| newsletter_29_march_2021.pdf |
NEWSLETTER 29 March 2021
Dear Members of Civics,
I hope you are all well and keeping safe during a time that will most certainly go down in the history books.
2020 was a curve ball for many and it seems to be a year that just keeps on giving with a possible third
wave looming now in 2021! We can only hope that it will not be the same as this time last year…
A recent post by one of our community members pointed out something that pinched my nerve a little,
the civics have been a bit quiet and seemingly gone to sleep in our little village. I will be first to agree that
we have been quiet and my apologies for this, however I can assure you that we have not gone to sleep
and have been active in the background.
With the year that we’ve had, we the committee, decided that having the AGM as a crowd would probably
not be the wisest thing to do and therefore are sending out this “newsletter” as a filler with the intention
of having an AGM once it is more safe to do so, it’s a long one so please make yourself comfortable. Our
lines of communication remain open and should anyone wish to get in touch to discuss any of the topics
below then please feel free to do so. We are happy to post the concerns or comments on our social media
pages and website and invite others to comment should it be required. The previous minutes and
chairman’s report is available to read on the website which you can find at Previous Newsletters - Cape St
Francis Civic & Ratepayers Association - Kaap St Francis Gemeenskaps-en Belastingbetalersvereniging
So what has happened in Cape St Francis over the last year?
Roads
Civics continued with their efforts to keep the R330 road verge clean and tidy and would like to thank the
Myles Family and Stepping Stones in their roles in doing so. The Myles Family will be busy throughout the
year to keep the R330 litter free from the Mostertshoek turn off all the way into town and have agreed to
do a drive through town to check for street litter while here. Stepping Stones garden services have been
contracted to cut and spray along the road to keep the bushes at bay and ensure that the verge stays wide
and safe enough for our many sports enthusiasts.
With regards to roads, the municipality is still in its war efforts against potholes and has just recently
contracted Scribante to resurface Da Gama Road. I am sure most of you will agree that the portion already
completed is a massive improvement. Civics will continue in its fight to get the municipality to deliver on
their promise of fixing roads and you can help us by posting pictures and locations of potholes on the
municipal link app. There is a link on our website that you can use to download the app. This is also handy
to report any other municipal related queries. One day we may be able to enjoy smooth roads throughout
Cape St Francis.
Staying on the subject of roads and road safety. We would like to plead with you to please stick to the
speed limits of the village! There are many young children riding their bikes or walking to the shops along with runners, walkers and cyclists and it would be a tragedy if any of them were hit by a speeding car.
Civics has requested more signage in this regard and will hopefully have it up soon.
Last year we mentioned that the ward committee fund would be used to make new street names for the
village. This is still in the process and should be implemented in the next few months. The Municipality has
informed me that the original idea of replacing all road names with curb stone names has hit a speedbump
in that they cannot find a municipal registered supplier for the curb stones and will therefore replace really
bad street names with a concrete pole with street name and the curb stone ones that are still in good
condition will get their name plates replaced. This is at least a step in the right direction.
Cell Phone Towers
During last year MTN or the installers of MTN towers put in an application to install a cellular mast at the
Cape St Francis Resort site. This was met with many emotions, some for and some against with the
outcome now being processed in the municipality. At the same time a forum has been established to
monitor the installation of any cell phone towers or masts in the St Francis area that allows for better
public participation. More information on this to follow.
Beaches
Many of you would have seen the coverage of the dune encroachment at main beach in the media. This
has led to the municipality submitting an urgent application for a coastal management plan in order to
save our beaches from encroaching dune systems due to human intervention. This is still an ongoing battle
at this stage and we are hoping to see a positive outcome. We are aware that a few members have taken
the fight head on and at their own expense and for the sake of our beach and dune system we hope that
the government department responsible will jump into action. If you would like to get involved with
supporting this cause then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Throughout the years Civics has employed Beauty to tidy and clean at the main beach ablutions and along
the promenade. She has done so and continues to do so now and we are grateful for her efforts. Civics will
employ a second person to help Beauty during the busy seasons, mainly to assist with the control and
cleaning up after dogs whose owners don’t bother to. There is always something to be done and their
efforts should not go unnoticed.
