St Francis Today is back after our short break
St Francis Today is back with the Ed all patched up with a fully rebuilt fuel injection system. Not quite 100% just yet so we may not publish every day or may sometimes publish a little later or even earlier than our normal 7:30am deadline. Unfortunately the Ed’s sleeping pattern has been a little topsy turvy of late so please bear with us until we are able to establish a new rhythm.
Sadly we missed the Calamari Classic an event that really has such potential to become an even bigger drawcard than it already is and who knows, even reach the popularity of the Knysna Oyster Festival. After all you can do a whole lot more with calamari than with oysters.
Local news erupted during our shut down with unhappy township residents burning and plundering. Certainly they have the right to protest but do they have the right to destroy property. Most concerning however was the mutilation and killing of dogs near the Humansdorp SPCA premises causing SPCA to evacuate the animals to Uitenhage. What sort of person takes out their rage by taking the life of an innocent animal. Barbaric!
But it seems the barbarism spread to a local pub with a bar brawl that would have had Hollywood Western movie directors scrambling for their cameras and English crickter Ben Stokes wondering what all the fuss is about his little skirmish in the early hours of the morning.
Thanks goodness though for some uplifting and positive news with some of South Africa’s finest young golfers competing in the Vodacom Origins of Golf at St Francis Links. As always events such as the Origins highlights just what a wonderful facility the Links offers to the Eastern Cape as a tourst magnet. Read Jeff Clause’s news – Scotsmen love it in the dunes!
And then we had the All Blacks giving the Boks their biggest thumping in history. Fortunately the Ed was still in ICU when he heard the news so all the necessary life saving equipment was in place lest the shock news cause cardiac arrest.
Interesting too was the closing of the Paradise Beach causeway whilst the eco people hummed and hawed before coming to their senses and allowing the river mouth to be breached. It is human interference that has stopped the estuary from breaching naturally so surely a helping ‘human’ hand should be acceptable. Read – Kouga gets the go-ahead to breach the Seekoei estuary mouth
But what would the news be without all the stories of corruption and fraud and so we continue picking up the strings as our poloticians continue to wreak havoc with our economy.
A quick note to advertisers, with our shutdown many adverts have not yet be renewed so should you wish to advertise please be sure to contact Colin on 083 554 0796 or at news@stfrancistoday.com.dedi358.cpt4.host-h.net to discuss your advertising needs into the holidays.
Again thanks to all our readers and loyal sponsors for your understancing and many good wishes on social and other media during our shutdown.
Great to have you back in harness and firing on all cylinders Colin !
Glad the plumbing has been improved . We missed you
Keep the pipes clean . The SEEFF Team
Good to have you back and indeed we did miss you. Hope that all your problems are now permanently solved.
Before you went into hospital I commented that I got the distinct impression that certain parties are taking the imposition of the SRA next year as a fait accompli, and I asked whether the results of the referendum were ever published.
I have still not been able to get any information on this matter from any source.
Best regards
Basil
The SFPO’s SRA proposal, in it’s current form, is most certainly NOT a done deal – there is still a very long way to go before this matter is settled.
The current situation : SFPO has not exhibited the “transparency” they promised in the beginning of their campaign – so I can presume my assessment of the situation, which I published in May 2017, still stands – it has not been challenged so far by SFPO:
There are about 3,200 properties in the proposed St Francis SRA area. For the SRA Initiative to proceed, the required 50%+1 votes equal about 1600 ‘YES’ votes. After some 18 months of serious campaigning, SFPO managed to collect only about 1,050 “YES” votes, plus 300 “NO” votes – i.e. they are at least 550 “YES” votes short. It should be noted furthermore that the legitimacy of some of these votes is under question. In percentages, SFPO have only managed to collect “votes” from 42% of the total possible; and of those that did take the trouble to vote, 22% voted “NO”.
Apparently, the paid-up membership of SFPO is approx. 450 (i.e. 15% of the total possible); however not all of these members are St Francis property owners and/or community members. Therefore, SFPO’s claim to speak on behalf of the St Francis community is questionable at best.
In November 2015 SFPO declared a target date of 1 July 2017 for implementing their SRA proposals. In June 2017 SFPO finally acknowledged their complete failure, after 18 months of effort, to attract either the required number of “YES” votes, or to achieve their deadline of 1 July 2017 for implementation of their 50% SRA Levy. SFPO then announced that they were extending the implementation deadline by another year, to 1 July 2018
Kouga Municipality (KM) have appointed external legal Counsel (at KM ratepayer expense!) to give an opinion and advice on the necessary legal requirements to allow SFPO to proceed with their application to establish a SRA. The results are awaited.
As far as can be ascertained, SFPO are still intent on proceeding with their original SRA Levy proposals; but although they have started to reduce the original scope of work, the extra Levy remains at 50%. It would appear that very little has been learnt from the failures over the previous 18 months.
There are still many unanswered questions to SFPO regarding the SRA proposal, e.g. :
– equitable and fair participation in the Levy by Private Estates,
The Links, Airpark and River Estates
– a reduction of the 50% Levy
– the questionable Business Plan and Budgets
– an independent audit of estimated costs for the projects
– the grant of exemptions from the SRA Levy (“Means Test”)
– the structure, control and accountability of the SFPO NPC
Depending on the legal requirements and future SFPO actions, it is probable that opposition efforts will need to be ramped-up, and possibly a more formal opposition structure established.
There is a Facebook page named “Question SRA St Francis”, which addresses the opposition to the SFPO SRA proposals in their current form, and where considerable more detailed info is available :
https://www.facebook.com/Question-SRA-St-Francis-676232779246946 .