CSF-Newsletter: 3 August 2018 Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association
General Update Hi all and welcome to our sporadic general newsletter
Please all keep top of mind that we are in a water crisis – our dams are less than 20% and we are quietly heading down the road for our own Day Zero – so we need to adhere to as much water control and be aware of not wasting water at all times.
Recently a Southern Right juvenile whale washed ashore on our beach, and thanks to the Kouga Municipality for their swift work, as well as Warren Manser and Dolf De Vos for assistance and the subsequent removal of the whale.
Civics would like to give a big shout-out to Deon Du Toit for his work on the paving of Da Game Road. Deon undertook the job of finishing off a large section of paving, commissioned by the Ratepayers, and the work was done efficiently and of his usual excellent quality.
Along with Deon, we’d also like to thank John Elliot and his son Matthew for undertaking the task of the cleaning of the R330 verge. They did an excellent job and absorbed much of the costs themselves, doing the job as a contribution to the community.
The Cape St Francis Tennis Club has a great new look and feel, with Deandre Dreyer operating the Seals Tennis Academy from the courts and clubhouse. Deandre’s venture has proven to be popular, with many of the local children taking up tennis and having fun on the courts. Thanks to the Tennis Club for allowing this to happen. It is wonderful to see the tennis courts getting used and to see the kids having a blast.
Deandre and the Seals Tennis Academy
The CCTV cameras are still proving to be of great assistance in the fight against crime. The Cape St Francis area has shown a decline in crime statistics in what seems like direct correlations to the installing of the cameras. Unofficial reports are of two break-ins over the last couple of months. We are not resting on our laurels however, and will be launching Phase 4 of our security project soon. We are taking the security of our village very seriously, and will continue to look at ways to further combat crime and keep the area safe.
If you feel that you can help in any way, please reach out and talk to us, as we can use any and all help that is available.
There is a discussion around erecting a safety fence that will have CCTV cameras installed at certain points. The proposed fence will run from the tip entrance gate at the Airpark to the gate into Rebelsrus/Mostert’s Hoek. The CCTV cameras will be linked to the existing set-up that we have.
We are investigating a Dog Unit as additional safety for the village, and thus far the idea has been met with enthusiasm. This does come with certain challenges that we are looking into, and if anyone has any advice to give here, we would greatly appreciate it.
There is a dialogue with the security companies, for them to possibly set up their vehicles on the top of Osprey, as their presence there would be of far greater value than down in the village.
A bit of unfortunate news, one of our committee members recently lost their home in a fire. We are glad to report that the whole family including pets are safe. It was encouraging to see the community rally around the family and provide support and show our village community spirit.
Eleven times male World Champion surfer Kelly Slater (USA), six times female World Champion surfer Steph Gilmore and professional female surfer Sally Fitzgibbon, both from Australia, snuck into the village for a film shoot on our lovely beach. It was organized by Steel Productions, who donated R5k towards the Ratepayers’ coffers, so thanks for that, and for the professional way that the shoot was orchestrated.
Sally, Kelly and Steph
Let’s not forget the very effective LINK app where you can lodge any and all complaints with regards to KM services. This free LINK app is available for Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded at
Upon registration the app will request permission to access your location – this is important, be sure to accept.
To Link to your Ward, (Ward 12) click on “+ and Add Channels”. Select the blue Municipal Ward icon, allow the app to geo-locate you and Link to your Ward as displayed. It’s totally intuitive and many people are utilizing it to great affect.
There are some amazing new nature reserve walks on our area, including the Bowmer walk 3km. For more information, click on the image. <https://bit.ly/2M1y3Io>
Please feel free to reach out to any of the committee members at any time if you have input, ideas or queries.
