Thyspunt work groups

by | Apr 20, 2017 | St Francis

Thyspunt work groups to be established

Seven work groups will be established to help prepare the Kouga municipal area for the construction of a nuclear plant at Thyspunt should the national power project receive the green light.

Kouga Executive Mayor Elza van Lingen said the work groups would serve as sub-committees of the Thyspunt Nuclear Project Joint Steering Committee.

The Joint Steering Committee was established in December last year and is co-chaired by Eskom and Kouga Municipality. Members include Kouga Municipality, Eskom, the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT), the East Cape Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta EC), the South African Police Service (SAPS), Sarah Baartman District Municipality (SBDM) and the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa).

The Mayor said the proposed scope, mandate, activities, budget requirements, risks, milestones and membership of each of the seven groups were discussed at a meeting of the Joint Steering Committee at Jeffreys Bay on Friday (7 April 2017).

“The work groups will be responsible for identifying and addressing opportunities and potential pitfalls for the Kouga area, including infrastructure shortages and socio-economic impacts, should the Thyspunt development proceed,” she said.

“As stated before, the Kouga Council is not opposed to nuclear development per se, but we are not willing for Kouga and its people to be disadvantaged by the project.

“If a nuclear plant is to be built in our area, Kouga’s people must be ready to reap the benefits and proper measures must be in place to mitigate any potential threats.”

The proposed work groups were introduced by Eskom’s acting General Manager: Nuclear New Build, Loyiso Tyabashe, who co-chairs the Joint Steering Committee with the Mayor.

The work groups are: Infrastructure, Human Capital, Regulatory and Environment, Supplier Development, Safety and Security, Finance and Stability, and Stakeholder Management and Communication.

Tyabashe said the groups would be facilitated by either Eskom or Kouga Municipality, as the main roleplayers, and consist of senior representatives from key government departments and state-owned enterprises.

They will report back to the Joint Steering Committee on a quarterly basis.

The Mayor stressed that a final decision had not yet been made about the proposed nuclear plant at Thyspunt.

“These structures are being put in place so as to ensure that roleplayers and stakeholders are ready should the project receive the nod. If approved, Thyspunt will be the biggest development our municipal area has ever seen. We want to ensure that the best interests of our communities are taken into account at all times,” she said.

Tyabashe said Eskom was currently awaiting the outcome of the final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regarding its nuclear plans from the Department of Environmental Affairs. Applications for two Nuclear Installation Site Licences, at Thyspunt and Duynefontein, have also been submitted to the National Nuclear Regulator.

“There have been some delays in the release of the Environmental Authorisation (EA) due to the scope and complexity of the project, but the Department has indicated that the EA should be issued by mid-2017,” he said.

Issued jointly by Kouga Local Municipality and Eskom

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Alderman Rheeder

by | Mar 1, 2017 | St Francis

Ben Rheeder honoured as an Alderman

Mayor Elza van Lingen with Ben Rheeder

The Kouga council bestowed the honour of Alderman on Ben Rheeder who has been the councillor for Ward 12 (St Francis Bay & Cape St Francis) it would seem since the lighthouse was built, for certainly he has become as much an institution it would seem as the lighthouse.

Bestowing the honour on “Alderman Rheeder”, Speaker Councillor Hendricks pointed out that it is not an honour voted for, or awarded for a good deed but rather an honour earned through a minimum of 20 years’ service to the municipality and the community

In a brief ceremony on stage during before Kouga Executive Mayor Elza van Lingen presented the ‘State of the Municipality’ address, the Mayor conferred the title along with various medals to Alderman Rheeder.

Congratulations Ben from SFT and we are sure all residents of Ward 12 if not the entire Kouga district.

Looking for a definition of ‘Alderman’ on the internet came up with the following off Wikipedia

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council member elected by voters.[1]

The title is derived from the Old English title of ealdorman, literally meaning “elder man”, and was used by the chief nobles presiding over shires

Investigating AG’s concerns

by | Feb 6, 2017 | St Francis

Kouga Municipality - logoCouncil ready to tackle concerns raised by AG

The Kouga Council is set to re-open investigations into unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure totalling R483,2-million and dating back to 2010.

This is according to the 2015/2016 Audit Report Action Plan that was tabled to the Council on Friday (27 January 2017) as part of the municipality’s second draft Annual Report for the 2015/2016 financial year.

Kouga Executive Mayor Elza van Lingen said while the municipality had received an unqualified Audit Report for 2015/2016, the Office of the Auditor-General (AG) had made it clear that all was not as it should be at the municipality.

“One of the issues raised by the AG was the R483,2-million. This amount was accumulated over seven years, from 2010 to 2016, and was never dealt with conclusively by the previous Councils,” she explained.

“That is a lot of money for which there is no proper account. We owe it to the people of Kouga to determine why this money was not spent according to regulations and recovered where possible.”

She said the matter would be referred to the new Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC), chaired by Clr Atri Carstens.

“MPAC will investigate the matter and make recommendations to Council as to how it should be taken forward.”

The Mayor said other matters of concern raised by the AG in the 2015/2016 report included the lack of proper performance management and asset management.

Also flagged were water losses totalling 38,61%.

“This is well above the norm of 30% and translates to about R20-million in context of the annual budget,” she said. “That is unacceptable, especially under the present circumstances where we are hard-pressed to save water.”

According to the Audit Report, the losses are mainly as a result of faulty meters and illegal connections. Other contributing factors are the ageing and deteriorating water infrastructure.

Van Lingen said the 2015/2016 Audit Report, as well as the Action Plan to address matters emphasised by the AG, would be made available to the public for comment as part of the second draft Annual Report.

“We would like to encourage residents to play an active part in this process,” she said.

“Together we need to clean up the mess we inherited so that we can move Kouga forward in line with our new vision which puts ‘good governance’ and ‘service excellence’ first.”

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