Meet the Kouga Council

May 30, 2011

The ANC won the local election earlier this month by an extremely narrow margin that saw them win 15 seats to the DA’s 14.

None of the marginal parties who split the vote gained any seats in Council. The first meeting of the new Council will take place on 2 June.

In both the ANC and the DA there is a blend of new and experienced councillors that will hopefully be able to sort out the financial mess that has developed in the Kouga.

Ward 1 (Oyster Bay), the ANC won with a slight majority and the ward Councillor is Julius Mayoni.

Ward 2 (Pellsrus) the ANC won and Earl Hill is the Councillor.

Ward 3 (Eastern side of Wavecrest and Kabeljous) the DA won and Henda Thiart is the Councillor.

Ward 4 (Kruisfontein) the DA won with Freddie Campher becoming the Councillor.

Ward 5 (Kruisfontein/Arcadia) was also won by the DA and Eugene Group is the Councillor.

Ward 6 (Kwanonzamo) was won by the ANC with Phumzile Oliphant becoming the Councillor.

Ward 7 (Thornhill) was won by the ANC with Bulelwa Kolita becoming the Councillor.

Ward 8 (western side of Wavecrest) was won by the DA and David Aldendorff is the Councillor.

Ward 9 (Hankey) was won by the ANC with David Ntshiza becoming the new Councillor.

Ward 10 (Andrieskraal) was won by the ANC and Patrick Kota is the Councillor.

Ward 11 (J’Bay CBD and C-Place) was won by the DA and Mercia Ungerer is the Councillor.

Ward 12 (St Francis Bay) was won by the DA and Ben Rheeder is the Councillor.

Ward 13 (Patensie) was won by the ANC with Vuyelwa Matodlana becoming the Councillor.

Ward 14 (Aston Bay/Paradise Beach/Tokyo Sexwale) was won by Timothy Meleni of the ANC.

Ward 15 (Ocean View) was won by the ANC and Mzukisi Mahlathini is the Councillor.

The Proportional Representatives on the Council are:

DA:

Chimpie Cawood
Clive Njela
Nico Botha
Jan Joy
Danny Benzon
Mhoni Speelman
Brenton Williams
Frances Baxter

Open Water & Squad Training and Learn 2 Swim lessons. Email: kougaswim@vodamail.co.za

ANC:

Virginia Benjamin
Magdalena Dlomo
Angelina Maseti
Vernon Stuurman
Zenzile Blouw
Booi Koerat

The ANC will be choosing the new mayor with Virginia Benjamin, Magdalena Dlomo and Booi Koerat all in contention at this stage.

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How the minority parties won the election for the ANC

May 25, 2011

Many residents of Jeffreys Bay and the surrounding towns will be understandably upset with the split vote that handed an election victory to the ANC in the Kouga.

Although the ANC won 9 out of the 15 wards in the Kouga municipal district, the DA won enough votes to contest the proportional representation very strongly.

Based on the number of votes in total – ANC 33 791 and DA – 32 932, each party was allocated 14 seats.

Does another 5 years of sewage on our beaches await us?

The system used in South Africa then means that the remaining seat (Kouga has 29 seats on Council) is given to the party with the highest percentage after the initial calculation was made that gave the ANC and DA their 14 seats each.

This is where the Kouga 2000 and Vryheidsfront handed the election to the ANC.

Kouga 2000 received 486 votes and the Vryheidsfront 526. This gave them 0.2078 and 0.2249 respectively in the fight for the remaining and deciding seat on Council.
The ANC won the critical seat and election victory with 0.4468 while the DA was left with a fraction of 0.0795.

Should the votes of the two minority parties have gone to the DA, we would have had a DA led Council today; it’s as simple as that.

Both the ID and COPE realised that contesting municipal elections would be detrimental to the greater cause of ensuring service delivery and they did not contest the election in Kouga.

This certainly helped the DA but unfortunately the other minority parties could not see the bigger picture, leaving residents in a serious battle to ensure the town does not further disintegrate over the next five years.

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ANC wins Kouga with a small majority

May 23, 2011

The 2011 municipal election was a close affair in the Kouga with two parties, the ANC and the DA both receiving strong support.

The ANC ended up with 15 seats and the DA with 14 on the local council. The split vote due to the election being contested by marginal parties like Kouga 2000 and the Vryheidsfront Plus (VP) cost the DA the election.

The ANC received 33 791 votes while the DA received 32 932. Kouga 2000 had 486 votes while the VP received 526.

Should the marginal parties given their support to the DA in this election, we would have seen a DA run municipality for the next 5 years.