The dog poop bags that were placed at main beach, main beach ablutions and Shearwater drive ablutions
seem to have made a small dent in the amount of dog poop on the beaches so we thank you for using
them. Please refer to our website with regards to areas that dogs must be on a leash and no dog zones
during season. There are clear municipal by-laws that regulate animals in public places and we urge you to
familiarize yourself with these. Thank you to the members that reached out who would like to assist with
the replenishing of the bags and with your help in keeping our public areas free of dog litter…
Security
We have had a good run of no incidents for a while but unfortunately this is changing with a spate of
recent house break-ins. Many have questioned the role of the cameras in town and rightly so. I must
remind you that the cameras and security of the village was always planned to be a phased project, phase
1 to 3 was the installation of the cameras at the entrance to town, at Osprey and Da Gama and at the end
of Shearwater. It was made clear that these are a deterrent as well as a review system as we did not have
the funds to have 24hour monitoring yet. Phase 4 and 5 was the fence at the airpark and Mosterts turn off
along with a camera pole. These phases were made possible by the generous donations from our members
and we are grateful for your support. A further phase was put together by members through fund raising
to purchase a drone with spotlight and infrared capabilities. They did this on their own accord and have
further bolstered our security efforts. We can all agree that through the many WhatsApp groups that our
community is aware and ready to assist whenever an incident is reported and we must thank the local
security companies for the role they play too.
This brings me to the next phase of securing Cape St Francis. We have been in discussions with members to form a separate security portfolio that will drive the initiative of upgrading our current system, installing new cameras at weak spots and having the cameras monitored through a control center. This next phase is vital in making Cape St Francis one of the safest towns in our country and will require the buy in from the whole community and not just a few of the civics members. The security portfolio will be seeking donations in order to buy the equipment, further to this, 24hr monitoring of the cameras comes at a cost and we will be seeking a monthly contribution from those whom are willing to contribute to cover these costs. The more monthly contributors we have, the less each of us have to pay so if we could get an early show of hands we can determine an estimate on your monthly contribution. We hope to have the figure around your average monthly cost of having an alarm system in your home and this is certainly achievable.
We already have a draft quote for the equipment and are looking at more options, however if you would
like to donate towards the next phase of cameras we have the security account with Albert Saunders
Attorneys that you can pay into, the details are:
STANDARD BANK,
Albert Saunders Attorneys Trust Fund,
Account no: 281 401 551,
Branch Code: 050015 (Humansdorp),
Use Reference: Your name/C123 (NB!!! Very important to have these details for allocation purposes)
Any and all donations are most welcome and much appreciated. To give you an idea of our goals, the
camera system upgrades and additions amount to roughly R 450 000.00 and monthly monitoring of this
system amounts to R 25 000.00. It may seem like a mountain but from what we have managed to achieve
in the past I believe we can and will achieve this goal. As mentioned though we are looking at further
options so our mountain may look more like Kilimanjaro rather than Everest in the end but now is a good
time to get the ball rolling…
Committee
It is with a very sad heart that I inform you that two of our committee members will be stepping down.
Jal, our treasurer and someone that everyone is familiar with, is stepping down. We can only thank him for
all that he has done, going beyond his role and often being the go to person in our village. Thank you for
your ongoing support and we wish you all the best with your future endeavours.
So too is Hayden, our secretary, stepping down. Hayden has been the brain child of many of our completed
and ongoing projects and we thank you for the time you have given to civics and wish you all the best too.
Both members have committed to assist on an ad hoc basis until we can fill their positions so we would like
to welcome anyone that is keen to get more involved to please send us a mail so we can get you
nominated onto the committee.
Our current standing committee is:
Mr Dane Shaw – Chairman
Mrs Antoinette Grundling – Vice chair and memberships
Mr Warren Knezovich – Committee member
Dr Jen Minnaar – Committee member
Ongoing Civics Commitments
Below is a brief summary of our ongoing commitments:
Beach and Ablutions – Beauty and assistant when necessary – keeping the promenade and ablutions neat
and tidy.
