual State of the Nation address for consistent good performance.

President Zuma said the Government has evaluated all municipalities in South Africa. The financial management, how they work within legislative processes as well as their ability to roll out projects and to address capacity constraints were inspected. Government also looked at how the municipalities respond to service delivery protests.

He said Mossel Bay and ten other municipalities stood out for consistent good performance in audits, expenditure on municipal infrastructure grants and service delivery.

The other municipalities are Nkangala, Cacadu, Zululand, Umzinyathi, Ilembe and West Coast, which are all District Municipalities, and Matzikama (Vredendal), Breede Valley (Worcester), Knysna and Steve Tshwete (Middleburg, Mpumalanga), which are local municipalities like Mossel Bay.

“It is a huge compliment for us and of course recognition for the hard work that the Mossel Bay Municipality puts in to make Mossel Bay a better place for all its residents. I have said before that the Mossel Bay Municipality has excellent personnel who take pride in their work, and this shows in the results that are achieved and the accolades that regularly come the way of the Municipality.

“The quality and maintenance of Mossel Bay’s infrastructure as well as service delivery levels are examples of what can be achieved with hard work, diligence and good planning. The praise which has now been received, is well deserved,” said the Executive Mayor, Alderlady Marie Ferreira.

The South African Institute of Race Relations, in its 80/20 Local Government report released in May 2014, placed Mossel Bay in the top ten best performing municipalities in South Africa. It also won the Centres of Excellence in Gender Mainstreaming award in Local Government at the 2013 SADC Protocol@Work Summit held in Johannesburg in May 2014.

The Municipality is a finalist in the national Greenest Municipality competition, having won the Western Cape Greenest Municipality competition in 2013.

It received clean audits in 2011/2012 and again in 2012/2013.  According to the National Treasury’s report issued in December 2013 on the state of local government finances and financial management as at 30 June 2013, Mossel Bay shared the honour of being the financially healthiest municipality out of the 278 municipalities in the country with Swartland (Malmesbury) and the KwaDukuza municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.