Best Regards
Dane Shaw Chairperson: Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association
Chairman's Report @ AGM on 26 April 2018 This year’s Civics Committee continued along the lines of the previous committee in terms of being a project driven association as well as continuing with the daily challenges of keeping beaches, ablutions and public spaces clean. We are very pleased with the progress that has been made to make Cape St Francis a cleaner and safer village for all of its homeowners, residents and visitors. Some of the projects Civics completed this year are:
The CCTV camera systems located on St Francis Drive, the intersection of Osprey and Da Gama and the circle at Shearwater Drive. All in all we have 11 cameras installed including a LPR camera and thus far, whether it is from the cameras or not, we have seen very little crime in the Village which is great. Thank you to all those who made donations towards the system, it is greatly appreciated.
Civics did an upgrade at the main beach ablutions with the tidy up of the lifeguard’s store, changing the locks –thanks to Bob Meikle, installing an alarm – thanks to Lynn Edwards from Calibre.
With a bit of constant reminding the R330 road verge between Cape St Francis and St Francis bay was cleaned and cut back, we have an ongoing maintenance plan with FOSTER that will hopefully keep the overgrowth at bay. The Miles family still does a great job at clearing litter along the road once a month so thank you to them.
The municipality provided lifeguards for the duration of the high season which was great, however they were unfortunately very under equipped and without accommodation. Thank you to Rob Smith and Haydn for getting them sorted with equipment etc. and also the Resort for offering accommodation.
Civics employed Benny and Beauty to keep control of dogs on the beach as well as to clean up at the ablutions, parking areas, beaches and benches. On the most part they did a great job, however we would like to appeal to the community for a volunteer to manage Benny and Beauty during season. We need someone that they can report to and to and that can check up on them during the day. If you would like to volunteer then please get in touch after the meeting.
Traffic control measures were improved at the village CBD and between Rock Lilly and Cape St Francis Resort with a painted pedestrian crossing. Please be on the lookout when driving there.
Paving work will continue on Da Gama with another section to be completed. We have approached Kouga Municipality to assist with funding where we fall short. Big thank you to them for repairing the road intersections along Da Gama.
Kouga Municipality has introduced the Link App, an easy to use phone app that you can use to report any issues related to municipal services. It has been a huge success with issues being resolved more often than not and in good time so well done to them, keep up the good work.
We would like to urge all owners of vacant plots that have not yet cleared their over grown plots to please do so as soon as possible. There is talk in the municipality that continuous disregard to adhere to requests could result in your plot being confiscated and auctioned off to cover costs. Antoinette has compiled a list of plots needing clearing which we will put up on the civics website.
Thank you to all those who donated time and expertise throughout the year. Stuart Mineham for your work done at the main beach pathway and showers, Pierre for cutting the grass at the main beach benches and doing a clean-up, all those that helped with water saving signage and tips and a big thank you to all our members that keep Civics going through your memberships and donations.
Lastly thank you to my fellow committee members for the work and time you have put in this past year. It has and hopefully still will be a pleasure working with you.
Before we move onto General Items, I would like to ask that any suggestions or comments made be of a positive nature with a possible solution. This committee has given their time freely and have always kept the villages’ best interests at heart. Civics is a project based association and if you have a particular project in mind then please be prepared to get involved in implementing your project.
Dane Shaw (Chairman)
CSF-Newsletter: February 2018
Cape St Francis Civics / Ratepayers Association February 2018
Good day members
First and foremost, we are in a water crisis, and surrounding areas like Hankey and Patensie are facing an imminent Day Zero situation. We are on 50 liters per day rations and we need to be constantly aware of not wasting water in everything we do.
For those of you that are considering bore holes or well points, please make sure that you speak to experts, and do all your homework. There are many existing laws in place with regards borehole water, and there are also certain locations that are not ideal for water extraction due to the possibility of contamination as a result of proximity to the ocean. Please be aware. - The season was a busy one, and we hope that everyone had a good and fruitful summer. We had plenty of enthusiastic visitors, and with less beach at St Francis Bay we felt more of an influx at Cape St Francis.
We employed Beauty and Bennie to help with beach cleaning and safety during season, and they were in the thick of it throughout. They both did a sterling job, and we will be employing them going forward on a contractual basis.
