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

Ward 9 News for January and February 2012

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To see how hard working Ward Councillors go about their jobs, see Ward 9 councillor, Heinrich Muller’s newsletter below. Scroll down to see the contact Details for Ward 9.

Please take note that the Metro’s e-mail system was offilne for approximately 3 weeks. If you have sent e-mails to me or your Ward Councillor and have not received any feedback please resend your mail.

I hope you all had a wonderful, rested holiday. My wish for you is a prosperous 2012. I would once again appreciate your inputs with respect to matters matters in the ward.

CONGRATULATIONS TO MATRICS 2011

Congratulations to all our matrics of 2011 who have passed their matric exams.

GABION STABILIZATION OF BAAKENS COLLECTOR SEWER

For your information – we have received the following notification from Mr Leon Singleton (041 373-6552), consulting engineer responsible for the works.

“Be advised that gabion stabilization of approximately 100m of the bank of the Baakens River, just upstream of the Kragga Kamma/Circular drive intersection, will commence shortly. The contractor, Omega Civils (Pty) Ltd, have established on site and will commence with excavations on Monday 27 February 2012. It is estimated that work will be completed by the end of May 2012.

The employer is the NMBM, represented by Mr Adams (041 5061659)”

I have also had a request from Ashley (cell: 079 529 8375) from the contractor, Omega Civils, for ‘unskilled labourers’ to help with the above work. Should you know of anybody or be interested, please do not hesitate to contact him directly on the cell number provided.

NEWS FROM THE METRO

NMB Libraries

Nelson Mandela Bay libraries will receive R18.1 million from province for the three financial years from 2011/12 to 2013/14 for the payment of staff, running of literacy projects and maintenance projects, according to figures published in the Provincial Gazette.

Municipalities are required to sign an agreement with the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture and submit quarterly reports.

The aim is to allow libraries to offer ‘an improved service’ by recruiting more staff and conducting maintenance.

Tragic loss of councilors in road accident

It is with deep sadness and great shock that the Council and officials of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality learnt of the tragic loss of three NMB Councillors in a road accident yesterday. The deceased Councillors, who all three represented the ANC in Council, are Cllrs Mxolisi Gumenge (Ward 26); Phumeza Lose (Ward 55); and Noncedo Ngqondi (Ward 15).

These were young, vibrant and hard-working Councillors, who had a bright future ahead of them and were fully dedicated to their task of transforming Nelson Mandela Bay, and specifically their wards, into a better place for residents. We take comfort from the fact that, despite the fact that their lives were prematurely ended, they had the opportunity to make a difference and eagerly grasped this opportunity and saw real change in their communities.

Our deepest condolences go to their families, friends and constituencies. The Councillors were on their way back from the first contact session this year as part of their studies at the Nelson Mandela Law School at the Fort Hare University’s East London campus. They were studying towards certificates in Local Government Law and Public Administration.

The deceased were in a Quantum bus, together with other NMB Councillors, when the vehicle overturned on the stretch of road between Alexandria and Nanaga. Unfortunately, 11 Councillors were also injured in the accident, some seriously. Our thoughts go to the Councillors who were injured in the accident and our fervent prayer is that they will recover fully to rejoin us in Council.

Eskom

Below please find IMPORTANT news article, where power utility, Eskom, has warned that if we don’t reduce our consumption (demand) by at least 10%, we will definitely face load-shedding.

“State-owned power utility Eskom has reiterated its call for South Africans to urgently reduce electricity demand by 10%, or some 3 000 MW, adding that it is continuing to pursue plans to ensure that the energy conservation scheme (ECS) be made mandatory so as to improve savings certainty and enable it to ramp up planned maintenance.

Providing a power system update in Johannesburg on Monday, CEO Brian Dames said the system would remain constrained for the coming five years, while the maintenance backlog had become unsustainable. Savings were, therefore, needed to create “space” for the utility to implement its proactive maintenance schedule across all of its 58 units.

Eskom was still forecasting a 9 TWh shortfall for 2012, equivalent to the operation of a 1 000 MW power station.
Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba encouraged corporate South Africa, as well as private citizens, to take voluntarily steps to reduce their demand to ensure system stability and to create room for continued economic growth.”

Please do your bit to save power and energy.

CLEANING: BAAKENS VALLEY

On behalf of all the residents in Fernglen and Sunridge Park I would like to thank especially Gwynneth & Dolph Marmeschke and the rest of the team for the part they played in the cleaning of the Baakens Valley. It is much appreciated by all. The project started on 1 December 2011 and was completed on 15 December 2011.

LITTER PICKERS

After numerous complaints to the Metro, litter was picked up in the area surrounding the refuse site on 13 January and again on 17 January 2012. Thanks to all the litter pickers involved.

WARNING FROM SAPS:

I have received information from SAPS that over the past couple of days, they have had numerous reports of theft out of motor vehicles in the Westering area. Please be extra careful and please DO report all cases to SAPS.

To re-iterate my plea in last month’s newsletter:

SAPS are very concerned about the theft of motor vehicles and I want to emphasize their requests that residents adhere to the following:

  • Be vigilant when parking your vehicle at home, workplace or at shopping malls.
  • Ensure that your alarm of your vehicle is activated at all times.
  • If no alarm is installed, invest in a gear lock or steering wheel lock.

When parking and locking your vehicle:

  • Always use your remote and double check if the vehicle is indeed locked.
  • Criminals may use a remote to ‘jam’ the signal.