Roads and Verges – Miles Family and Stepping Stones – keeping the R330 litter free and cutting back the
bushes and grass to keep the fence and road verges neat and tidy.
Costs of the above: R 63 000.00 per annum.
Our current membership base and donations are enough to cover these costs along with a few other fees
(we will send out the AFS for 2020 in due course) and we remain a project driven committee that welcome
any ideas that will improve our village. We would like to appeal to all members to try and get our
membership numbers up so that our fees can be put to further good use in maintaining and upgrading our
facilities. Details on how to join can be found on the Civics website.
One of the next projects we will be looking at is the upgrade of the parking and showers at the main beach
parking on Seal Point Blvd. We have funds available for this project and are in discussions with contractors
to do the job and look forward to the improvements this project will offer.
I must thank all our members for all the support and positive feedback we have received, it is sometimes
difficult juggling your full time employment and the duties expected from you as a civics committee
member and I would like to thank our committee for the time they put in to this. We will continue to do
our best in keeping it green, keeping it green and keeping it small.
With kind regards
Dane Shaw
Civics Chairman
https://www.capestfranciscivicassociation.org.za
Dear Members of Civics,
I hope you are all well and keeping safe during a time that will most certainly go down in the history books.
2020 was a curve ball for many and it seems to be a year that just keeps on giving with a possible third
wave looming now in 2021! We can only hope that it will not be the same as this time last year…
A recent post by one of our community members pointed out something that pinched my nerve a little,
the civics have been a bit quiet and seemingly gone to sleep in our little village. I will be first to agree that
we have been quiet and my apologies for this, however I can assure you that we have not gone to sleep
and have been active in the background.
With the year that we’ve had, we the committee, decided that having the AGM as a crowd would probably
not be the wisest thing to do and therefore are sending out this “newsletter” as a filler with the intention
of having an AGM once it is more safe to do so, it’s a long one so please make yourself comfortable. Our
lines of communication remain open and should anyone wish to get in touch to discuss any of the topics
below then please feel free to do so. We are happy to post the concerns or comments on our social media
pages and website and invite others to comment should it be required. The previous minutes and
chairman’s report is available to read on the website which you can find at Previous Newsletters - Cape St
Francis Civic & Ratepayers Association - Kaap St Francis Gemeenskaps-en Belastingbetalersvereniging
So what has happened in Cape St Francis over the last year?
Roads
Civics continued with their efforts to keep the R330 road verge clean and tidy and would like to thank the
Myles Family and Stepping Stones in their roles in doing so. The Myles Family will be busy throughout the
year to keep the R330 litter free from the Mostertshoek turn off all the way into town and have agreed to
do a drive through town to check for street litter while here. Stepping Stones garden services have been
contracted to cut and spray along the road to keep the bushes at bay and ensure that the verge stays wide
and safe enough for our many sports enthusiasts.
With regards to roads, the municipality is still in its war efforts against potholes and has just recently
contracted Scribante to resurface Da Gama Road. I am sure most of you will agree that the portion already
completed is a massive improvement. Civics will continue in its fight to get the municipality to deliver on
their promise of fixing roads and you can help us by posting pictures and locations of potholes on the
municipal link app. There is a link on our website that you can use to download the app. This is also handy
to report any other municipal related queries. One day we may be able to enjoy smooth roads throughout
Cape St Francis.
Staying on the subject of roads and road safety. We would like to plead with you to please stick to the
speed limits of the village! There are many young children riding their bikes or walking to the shops along with runners, walkers and cyclists and it would be a tragedy if any of them were hit by a speeding car.
Civics has requested more signage in this regard and will hopefully have it up soon.
Last year we mentioned that the ward committee fund would be used to make new street names for the
village. This is still in the process and should be implemented in the next few months. The Municipality has
informed me that the original idea of replacing all road names with curb stone names has hit a speedbump
in that they cannot find a municipal registered supplier for the curb stones and will therefore replace really
bad street names with a concrete pole with street name and the curb stone ones that are still in good
condition will get their name plates replaced. This is at least a step in the right direction.