We are pleased to announce that the Woodridge lifeguards are back in attendance and will be on duty at Cape St Francis beach on Sundays until the end of April.
We had a very successful meeting with FOSTER to discuss projects that we can do together going forward, and we have been working on clean verges with pesticides and removal to keep verges clean and tidy. More of this will be discussed in further communications. - We had a successful meeting with the Boardriders Club to discuss similar synergistic opportunities including the surfers’ car park toilet issue, and there is a plan going forward to resolve all issues. - Thanks again to Stuart Minehan for the constant upkeep of the shower base and walkway down to the beach. - This year, through a mutual agreement, we have included the Airpark Property Owners into our Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association. Our membership has grown from 156 members to 273 members. There are still a number of property owners who have not paid up, as well as many property owners who have not joined up for the association as of yet. We are still on a membership drive, and would like all help in getting as many people as possible to join up.
CCTV installation. We have so far received R63800 in donations for the CCTV security camera setup. So far it seems to be working great and we haven’t had too much in the way of crime since we had phase 1 installed. We are busy proceeding with phase 2 and phase 3. Thanks very much to all who have made donations. Those who haven’t yet made a donation are encouraged to make a donation of any size, as every bit counts.
Phase 1 cost us R40179, and phase 2 and 3 are both going to cost R25604 each, totaling R91387. Donations can be made here:
Banking details: STANDARD BANK, Albert Saunders Attorneys Trust Fund, Account no: 281 401 551, Branch Code: 050015 (Humansdorp), Use Reference: Your name/C123 - Nick Schoeman from the Police Forum reported back to us at end of January.
“At our meeting with w/o Van Heerden last Thursday it was reported that we had a quiet period over December as far as crime is concerned.
Everyone reports favourably on the cameras you installed and that, as well as recent arrests of suspects by the police, resulted in a decline in criminal activity since the wave of break-ins we had late last year.
Everybody must stay alert at all times and the small security whatsapp groups are strongly recommended.” - If you have any comments that you would to be directed to the Ward Committee Meeting, please send them before the 20th of February - the meeting is on the 21st of February. - A big thank you to the Cape St Francis Resort for housing the municipal lifeguards over the season until the end of February. - The LINK app has proven to be a great success over the holiday season, with any and all complaints being lodged with the app.
This free LINK app is available for Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded at http://download.linkapp.co.za/#dl , from the Google Play or App Store.
Upon registration the app will request permission to access your location – this is important, be sure to accept.
To Link to your Ward, (Ward 12) click on “+ and Add Channels”. Select the blue Municipal Ward icon, allow the app to geo-locate you and Link to your Ward as displayed. It’s totally intuitive and many people are utilizing it to great affect. - Beach Parking. We will be looking at increasing current beach parking to its maximum to accommodate season visitors. More to follow. - We will be publishing a questionnaire with FOSTER in the next newsletter. Any and all input is welcome, if you would like to reach out to the community for feedback. - Plot clearing. Municipality has sent out letters to owners for plot clearing. Please report over grown plots on the LINK app for follow up. - Municipal Erven adjacent to the tennis courts. There is a FOSTER/Civics collaboration to get public works project, Working for Water, to eradicate aliens free of charge.
Please feel free to reach out to any of the committee members at any time if you have input, ideas or queries.
