A new Ward 18 Ratepayers and Residents Association has been set up in the heart of KuGompo City and is determined to win the hearts and minds of the metro’s most affluent suburbanites.
Areas that will be served by the new association are Nahoon, Stirling, Stirling Extension, Bunkers Hill, Vincent, Vincent Heights, Berea, Woodleigh and Nahoon Valley.
The association announced it’s arrival on Thursday, with newly appointed spokesperson Kevin Harris saying community action had entered a new phase of progressive engagement with underperforming or failing authorities.
Harris announced the new line-up: Grant Sinclair (chair), Bulla Wood (deputy chair), Dale Onions (secretary), Russell Seymour (treasurer) and the other committee members are George Murdoch, Russel Kruger, Alan Wild, and Andy Morris.
Issues would be broached in the same ethos as that of Tidy Towns Buffalo City and the Quigney Ratepayers and Residents Association, which have made great strides in cleaning up the Esplanade, Nahoon beach and Corner and at Batting Bridge.
But these were advances will run together with the traditional role of tax-paying residents to take on financial gouging, translucent promises, and catastrophic infrastructure and environmental collapse.
Buried in their opening statement was the issue residents forming a community improvement district (CID), in terms of section 22 of the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act, which can be formed if more than 51% of ratepayers agree to pay an extra levy to an NPO, such as a ratepayers’ association, to spend on an agreed-on budget for repairs and maintenance.
But this was still down the road, said Harris, who was busy trying to find out how many ratepayers lived in the areas, which he said was reaching 13,000, but this information was not readily available.
A ward 18 WhatsApp group inviting residents to join up attracted 112 followers on launch.
In an opener press release calling on residents to join, Harris said: “We find ourselves in a crisis with water outages, electricity outages, infrastructure breakdowns, and especially the upsetting, the over-reading of meters using mysterious accounting and rating, which has created a lot of frustration and raised suspicion.
“Our association will highlight ongoing problems with crime and the pressing human crisis of homelessness, vagrancy and mental illness on our streets. We are committed to finding positive solutions.
“There is much to be positive about: the association will be announcing at Street of the Year Award and a Commercial Property Node of the Year award.
“We believe there has been a lack of social cohesion. People have not been expressing themselves effectively.
“Yet, there has emerged a fresh new way of looking at all seemingly relentless issues — how to go beyond concern and frustration and actually do something about it,” Harris said.
He said pollution and sewage systems would be a “key focus” because of the damage they did to the environment, public health, tourism and investment.
“We are inspired by the example of the Quigney Ratepayers and Resident’s Association, which recently turned social problems into solutions by transforming car washers into street cleaners and safety monitors who have become champions of a free, safe, and clean Esplanade.
“There is a new way of grappling with municipal overbilling and civil servants not doing their work as per their constitutional mandate. We want to escape the negative spiral that inspires apathy and bitterness and replace it with active public participation. We want people to come out of isolation and start living productive, informed, successful and happy lives. We want to care about the next generation.
The arrival of the residents’ association in a DA bastion ward run by Jason McDowell drew comment from DA’s caucus leader Sue Bentley who called for “collaboration”.
She said McDowell had “been encouraging residents to form a ratepayers association for a number of years and so he is delighted that the association has formed in his ward”.
“Any time residents want to step up to make their living environment better amidst municipal failures is something incredibly positive, and so we welcome the formation of the Ward 18 Ratepayers and Residents Association.
“An elected ward councillor is one person trying their utmost best to assist residents in a municipal environment where it is becoming increasingly difficult to get efficient service delivery, and so a collaboration between the elected ward councillor and the ratepayers association can only be of benefit for residential households and the businesses within these suburbs.
“Making our own living environments visually more well kept and pleasing, as well as residents having a collective louder voice when dealing with the municipality is what local government is all about.
BCM spokesperson Luzuku Buku welcomed the establishment of the new ratepayers association in ward 18.
He said they welcome “any non-partisan community organisation.”
“Rather than viewing this trend with animosity, we see it as a powerful sign of communities taking active control of their local areas,” Buku said.
“There is a noticeable and encouraging shift towards collaborative problem-solving, and we are eager to partner with these emerging institutions.”
He said the metro’s approach is built on a “foundation of successful existing partnerships”.
“For instance, the work we did over the years with the Border Kei Chamber of Business and Commerce, particularly around waste management and recycling through the call-to-action programme, demonstrates what can be achieved when we pull together.
“We also see first-hand how community safety dramatically improves when our law enforcement and the SAPS work hand-in-hand with community policing forums, much like the dedication we witness from Tidy Towns and local clean-up crews,” he said.
Buku said having organised resident associations helps coordinate communities, allowing them to engage with the metro far more effectively.
“While we maintain an open-door policy and look forward to working closely with these forums alongside ward councillors and ward committees, we do anticipate occasional areas of difference.
“We welcome healthy dialogue, provided these platforms remain strictly non-political, non-partisan, and do not seek to replace the local state.
“It is our view that local government development planning is deeply participatory. It relies on well-structured community organisations to ensure residents’ views and interests are properly channelled for better impact,” Buku said.