Cell Phone Towers
During last year MTN or the installers of MTN towers put in an application to install a cellular mast at the
Cape St Francis Resort site. This was met with many emotions, some for and some against with the
outcome now being processed in the municipality. At the same time a forum has been established to
monitor the installation of any cell phone towers or masts in the St Francis area that allows for better
public participation. More information on this to follow.
Beaches
Many of you would have seen the coverage of the dune encroachment at main beach in the media. This
has led to the municipality submitting an urgent application for a coastal management plan in order to
save our beaches from encroaching dune systems due to human intervention. This is still an ongoing battle
at this stage and we are hoping to see a positive outcome. We are aware that a few members have taken
the fight head on and at their own expense and for the sake of our beach and dune system we hope that
the government department responsible will jump into action. If you would like to get involved with
supporting this cause then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Throughout the years Civics has employed Beauty to tidy and clean at the main beach ablutions and along
the promenade. She has done so and continues to do so now and we are grateful for her efforts. Civics will
employ a second person to help Beauty during the busy seasons, mainly to assist with the control and
cleaning up after dogs whose owners don’t bother to. There is always something to be done and their
efforts should not go unnoticed.
The dog poop bags that were placed at main beach, main beach ablutions and Shearwater drive ablutions
seem to have made a small dent in the amount of dog poop on the beaches so we thank you for using
them. Please refer to our website with regards to areas that dogs must be on a leash and no dog zones
during season. There are clear municipal by-laws that regulate animals in public places and we urge you to
familiarize yourself with these. Thank you to the members that reached out who would like to assist with
the replenishing of the bags and with your help in keeping our public areas free of dog litter…
Security
We have had a good run of no incidents for a while but unfortunately this is changing with a spate of
recent house break-ins. Many have questioned the role of the cameras in town and rightly so. I must
remind you that the cameras and security of the village was always planned to be a phased project, phase
1 to 3 was the installation of the cameras at the entrance to town, at Osprey and Da Gama and at the end
of Shearwater. It was made clear that these are a deterrent as well as a review system as we did not have
the funds to have 24hour monitoring yet. Phase 4 and 5 was the fence at the airpark and Mosterts turn off
along with a camera pole. These phases were made possible by the generous donations from our members
and we are grateful for your support. A further phase was put together by members through fund raising
to purchase a drone with spotlight and infrared capabilities. They did this on their own accord and have
further bolstered our security efforts. We can all agree that through the many WhatsApp groups that our
community is aware and ready to assist whenever an incident is reported and we must thank the local
security companies for the role they play too.
This brings me to the next phase of securing Cape St Francis. We have been in discussions with members to form a separate security portfolio that will drive the initiative of upgrading our current system, installing new cameras at weak spots and having the cameras monitored through a control center. This next phase is vital in making Cape St Francis one of the safest towns in our country and will require the buy in from the whole community and not just a few of the civics members. The security portfolio will be seeking donations in order to buy the equipment, further to this, 24hr monitoring of the cameras comes at a cost and we will be seeking a monthly contribution from those whom are willing to contribute to cover these costs. The more monthly contributors we have, the less each of us have to pay so if we could get an early show of hands we can determine an estimate on your monthly contribution. We hope to have the figure around your average monthly cost of having an alarm system in your home and this is certainly achievable.
We already have a draft quote for the equipment and are looking at more options, however if you would
like to donate towards the next phase of cameras we have the security account with Albert Saunders
Attorneys that you can pay into, the details are:
STANDARD BANK,
Albert Saunders Attorneys Trust Fund,
Account no: 281 401 551,
Branch Code: 050015 (Humansdorp),
Use Reference: Your name/C123 (NB!!! Very important to have these details for allocation purposes)
Any and all donations are most welcome and much appreciated. To give you an idea of our goals, the
camera system upgrades and additions amount to roughly R 450 000.00 and monthly monitoring of this
system amounts to R 25 000.00. It may seem like a mountain but from what we have managed to achieve
in the past I believe we can and will achieve this goal. As mentioned though we are looking at further
options so our mountain may look more like Kilimanjaro rather than Everest in the end but now is a good
time to get the ball rolling…
Committee
It is with a very sad heart that I inform you that two of our committee members will be stepping down.