Best Regards
Dane Shaw Chairperson: Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association
CSF-Newsletter TWO: November 2017 (Afrikaans) Good day members Please accept my apologies for this the second newsletter for November. We do not wish to spam anyone but we have some great news and we thought that there would not be too many complaints wrt good news. Firstly, our permissions to set up CCTV security cameras have been approved by the Kouga Municipality. Thank to councilor Ben Rheeder for following through with this request and getting the necessary people to see the value of the project. As previously mentioned we have funding for Phase 1 and Phase 2 - thank you very much for those people who have kindly donated towards the safety of our village. We are currently looking for funding for Phase 3. We still need R30,000 to complete the CCTV system, so if you are interested in pledging a donation please contact us for banking details. Banking details: STANDARD BANK, Albert Saunders Attorneys Trust Account, Account no: 281 401 551, Branch Code: 050015 (Humansdorp), Use Reference: Your name/C123 Secondly, with regards to the LINK app and the Kouga Municipality, we quoted the wrong numbers for the Call Center. These three numbers go through to the Kouga Municipality Call Centre and have been checked – 042 2002 250 or 042 2002 233 or 042 2008 407. Thirdly, we are reaching out for a volunteer to assist with the book-keeping for the Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association accounts. It’s not too complicated – we get membership fees and we get donations in, and then we spend the money on the village. We just need someone to help us balance our books. As mentioned, it is a volunteer position, for someone who is passionate about our village. As a last minute addendum we would like to say to all that we will be employing Beauty (cleaning), Bennie (security) and Myles Family (road + bin clean ups) for the season. Also, thank you for all the replies to our last email. If we haven’t replied yet my apologies, we will get back to you soonest. Best Regards Dane Shaw Chairperson: Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association
CSF-Newsletter ONE: November 2017 (Afrikaans) Good day members It has been a busy few months, and the Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association has been hard at work with a number of endeavours. Apologies for the newsletter that is a little longer than usual, there is so much to tell! Firstly, thank you for all the subscriptions, membership renewals, and all the fees that have been paid. The proposed R350 total has been widely accepted, with many members donating more than that, which is greatly appreciated. Membership numbers and finances will be totaled for the next communication. If you know of anyone who might not have paid up or joined, please forward this email to them. The subs link here - https://www.capestfranciscivicassociation.org.za/membership--lidmaatskap.html After much hard work and relentless investigation and enquiries, we finally made some progress with the clearing of the R330. The danger to runners and cyclists was becoming quite alarming, and eventually Randall Moore; the district roads engineer for the Sarah Baartman Region organized Tzitzikamma Fencing to do the clear up job. Big thanks to both, the road is looking great and runners and cyclists can continue with their pursuits without danger. The Kouga Municipality sent out traffic officials to assess our request for traffic calming (speed bumps) at the two hotspots - our village center alongside the retail outlets, as well as alongside the Cape St Francis Resort and Rock Lily stretch. Assessment details to follow. The CCTV Camera Installation request went through the first round in the standing committee, and all being well should be approved at the next council meeting on 15 Dec 2017. It seems everyone is keen. We are setting up a trust fund for the cameras for donations for this project. At this stage phases 1 and 2 are funded, thank you to all who pledged, and we are currently looking for funds for phase 3. Find the banking details and other information here Banking details: STANDARD BANK, Albert Saunders Attorneys Trust Account, Account no: 281 401 551, Branch Code: 050015 (Humansdorp), Use Reference: Your name/C123
We would like to welcome the Woodridge Surf Life Saving Club, who is covering our beaches every Sunday out of season during the summer months, from November to April. Great to have you guys around. Civics will also be employing four additional lifeguards who will be on duty for the busiest times of our season – 24 December to 2 January. Lifeguards from anywhere around the country who are interested in working here in December can contact Civics on CSFCivic@gmail.com Civics has also employed Beauty to maintain our beaches and ablutions. Her duties include the cleaning of the bottom and top ablutions, and the cleaning and maintenance of the beach from Lookout to Corner, as well as the path and verge from the lower car park up to the Lighthouse. She will be employed for three days a week for the months of December to January. Beauty will be recognizable and hard at work, so please feel free to say hello when you see her.
Big thanks to Alex Odendaal from Allens Woodworks for the donation of wood, and to Stuart Minehan for his time and expertise in the deck build at the lower car park showers. Much appreciated guys!
A recent dead giant fur seal washed up on the beaches estimated at about 300kgs and in a state of decomposition. Thanks to Kouga Municipality and Councillor Williams who dealt with the removal of the animal within an hour of the phone call.
