An update on the current status of the proposed erection of three new Vodacom masts in SFB :

Rod Suter updated us on the situation of the Vodacom Towers that were being installed in St Francis Bay. seemingly without or  necessary permissions environmental assessments . Thanks for the update Rod.

The temporary order to stop work issued by the municipality is in effect. Work at the proposed site at the we​stern end of Shore Road,​ for a mast adjacent to the parking area/​river entrance, ​has advanced as far as the installation underground of electricity cables and an electrical panel. At the proposed Esmaralda Road site, in the Green Belt parking area, some trenching has been completed and at the College Road site, which is assumed to be adjacent to the soccer field, no work appears to have commenced.

The St Francis Bay Residents Association and Kromme Trust are involved in the matter.

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism compliance officials from PE have visited the sites and are investigating the situation and a meeting was held on site with the responsible Vodacom staff from PE to discuss the objections.

​​It was made clear to ​Vodacom that :

• ​the objections are to the currently proposed location of the masts – not to ​an improved Vodacom ​service;
• The current proposed ​locations​are considered inappropriate by the local affected residents;
• ​Vodacom conducted no local public participation exercises prior to their site selection process, and this was considered unacceptable.
• ​A strong reaction to the mast siting proposals from a number of the affected residents resulted in a co-operative and co-ordinated effort, and a considerable number of written objections have been submitted to date.
• The objections received to date have been collated, ​and it is confirmed that they were submitted on Monday ​to the Municipal Manager and his Directors.
• The Municipal Manager and his Directors are apparently not available this week and DA​ Ward Representative, Ben Rheeder, has undertaken to progress the matter with the Municipal Manager early next week.