Jal, our treasurer and someone that everyone is familiar with, is stepping down. We can only thank him for
all that he has done, going beyond his role and often being the go to person in our village. Thank you for
your ongoing support and we wish you all the best with your future endeavours.
So too is Hayden, our secretary, stepping down. Hayden has been the brain child of many of our completed
and ongoing projects and we thank you for the time you have given to civics and wish you all the best too.
Both members have committed to assist on an ad hoc basis until we can fill their positions so we would like
to welcome anyone that is keen to get more involved to please send us a mail so we can get you
nominated onto the committee.
Our current standing committee is:
Mr Dane Shaw – Chairman
Mrs Antoinette Grundling – Vice chair and memberships
Mr Warren Knezovich – Committee member
Dr Jen Minnaar – Committee member
Ongoing Civics Commitments
Below is a brief summary of our ongoing commitments:
Beach and Ablutions – Beauty and assistant when necessary – keeping the promenade and ablutions neat
and tidy.
Roads and Verges – Miles Family and Stepping Stones – keeping the R330 litter free and cutting back the
bushes and grass to keep the fence and road verges neat and tidy.
Costs of the above: R 63 000.00 per annum.
Our current membership base and donations are enough to cover these costs along with a few other fees
(we will send out the AFS for 2020 in due course) and we remain a project driven committee that welcome
any ideas that will improve our village. We would like to appeal to all members to try and get our
membership numbers up so that our fees can be put to further good use in maintaining and upgrading our
facilities. Details on how to join can be found on the Civics website.
One of the next projects we will be looking at is the upgrade of the parking and showers at the main beach
parking on Seal Point Blvd. We have funds available for this project and are in discussions with contractors
to do the job and look forward to the improvements this project will offer.
I must thank all our members for all the support and positive feedback we have received, it is sometimes
difficult juggling your full time employment and the duties expected from you as a civics committee
member and I would like to thank our committee for the time they put in to this. We will continue to do
our best in keeping it green, keeping it green and keeping it small.
With kind regards
Dane Shaw
Civics Chairman
https://www.capestfranciscivicassociation.org.za
26 March 2021
MEETING for interested persons regarding application for an on consumption liquor license at 5 pm on Tues 30 March 2021.
MEETING for interested persons regarding application for an on consumption liquor license at 5 pm on Tues 30 March 2021.
9 November 2020: Saving the main beach (links to information)
Wavescape article: https://www.wavescape.co.za/surf-news/breaking-news/breaking-point.html?fbclid=IwAR00YdFBr-5NbHD6J6qkcJLzMfTQJeP15wdg4cK2ASjlG0S9EZsyWxfk3Iw
St Francis Today article: https://stfrancistoday.com/possible-removal-of-cape-st-francis-dune-investigated/?fbclid=IwAR2DTh7z3VpHVuXtPitvsz3-9ecJHKwWzuDYwKr4NxJViagqBH-w2vj_o4M
Kouga Munisipality Kouga News: https://www.facebook.com/KougaNews/posts/3940477345980321 or read here
YouTube video - How Woonona Beach was rescued by BeachCare Illawarra and the Wollongong Council.....
St Francis Today Link for photo below: https://stfrancistoday.com/then-and-now-in-the-greater-st-francis-region-6/
Wavescape article: https://www.wavescape.co.za/surf-news/breaking-news/breaking-point.html?fbclid=IwAR00YdFBr-5NbHD6J6qkcJLzMfTQJeP15wdg4cK2ASjlG0S9EZsyWxfk3Iw
St Francis Today article: https://stfrancistoday.com/possible-removal-of-cape-st-francis-dune-investigated/?fbclid=IwAR2DTh7z3VpHVuXtPitvsz3-9ecJHKwWzuDYwKr4NxJViagqBH-w2vj_o4M
Kouga Munisipality Kouga News: https://www.facebook.com/KougaNews/posts/3940477345980321 or read here
YouTube video - How Woonona Beach was rescued by BeachCare Illawarra and the Wollongong Council.....