Kouga Municipality has a new call center and app to improve service delivery at Kouga, thus making it easier for residents to report and track service delivery problems in their wards, and it’s working great. The free LINK app is available for Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded at download.linkapp.co.za/#dl, from the Google Play or App Store. Upon registration the app will request permission to access your location – this is important, be sure to accept. To Link to your Ward, (Ward 12) click on “+ and Add Channels”. Select the blue Municipal Ward icon, allow the app to geo-locate you and Link to your Ward as displayed. It’s totally intuitive and many people are utilizing it to great effect. Click on image for more info. Further information about Link is available at www.linkapp.co.za and Kouga’s new call center can be contacted on 042 200 2200 Nick Schoeman from the Cape St Francis Police Forum has suggested whatsapp micro-groups in a bid to combat crime in your immediate area. Instead of only belonging to bigger safety groups, he advised to set up street safety groups of between 5 to 8 families/homeowners who watch each other’s back a bit closer than the bigger groups. A few streets have already initiated this to good effect, with members now alert to their neighbour’s alarms being triggered and other suspicious behaviour. Another thank you to Kouga Municipality who responded after hours to a burst water pipe and their prompt water leakage solution at corner of Waratah and Diaz. Thanks guys. Please remember that we still need to urgently save water, and need visitors to our beautiful village this holiday to be mindful of the water scarcity. If water wastage is spotted, there is nothing wrong with a friendly word with the visitor, to remind them that we too are in a water crisis and we all need to save water. Kind regards. Dane Shaw Chairperson, Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association
CSF-Newsletter: October 2017 Good day members This is the start of the much anticipated Cape St Francis Civics /Ratepayers Association membership drive. The new rates of R350 have been discussed at length, and we have received only positive feedback thus far. With the CCTV camera project underway, and with a number of other projects to commence shortly, we would like to get as many home owners and residents to join. Those of you who have joined, please take it upon yourself to make sure your friends and neighbours have all joined. As mentioned in previous correspondence, it is a singular fund allocation of R350/property, but please feel free to donate more, and please bear in mind that if you have a shared property, then there are more people benefitting from the work of the Civics, and you are therefore encouraged (and asked nicely by us) to donate a little bit extra. Please also note that those who cannot afford the new membership will be encouraged to speak with any member of the committee regarding an exemption or relief, in order to be inclusive as possible. Right now we are sitting on way less than 200 members out of a possible 800, and we would like everyone to climb on board for this membership drive, with a goal being a minimum of 400 members, ensuring that we have a powerful voice going forward. Membership form and details below, or go to https://www.capestfranciscivicassociation.org.za and fill out the web form. Please forward this email to anyone you know who should be a member of Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association. Also, we would like to sincerely thank outgoing Cape St Francis Civics / Ratepayers Association Executive Committee member Matie Du Toit for all the hard work he has put into the association. We would like to wish him all the best for the future. Kind regards. Dane Shaw Chaiperson, Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association
We are heading into summer rather quickly, and can soon expect an influx of visitors to our little village. It is time for us to gather our resources and to ensure that we are prepared and have much under control when the season arrives.
Here are a few items from the latest committee meeting that we would like to put on the table, for all to comment on.
First and foremost, current membership rates stand at R150 per property, as well as a number of perpetually running funds, whose objectives have been lost in translation from one committee to the next. Most members pay R350 for the year, with their fees being allocated into the separate running funds.
For the upcoming financial year, we would like to change this system. For the sake of good governance and accountability we would like to combine these funds in the new financial year and communicate to the community when and how we spend their donations. We propose that the yearly membership rate becomes R350/property, making a singular fund allocation.
In essence, the ongoing/perpetual funds will be pooled to ease the committee's administrative and allocation constraints and in future all donations over and above the membership fee will be pooled for use by committee and the village as they deem necessary. If there are specific projects, which are undertaken the Civics will open dedicated funds for those projects providing for greater accountability and responsibility once a specific project has been completed.
