Newsletter August 2009
Dear member
This must be the worst time of year. ….. A time when humans should join bears and hibernate - gusty August wind accompanied by the worst of Natal cold. A dousing of rain over the weekend brought the smell of earth and a promise of spring. My little dry sticks on the verges have sprouted. As they grow into mature indigenous trees you will notice an increase in birds to your area. The varieties planted were chosen for their food value to bird and animals - and to shade our hot streets in summer.
The laying of new water reticulation pipes along Nkwazi will be completed early in September. The area affected on the east verge runs from Fist House in Nkwazi drive to the junction of Nkwazi and Glen. Isolation valves, installed at intervals will facilitate repairs to affected sections of the line, without having to deprive all the village of water. Six new and four upgraded fire hydrants, will be installed at 120m intervals along our roads. The PRV chamber, which controls the pressure of water into your house, will be installed at the Junction. The 7 bar setting of the past was partly responsible for the numerous bursts to old pipes. This will be reduced to 4 bars. Before bpb contractor depart they will have tarred all ruts in roads, trenches will be closed and leveled and rubble removed. A pile of rubble in the soccer field is available free to those wanting fill.
Our old rusted post boxes and their leaking shelter has been replaced. New keys are available. To circumvent all residents having to drive to Stanger for the keys I offered to hold them for collection locally. Preshnee of MP Properties, to the left of the boxes, has your keys. Please sign for these and discard the old ones. My thanks to Margie Prain and Preshnee for effecting this task and to Nesta Cramer who sorted the jumble into meaningful batches for distribution. The Durban Post Master has advised us not to expect any mail this week - his staff are still on strike!
Recent labour unrest in our KDM also resulted in strikes and a disruption to normal services last week – this has left us with a backlog of garden refuse on our verges. Please be considerate when cutting putting out refuse on a Tuesday and Friday and bear in mind that the council will only remove two bags on each of these days. Should you have engaged a garden service to clear your garden, they are responsible for any additional loads.
In my enthusiasm to get our pavements walk-able, I had some interaction with the 15 staff supplied by Civils to remedy our ills in Zinkwazi over the next 3 months. After ten minutes attempting to demonstrate how to get sand from gutters moved to adjacent dongas on verges, I understood why so little is achieved by those gentle natured men in the KDM offices. I have a new understanding and sympathy of their difficult situation. While the National Taxpayer’s Union, of which we are members, reports collapsing services in other municipalities I feel ours is still functional! We have a willingness to co-operate from our KDM managers – their problem, and ultimately ours lies in the attitude of their labour. We remain committed to working with the KDM management to improve this situation.
I attach a newsletter from the National Taxpayer’s Union (of which we are all members) We support the cause of fellow Ratepayer’s Association’s who found it necessary to declare a dispute with their municipalities after protracted debate failed to remedy the state of their collapsed services. We hope however to avoid having to go this route by working closely with and demanding service delivery on a continuous basis from KDM Management.
Spring energy has motivated the municipality to plant up our dune at the beach car park. Masses of small chrysanthemoides and fygie have been popped into the geo-fabric pockets to hold the bank. A paved walk from Nkwazi drive right to the wooden access steps to the beach has been promised. Ideally we should have two concrete benches alongside the steps for exhausted folk to sit while they await their lift home. I would be delighted if someone would like to sponsor these – your donation would be acknowledged. Next is the upgrade of our beach toilets and the installation of a conservancy tank.
Speaking of donations I would like to thank Glen and Tracy Middleton – owners of the Zinkwazi Hardware for their donation of 500 bricks for the building of a septic tank for the new toilet at our new Hangar Nursery. We are in need of several items which you may have lying around in your store room. I have attached them as a ‘wish list’ Old or new will be gratefully accepted. Our sincere wish is that the Nursery will be enjoyed by residents, that it will be a place to share gardening knowledge and ideas. In time it will provide a variety of ground covers, shrubs and trees for our local gardens. Until then I can get for you what we do not stock.