The ANC will have the right to name the new mayor and with the municipal budget needing to be approved, a council meeting will have to be held by the end of May.

The DA will be represented on Council by stalwarts like former Mayor Chimpie Cawood and he will be joined by newcomers like well known community leader Brenton Williams who will be serving his first stint as a Councillor.

“It is disappointing that the DA didn’t win the election outright but hopefully we will be able to engage with the ANC and get the town up and running again”, said Williams.

Should the new ANC led Council decide to employ the mayoral committee again, the DA will be effectively removed from all the important decision making processes.

It is interesting times ahead for Jeffreys Bay.

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ANC wins 9 out of 15 wards in Kouga

May 19, 2011

The ANC emerged victorious in the battle for the wards in Kouga after the 2011 Municipal election.

The DA won 6 Wards, with the ruling party winning 9 and retaining control of the Kouga Council.

The results are:

Ward 1: JULIUS ZOLANI MAYONI : ANC
Ward 2: EARL DEON HILL : ANC
Ward 3: SOPHIA HENDRINA THIART : DA
Ward 4: FREDERICK JACOBUS CAMPHER : DA
Ward 5: EUGENE DANIAL GROEP : DA
Ward 6: PHUMZILE JOSEPH OLIPHANT : ANC
Ward 7: BULELWA CYNTHIA KOLITI : ANC
Ward 8: DAVID ERNEST ALDENDORFF : DA
Ward 9: DAVID LULAMELE NTSHIZA : ANC
Ward 10: PATRICK KOTA : ANC
Ward 11: MERCIA UNGERER : DA
Ward 12: BENJAMIN FREDEMAN RHEEDER : DA
Ward 13: VUYELWA NATHALIA MATODLANA : ANC
Ward 14: TIMOTHY NCEDILE MELENI : ANC
Ward 15: MZUKISI ERIC MAHLATHINI : ANC

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18 May is voting day in South Africa

May 17, 2011

South Africa’s 2011 local government elections take place on Wednesday, 18 May. Use this handy fact file to make sure you know when, where and how to vote.

Independent Electoral Commission

All elections in South Africa are overseen by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), a permanent body created by the Constitution to manage free and fair elections at all levels of government.

The 2011 municipal elections are taking place in eight metropolitan councils, 226 local councils, 44 district councils and 4 277 wards.

As with national and provincial elections, municipal elections take place every five years. The five year term of the present municipal administrations started on 2 March 2006 and has now ended.

There are three types of municipal councils in South Africa:

Category A: metropolitan councils;
Category B: local councils; and
Category C: district councils.

In all local municipalities (like Jeffreys Bay) there are three types of elections in each ward:

Local council ward;
Local council proportional representation;
District council proportional representation.

Information for registered voters:

Registered voters can text their ID number to 32810, contact the IEC call centre on 0800 11 8000 toll-free from 8h00 to 17h00, or visit www.elections.org.za to check on their registration details.

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Use your vote wisely

May 16, 2011

Helen Zille, the leader of the DA has issued to a challenge to South Africans: Put the DA to the test and see what has changed in 5 years time! Read what she has to say!

South Africans of all races have learnt that if they support a party that has failed them, it will continue to fail them. That is why blind loyalty to a political party in a democracy is a bad thing. It allows corruption to flourish. It allows governments to get away with poor service delivery. It allows political parties to forget about the people and enrich themselves.

The people of South Africa are being neglected because the politicians in power think that the voters will keep voting for them whatever happens.

If we don’t break this cycle, we will never get anywhere. This election is your chance to take our democracy to the next level; this is your chance to help our democracy succeed.

We are asking you to lend us your vote so that we can prove what we can do in government.

If every voter who wants change goes out and votes DA on election day, we can win. If we win, we will get to work straight away. Everything we do will be to improve your lives. After five years, you will see a difference.

If you don’t see a difference after five years, you can take your vote somewhere else at the next election. That is the point of a democracy. Your vote belongs to you and nobody else. It is your power.

So use your vote wisely. Don’t just give it away to the same party for old time’s sake. Think about the future.

Put us to the test on Wednesday. Vote DA.

Helen Zille

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DA and COPE unite for upcoming election in Kouga

May 13, 2011

Positive negotiations between the leadership of both the DA and COPE took place in Humansdorp recently.

The positive atmosphere at the meeting resulted from healthy cooperation between the two parties during a by-election in Humansdorp and Kwanomzamo two years ago.