When staying in a flat or town house complex:

  • Ensure that the electric gates close fully behind you.
  • Check behind you before driving off to prevent unwanted persons entering.

To safeguard your vehicle, always park in a garage and/or behind locked gates!

DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE’S 10-POINT PLAN

Our DA caucus leader, Leon de Villiers, has presented the following 10-point plan to restore stability to the metro saying that with the ANC’s “slender majority” now reduced, the opposition parties “have an even greater responsibility to ensure service delivery is restored”. The DA’S ten point plan includes the following:

  1. That a multi-party committee be established to oversee the appointments of the new Municipal Manger and Executive Directors.
  2. That a new organogram be adopted by council before 29 February 2012, so that critical vacancies can be filled and unskilled officials can be replaced.
  3. That council be given a Kabuso progress report within 7 days.
  4. That the R2,4 m that the ruling party is using for it’s own use in the Chief Whip’s office be stopped with immediate effect and that Constituency Allowances for all political parties be implemented before 10 February 2012.
  5. That all councillors be provided with the basic resources required to perform their functions, with immediate effect. This must include offices, furniture, equipment, stationery and assistants, etc.
  6. That the Municipal Public Accounts Committee be chaired by an experienced councilor from one of the opposition parties.
  7. That ward committee elections be held before 30 April 2012.
  8. That the current operating budget be revised to address the lack of service delivery in areas such as grass cutting, roads and stormwater maintenance, housing delivery, by-law implementation, traffic services, refuse transfer station operations, illegal dumping, control of stray animals, etc.
  9. That the ward councillor’s discretionary budget is immediately made available to all wards to utilize.
  10. That all the unauthorized political appointees be removed from the municipal payroll with immediate effect.

The DA is prepared and ready to bring good clean government, service delivery and infrastructure that work to all the people of Nelson Mandela Bay.

TRAFFIC

We received the following feedback from the Traffic Department re speed law enforcement done in Tulip Street, Sunridge Park and Van Wyk Street, Westering:

Video Law Enforcement was conducted at Tulip Street, Sunridge Park:

  • On 27 September 2011 between 13:30 and 14:30, nine (9) motorists were prosecuted for disregarding the stop sign and three (3) for disregarding the no stopping
  • On 28 September 2011 between 13:00 and 14:20, twenty six (26) motorists were prosecuted for disregarding the stop sign and two (2) for disregarding the no stopping
  • On 21 February 2012 we went again to conduct video Law Enforcement but could NOT attend due to the sign that is obscured by the tree branches and the faded road markings of which has been reported to our Radio Control Center and forwarded to the relevant Directorates for speedy attention

A total of thirty five (35) motorists were prosecuted for disregarding the stop sign five (5) for disregarding the no stopping sign at Tulip Street.

Speed Law Enforcement was conducted along Van Wyk Street, Westering:

  • On 06 December 2011 between 06:36 and 08:25, a total of sixty two (62) vehicles were measured.
  • The highest speed recorded was 74 km/h and five (5) motorists were prosecuted for exceeding the speed limit in a 60 km/h zone.
  • On 30 January 2012 between 06:30 and 08:45, a total of thirty (30) vehicles were measured.
  • The highest speed recorded was73 km/h and one (1) motorist was prosecuted for exceeding the speed limit in a 60 km/h zone.
  • On 31 January 2012 between 16:00 and 18:36, a total of one hundred and ten (110) vehicles were measured.

The highest speed recorded was73 km/h and one (1) motorist was prosecuted for exceeding the speed limit in a 60 km/h zone

We measured the speed of two hundred and two (202) vehicles. The highest speed recorded was 74 km/h and the offence rate was 3.5%

SOCIAL GRANTS INFORMATION:

I am receiving daily queries re the re-registration for Social grants as per the article in The Herald of 15 February 2012 which states that:

“…more than 15 million social grant recipients will have to register for their benefits on the new fingerprint system as part of measures to eliminate fraud and corruption in the system and to ensure that government was paying social grants to the “correct recipients”.

There are 15.3 million people on government’s R100-billion social grants system, which includes 10.3 million children who receive support. “We want to ensure that we pay the correct recipients and that is why we are going to register everyone, even children and older persons – we are going to visit them at their homes” was the announcement made by Minister Bathabile Dlamini at parliament on the 14 February 2012.

Everyone that is registered on their database will be notified by post of the process. While the re-registration process was intended to weed out fraudulent beneficiaries, it would also help bring more beneficiaries into the system as there were about two million who were not accessing benefits for a variety of reasons. The re-registration process is to start in April 2012″

I have been informed by SASSA that all Social grant recipients required to re-register, will be informed in writing by them.

IMPORTANT TELEPHONE NUMBERS:

  • Municipal Account Queries: 041 506-5555
  • Electricity Emergency: 041 374-4434
  • Traffic (all hours): 041 585-1555
  • Water Emergency: 080 020 5050
  • Tree Maintenance: 041 506-5411/12
  • Police: 10111
  • Ambulance: 10177
  • Fire & Emergency Services: 041 585-1555
  • Disaster Management: 041 501-7900
  • NMBM Security Services: 041 508-5548/5576
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Ward 9

Councillor Heinrich Muller (Democratic Alliance) Ward 9: Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality 78 Kragga Kamma Road, Sunridge Park, 6045 Phone: 041 3600447 / 083 648 1916 Fax: 086 504 6380 E-Mail: ward9[at]mandelametro.gov.za "Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand." (Chinese proverb)