MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Ward 3 January Report

By

www.MyPE.co.za: To see how hard working Ward Councillors go about their jobs, see Ward 3’s councillor, Andre Goosen’s report below.

SPORTS RECREATION ARTS & CULTURE

  1. A presentation was made by Magnetic Storm about the Splash Festival which will be held on the 22nd to the 25th of April 2011. There are 4 programmes in two different beach areas as well as utilizing the water for calypso cricket, beach volley ball, life saving, stand-up pending jet ski, NMB Bell buoy challenge including the SA masters 8 km swim and various community sports as well as various entertainers. This is the last year of the three year contract to Magnetic storm.
  2. The committee has accepted an increase in hire charges for all municipal facilities such as swimming pools, hall hire etc. of about 5 to 6% per annum.
  3. The committee has decided the support, the proposal to revive the St. Thomas Arts School in the Northern Areas. This Arts school will be run by a PhD Arts graduate (from the University of Stellenbosch) together with Mr Barry. They are planning to approach the Department of Education for the secondment of Arts teachers. They have also applied to the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund for support. They require about R100 000 per annum. The Standing Committee will be visiting this school to inspect the premises and assess the viability of the proposal.
  4. The committee was distressed to note that the previous supplier of the computer support in libraries did not have a maintenance agreement and thus the risk caused problems with the library computer systems.
  5. There was a detailed annual report on the Art Museum which may be read on the hard copy which is available at the ward 3 office. There were 10 exhibitions of works from the permanent collections, 2 visiting exhibitions and 1 temporary group exhibition. There were 12 tours walk about of the exhibition road show and 47 tours as well as 84 tour  / workshops which were conducted for school club groups. 59 Beaders from the 10 local beader groups took part in the Art Museums Sustainable Development and Economic upliftment of Bead work project 2010.
  6. NMBM had been awarded R23 million by the National Lottery Trust Development Fund for the development of Arts. It will be used for: Inner City Music Development & Film Festival, Township Arts Development, Bead work exhibitions and Inner City Music Festival
  7. The committee approved the hosting of an Arts Indaba together with the Sports Indaba to be held in February 2011 at the cost of  R190 000.
  8. The Bay Firm Festival was launched during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and led to the production of 20 films which consisted of 10 documentaries and 10 dramas. There were a total of 50 participants who were divided into 10 groups of 5 and the screening of the project will take place at the Arts Indaba in February 2011.
  9. The committee debated the problems at Bay World and noted that the acting Municipal Manager has signed an agreement which was sent to MEC for signature. The Inter Departmental Task Team noted that DEDEA have identified R1,9 million which will be available in January and March to update Bay World. The capital from Bay World is supplied by the NMBM and Province supplies the operational budget.
  10. The committee was perturbed to see that R2,5 million had been set aside for consultants to revise plans for the Mendi Multi-purpose Cultural Centre. The officials informed them that the cost of the consultants was R200 000 and that they will present the findings in January 2011. This project has been on the programme for about 10 years.
  11. The committee endorsed the budget for the Arts Museum which is as follows: Exhibitions – R121 450, Collection management – R88 000, Education – R28 150, Art Museum library – R31 458 and Advertising and Marketing R15 425.
  12. A flyer was presented to report on the loss of the Blue Flag status at Wells Estate and Humewood due to an unannounced inspection on Sunday the 9th January 2011. They found bottles, rubbish, smell of sewage, lack of maintenance, public swimming outside the flagged area etc. and this was due to lack of performance of the voluntary life guards and the security guards who left early. The officials will take measures to make sure that the blue flag status for both beaches will be retained again in June / July 2011.

HUMAN SETTLEMENT

  1. Erf 16079, 57 Heugh Road, Walmer, request for rezoning from residential 1 to Special Purposes (place of instruction & Business 3 Purposes) was     refused but Rezoning from Residential 1 to Business 3 Purposes was     approved with the series of provisions.
  2. Portion of Erf  8753, 17 Avenue, Walmer, will be purchased from the Algoa Bay Council for the Aged at R350 per m2 which is required for widening of 17th  Avenue.