During the upcoming local municipal elections COPE unfortunately did not manage to register their candidates in Kouga and Koukamma in time due to an administrative blunder.

After lengthy discussions the two parties resolved that they share a common view with regard to the municipal election:

• The ANC must be stopped in both Kouga and Koukamma due to corruption, financial and administrative malfunctioning and poor service delivery.
• Both the DA and COPE want Kouga and Koukamma to render “clean” administration and top class service delivery.
With the above in mind the COPE leadership in Kouga and Koukamma recommended the following:
• That their followers remain members of the COPE party;
• That due to the fact that COPE could not register candidates in Kouga & Koukamma, their followers will vote for the Democratic Alliance.
• That future cooperation between the DA and COPE be jointly decided.

The DA leadership in Kouga and Koukamma agreed to incorporate COPE members in local municipal structures.

The election takes place on 18 May. Make sure you vote and save J’Bay.

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Kouga budget meeting tomorrow

May 10, 2011

THE Kouga Council will be meeting tomorrow at 11am with both the municipal budget for 2011/12 and the revised Integrated Development Plan (IDP) due to be tabled at the meeting.

Kouga Speaker Magdalene Dlomo said there has been overwhelming public feedback regarding the proposed budget for 2011/12.
“The official cut-off day for feedback was April 21, but we received numerous comments after this date.

“We want to ensure that all these comments are either addressed in the budget or that proper explanations are given to the public if their comments could not be accommodated. That is why we’re allowing the municipal administration an additional week to work through the public submissions” said Dlomo

The Speaker emphasised that the Council wanted the new budget to be a document by the people, for the people.
“Our role as the Council is to ensure a better life for all. The IDP and budget are important tools to help make this a reality.”

Members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting. To book a seat contact Petru Krugel at 042 2002 200.

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R 200 million missing from Kouga Municipality

April 28, 2011

The long awaited Auditor General’s report into the finances of Kouga Municipality has revealed massive irregularities totalling in the region of R 200 million.

The Weekend Post revealed unauthorised expenditure of R 75 Million due to overspending of the approved budget, bad debts, overspending on the salary budget, grants and interest.

A common sight at Main beach - another sewage dam.

Irregular expenditure of R 27 Million was also identified by the Auditor General.

R 16 Million could not be accounted for due to incomplete documentation.

Fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R 5 Million plus R 21 Million that was written off by the ANC led Council.

There is also concern that around R 20 Million is owed to Eskom, who could quite literally turn off the power to the towns of Jeffreys Bay and St Francis Bay.

The decline in serviced experienced by the residents of the towns concerned can be explained by the under spending on the maintenance budget.

The ballooning salary bill due to the “jobs for pals” cronyism that is occurring in the Municipality has a large part to play in the terminal decline of services.

Sewage spills in Humansdorp were also criticized by the Auditor General, which together with the regular spills onto Main Beach in Jeffreys Bay prove that the current Council is incapable of running the town effectively.

The time for apathy is over. Residents have the opportunity to make a difference and vote the ANC out of power in the town in the upcoming local elections. The Democratic Alliance is the only viable option to save J’Bay. How many millions would go missing under the current regime over the next five years should they remain in power?

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Time for change

April 12, 2011

“You can choose five more years of bribery, corruption and poor service delivery or you can choose the DA”

Helen Zille

Howls of protest about the lack of service delivery are being heard across the land and with good reason.

Municipalities in South Africa are in poor shape after having suffered mismanagement, corruption, nepotism and sheer inefficiency over the past decade and a half.

Jeffreys Bay is no exception and since becoming part of a wider Kouga Municipality there has been an alarming decline in the services in the town.

A common sight at Main beach - another sewage dam.

One example is the sewage spills on Main Beach which have been happening for years and are just getting worse. Dams are now being constructed on the beach at Kitchen Window surf break to prevent the flow of sewage into the ocean.

After subjecting Main Beach to contamination, Jeffreys Bay eventually lost the coveted Blue Flag accreditation. The beaches are the prime assets of our town and deserve to be treated with respect.

Our honourable mayor, Mr Robbie Dennis did not cover himself with any glory when he blamed the community for being disloyal and going to the media about the continual sewage spills on our beaches.

We have a right to clean beaches that are safe for our children to play on. Our ocean must be safe for us to swim and surf. Our beaches must bring in the tourism rands, dollars and euros.

The protests surrounding President Zuma’s visit to Port Elizabeth are testimony to how things have changed in South Africa. Can anybody even consider Nelson Mandela not been honoured and respected when he visited the communities of South Africa as President of the country?

It is time for change……

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