News from Nigel Simmonds, Chairman of the Ski Boat club is that the interior of the club is being refurbished, Pat who left for the UK has been replaced at the bar by Jason Bailey. The club’s food license has been approved and they have additional outdoor cooking facilities. We look forward to being entertained at their deck at the sea. Nigel’s wife, Leizl of the Zinkwazi Café is beautifying the gardens at the Junction. A new extension of the Café in the form of a deck under the trees is a popular tea garden.
Linda Russell at Lagoon Lodge has once more come up with a novel idea for our fireside evenings in the Boma. Join us this Friday night 28th August, for a ‘spud special’ ….. baked potato with a variety of fillings for R25 and lots of good company.
In closing may I encourage you to support all local efforts to improve our community and village…..the various social evenings at budget cost to enable you to meet and interact with other residents, the Neighbourhood Watch to keep the ‘Bobby on the Beat’ for your safety, and ZBRRA, which fights hard (very hard !) to maintain an acceptable standard of service in our village, run the Conservancy and pays for the maintenance of the security fence around the village. If everyone supported by donated what they could what a good place it would be. George Bernard Shaw said……………‘I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can’.
Sincerely yours
Wendy
Fortnightly bulletin for rates and tax payers.
For summaries of all news, please go to the NTU/NBU website
www.ntu-sa.net Please pass this on to all interested and affected parties.
Number 21
August 24th 2009
News:
- The ratepayers of Graskop have created a neat paper trail to justify their withholding of rates. Anyone who would like to see how they have done it, can contact Tiny Jordaan at tv18@mweb.co.za
- Qualified valuer Norman Maurice has said that, as a legal means to determine rates, the current evaluations as conducted by the Durban-based firm Evaluations is invalid. This is a strong basis for declaring a dispute. Norman’s contact details are on the website.
- Louis Trichaardt has organized a trust account into which ratepayers are paying their rates. Contact details on the website.
- The rates in Beaufort West have gone up by 700-800% because of the new rating of farms. There is, however, a provision in law that the minister can put a cap on increases and Louis Reynolds wants to know if anyone can assist him how they go about approaching the minister for help on this subject. Contact him on 27824748550@vodamail.co.za
- According to law, appeal boards have to be set up to deal with rates increase objections. In KZN, there is no appeal board. Various reasons have been given for this, but the upshot is that people with incorrect valuations have no recourse. It is a sad reflection on local government that only half a law is being enforced without the municipality complying with the rest of the law. This is, of course, another justification for a dispute.
- The farmers of Douglas have set up a tax working group to deal with the impact on the new property rates on farmers. Contact Robert Beer on 83 629 9553.
- The ratepayers of Tweespruit were requested to attend a meeting with their mayor and council as a result of bad press with regard to the collapse of service. No-one from the council turned up, despite the ratepayers waiting for more than two hours. (Note that the meeting was at the council’s request!) If anyone has advice for Harry Lane with regard to what to do about this, contact him at 0824388949
- The ratepayers of Mpofana (Mooi River) conducted a protest march last week and handed over a memorandum, a copy of which is on the website under the town heading of Mooi River. It paints a rather depressing picture. There has been no word of any action from the government.
- According to newspaper reports, a number of municipal officials are facing charges of fraud, corruption and dereliction of duty. This is largely as a result of action by ratepayers, so this might be encouragement for all organizations to keep chipping away at corrupt and ineffective local governments.
- Please check the website under the Contact List and the specific town’s entry to make sure that your details are up to date and correct. You will see that there are codes for each town in the contact list to summarise your town’s problems and to help other people to liaise with you on similar issues, so it is important that this information is correct. Thank you.
CONSERVANCY NEEDS
bricks, blocks, cement, concrete stone
poles, timber screening, shadecloth,
green paint, marine grease
toilet, basin,
taps, in-line valves
50 & 20 mm pipes & fittings
tables, chairs, benches,
long electric extension cord
gas cooker, stove-top kettle, crockery, cutlery, large plastic basin, braai,