SAFETY & SECURITY

  1. The Security Sub-Directorate presented a report for September, October & November 2010 which dealt with the following matters: Special / VIP functions performed by security, Intruder detection system activations, CCTV central control room incidents, Number of  escorts, By-law compliance, Contract security site status and irregularities and Completed and pending investigations
  2. They also reported on municipal public safety of South Africa conference as well as a conference dealing with the effective and legal use of CCTV. These can be read on the CD which is at the ward 3 office.
  3. Security Sub-Directorate has said that certain events have pointed out that there is a need for an Executive Protection Policy and operational strategy. They have recommended that the Executive Protection Policy be approved and that the ExecutiveProtection Unit be established within the Security Sub-Directorate under the command and control of the director security services. They also recommended that the office of the Executive Mayor & Deputy Mayor make budget provision of R3,5 million to cover overtime and charge-out for the protection office. These recommendations solicited debate at the meeting.
  4. The security officers worked very hard overtime to gather evidence over 3 months which led to arrest of 7 suspects (4 municipal employees and 3 private individuals) held for unconfirmed cost of diesel stolen which amounted to R280 000. All municipal employees have been suspended and internal disciplinary hearings were held in December 2010.
  5. The security division reported on the operational deployment of the law enforcement officers (ex community Anti-Crime volunteers) who were deployed in the following functional areas: CCTV Central control room, Supplementing security units and MBDA central mandate area
  6. As an example 53 Security officers were utilized in Brister House and Eric Tindale
  7. Disaster Management also presented their report for September to November which can be read in the CD at the ward 3 office. Disaster management did the schools awareness campaign and disaster awareness and education in libraries as well as awareness at shopping malls. Disaster Management officers have identified flood prone areas and have liaised with the community and other role players to draft community response plan for floods in those areas.
  8. There is also a report on the disaster relief provided for September &     November.
  9. Fire & Emergency Services presented a statistical report on the activities     for September, October & November 2010. In 2010 there were between 50 & 60 emergency calls from informal resident structures and between 20 & 30  at formal residential structures. The number of transport emergency varied from 8 to 18 and naturally vegetation fire had call outs of between 64 & 85.  In total there were about 200 call outs for each of the 3 months.
  10. In the report back on special operations during the 2010 / 2011 festive season it was reported that in December a total of 19168 prosecutions were instituted for speeding offences.
  11. The law enforcement officers are deployed to assist with point duty at the scholar patrol areas when schools open and closed.
  12. There was also a detailed report on the Mount-Unit which did: Visible policing, Crime Prevention and Municipal by-laws in various areas around the Metro.
  13. Our traffic officers also spend a lot of trying in educating the youth about traffic matters in the Metro.
  14. Out of a total of about 100 accidents which occur each month there are unfortunately 5 to 7 fatal accidents each month.
  15. I cannot report on the establishments of the municipal police as this matter was discussed confidentially
  16. In the report on the revenue collected by the  Traffic Department from July to September it was shown that most were significantly under budget and only Labat was way above. The budget for the period was R36705 and the income of R23714. This is of concern to Budget & Treasury.
  17. The same tendency was observed for all of the months leading up to November.

Professor André Goosen
(Ward 3 Councillor)

The following two tabs change content below.

Ward 3

Ward 3 Councillor Andre Goosen Ward 3 covers the following area: Walmer, Greenshields Park, Walmer Heights, Park Drive from Doncaster Rd 1st Cape Rd up to Mill Park (east side) College Drive (Grey School) N.E. Mill Rd up to Hampton Rd. Tel: 041 586 2453 Cell: 083 405 0320 E-Mail: ward3[at]mandelametro.gov.za

Latest posts by Ward 3 (see all)