St Francis Today Link for photo below: https://stfrancistoday.com/then-and-now-in-the-greater-st-francis-region-6/
26 October 2020: Annual Financial Statement (AFS) 1 Oct 2018 to 30 Sept 2019 5MB pdf
| csf_civics_afs_2019.pdf |
13 October 2020: Information about "The coastal collective" and on consumption alcohol licence. (more....)
You are invited to attend the meeting of suggestions, approval, or complaints & refusal to the
application of “The Coastal `Collectives” on consumption liquor application.
This meeting will be held at 2 Suffolk lane, Cape Saint Francis Friday the 16th of October
2020 at 3pm local time .
This meeting is in line with the formal application of the liquor act 59 of 2003.
Your attendance, input and advice are vital to the success of this meeting.
Ari Kraak
You are invited to attend the meeting of suggestions, approval, or complaints & refusal to the
application of “The Coastal `Collectives” on consumption liquor application.
This meeting will be held at 2 Suffolk lane, Cape Saint Francis Friday the 16th of October
2020 at 3pm local time .
This meeting is in line with the formal application of the liquor act 59 of 2003.
Your attendance, input and advice are vital to the success of this meeting.
Ari Kraak
5 June 2020
Good Afternoon Civics Members,
I hope you are all well and coping as best you can during our country's lock down. With no doubt it has been tough on many…
We have done our best to carry on supporting the local contractors during this time, both the Miles family (keep the R330 road verge litter free) and Beauty (cleaning ablutions and beach front area) have received their normal contributions from Civics. We will look at further projects as soon as lock down is lifted to a point that work can be done, hoping this will be soon!
In the meantime, the Kouga municipality has received a portion of budget to be directed towards creating a play area for children in Cape St Francis . Initially it was proposed that two play areas be built but after consultations with the Ward Councillor and Municipality representative it was decided that only one be built in Cape St Francis. The proposed drawings for the play area are attached and the proposed site is on the corner of Seal Point Boulevard and President Reitz Street. There is currently a small triangle of vegetation on the corner and our suggestion was to minimise removing vegetation along President Reitz and the gravel road cutting the corner and only open up from Seal Point Boulevard side. This would create a buffer between properties behind the proposed site and keep a green look and feel to the play park. Please see the google image attached for proposed site.
We are asking for any comments or suggestions with regards to the play area to be sent to us (CSFCivic@gmail.com) so that we can communicate any concerns with the Municipality. See Comments and pictures on Play Area page.
Stay safe and keep well.
Kind regards
Dane Shaw
Civics Chair
Good Afternoon Civics Members,
I hope you are all well and coping as best you can during our country's lock down. With no doubt it has been tough on many…
We have done our best to carry on supporting the local contractors during this time, both the Miles family (keep the R330 road verge litter free) and Beauty (cleaning ablutions and beach front area) have received their normal contributions from Civics. We will look at further projects as soon as lock down is lifted to a point that work can be done, hoping this will be soon!
In the meantime, the Kouga municipality has received a portion of budget to be directed towards creating a play area for children in Cape St Francis . Initially it was proposed that two play areas be built but after consultations with the Ward Councillor and Municipality representative it was decided that only one be built in Cape St Francis. The proposed drawings for the play area are attached and the proposed site is on the corner of Seal Point Boulevard and President Reitz Street. There is currently a small triangle of vegetation on the corner and our suggestion was to minimise removing vegetation along President Reitz and the gravel road cutting the corner and only open up from Seal Point Boulevard side. This would create a buffer between properties behind the proposed site and keep a green look and feel to the play park. Please see the google image attached for proposed site.
We are asking for any comments or suggestions with regards to the play area to be sent to us (CSFCivic@gmail.com) so that we can communicate any concerns with the Municipality. See Comments and pictures on Play Area page.
Stay safe and keep well.
Kind regards
Dane Shaw
Civics Chair