Please also note that those who cannot afford the new membership will be encouraged to speak with the committee regarding an exemption or relief, in order to be as inclusive as possible. The committee will provide exemptions on an individual case basis.
The committee believes that this will help to clarify the spending of your money in looking after our village, but would like as much feedback as possible on this proposal. Please mail, phone or talk to any of the committee members about this proposal at your soonest convenience so that we can plan a way forward.
We would then like to go on a membership drive, as the financial year for the association starts 1 October. Right now, we have 180 members of a possible 800, and we would like everyone to help and climb on board to get our numbers up to a minimum of 400 members, ensuring that we have a powerful voice going forward.
We would like to thank Pierre Van der Walt and his team for mowing the lawns and cleaning up the weeds and mess at the Boulevard car park, up to the surfers’ car park. The grass and weeds were overgrown and untidy, and Pierre took it upon himself to get involved and clean up, at his own cost. Obviously, this sort of initiative is greatly encouraged, and the possibility of residents and Civics members taking ownership of such duties is a positive step in the right direction. If anyone feels compelled to do something similar, please make contact with Civics beforehand to ensure that there are no bylaws in place that might be broken, or any other possible consequences to your good deeds.
We will be sending a second newsletter out with a decided membership fee for the year, as well as with details of our membership drive and how we can all help with this drive.
Please feel free to engage with any of the committee members, and to email this Civics general email address - CSFCivic@gmail.com
22 May 2017 Cape St Francis Civics Association 2017
Hi all
This is simply a friendly newsletter from the new Cape St Francis Civics Committee, explaining who we are, what our goals are, and how we plan to make our village better while still keeping on track with the tried and tested ‘keep it green, keep it clean, keep it small' ideology.
The new Cape St Francis Committee is thus:
Chairperson: Dane Shaw
Vice Chairperson/Communications: Craig Jarvis
Treasurer: Jal Rigaard
Secretary: Hayden Holmes
Membership: Antoinette Grundling
Committee members:
Matie Du Toit
Sean Skelton
Mickey Lindsay
Jade Dace has been co-opted to help with secretarial duties and minutes.
"I would like to thank Trudi as the outgoing chairperson for all that she has done, and I would like to thank the committee for giving me the opportunity to be chairperson. We have a great team and I look forward to working with them and to continue with the project-based formula that Civics works on. Lastly, thank you to all Civics members for your membership. Without you, none of the projects we have highlighted would be possible."
We as the incoming committee would too like to to thank the full outgoing committee of Trudi Malan, Lois Fox and Louw Jordaan. As chairperson, Trudi worked hard for many years and faced many challenges along the way, but managed to steer our little village on an even course and for that we thank her profusely. We would also like to thank her for her ongoing commitment to the Thyspunt Alliance and the preservation of that pristine part of our coastline.
Trudi is not going anywhere and is helping the incoming committee whenever she can. We would also like to thank Antoinette Grundling for holding steadfast and being prepared to work with this inexperienced but extremely motivated new committee.
We are going to continue with the good work of Trudi and her committee ideology of working on a project-based system as opposed to a reactive or police system. Our macro projects are:
1) looking after the beach and amenities thereof,
2) village security,
3) signage and sign posts in the village,
4) traffic control/dampening in hotspots, being at the village centre, as well as at the Resort/Rock Lily downhill, and
5) ongoing Civics membership drive, communication, and synergy opportunities with FOSTER and Seal Point Boardriders Surf Club.
Please feel free to communicate on the email account. It’s not really meant to be an outlet to release, vent or complain but more a portal for the sharing of ideas, encouragement, possible advice and strategies on how to keep our village as cool and as unique as it is.
We have also opted for consistent and open communication. Expect more of these newsletters.
Looking forward to hearing from you all.
Craig Jarvis
Vice Chairperson/Communications: Cape St Francis Civics