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Hi All Here below is RERA’s measured response to the OM Pringle Bay baboon troop management plan any of us first heard of at the emergency ward meeting on 29 April. Notwithstanding our personal views, the Exco has decided to take a differentiated approach to that of REC in the interests of continuing to improve our relationship with the OM officials we depend on as a community. You may disagree, and please do feel free, either way, to mail or DM me with your views. We take very seriously our duty to represent you first and then all of Rooiels and its fauna and flora as best we can. All supporting information can be accessed via the RERA pages of the Rooiels website. The minutes of our 2nd Exco meeting, held in late April, just before the ward meeting, will be with you this week. All the best Tom Tom Baigrie Chair RERA Exco 2024 [email protected] +44 7930572892 12 May 2024 email sent to the
Manager Environment Overstrand Municipality and the Ward 10 Councilor cc: Chair Rooiels Conservancy, Chair Rooiels Boatclub, Chair Rooiels Outreach, RESA: Peter Koning, Mark Butler and Hilgard Muller Dear Theresa and Liesl We the Rooiels Ratepayers Association, write in response to the OM paper published at the Ward Meeting on 29th April 2024. Before writing we asked all in our village to give us their views and personally consulted the chairman of the Pringle Bay Ratepayers association to best understand theirs. RERA is keen to ensure that our dialogue with OM is constructive and positive in all matters relating to our village. And in particular that our relationship with OM is such that we can be trusted with advance knowledge and input into any initiative that affects our village and Conservancy in any way. We would ask for your assurances in this regard and regret that you did not feel able to consult with us before this Emergency Ward Meeting. That meant that your referencing the Rooiels Conservancy as a potential new home for the Pringle Bay baboon troop caused shock and anxiety in our village. We in Rooiels are deeply concerned at the impact your programme in Pringle Bay will have on the conservancy and the smallholdings in particular, and our members are monitoring any potential impact on the Rooiels troop and whether there is any increase in the current minimal human-baboon conflict seen in Rooiels. As you know, the Rooiels troop causes far less human division and conflict than has happened in Pringle Bay. We believe that is because the vast majority of people in our village have adapted our human behaviour to ensure that the troop get minimal access to human food, bird seed etc. Notwithstanding that, our village fynbos is a rich source of baboon food and so they are present daily amongst us. We try to minimise conflict by: 1. Baboon Information Officers, who we train and pay to who work during seasonal peak times in the CBD. 2. Supplying educational material and coaching to new residents 3. Supplying pamphlets and suitable signage to our businesses. While failures and thus conflict happens, it is rare and we feel confident that the evidence is mounting that Rooiels is proving that the best way to manage baboons is to better manage the humans they inevitably interact with when we choose to live on their feeding grounds. We do acknowledge that this is much easier in our smaller community, than it is in much larger ones. We have several times surveyed our village regarding baboons and consistently found overwhelming support for a tolerant and human-behaviour focused approach. For our most recent survey please see here. This approach is of course the opposite of that taken by yourselves at the request of the Pringle Bay Ratepayers Association, and while we respect Pringle Bay’s right to determine the way in which they solve their problems, we agree with our Conservancy that the methods you are using are unlikely to work in the medium term, as baboons are cleverer than that (as your paper explicitly acknowledges), and that in the interim your methods are cruel and unnecessary. In Rooiels we understand that it is we who have imposed ourselves on the biosphere and we owe a duty of care to all those species and individual animals we have impacted. Trying to establish a form of apartheid where one species seeking natural food is kept out of a valuable source of same, or chased through it, is in our view, the wrong way to solve the issues caused by species interaction. Having said that, we as RERA will make no demands upon Pringle Bay or OM, but rather let your experiment play out. Our colleagues at the Rooiels Conservancy, and other groups whose primary purpose is the protection of fauna and flora, may well take a more confrontational approach, and many of our members will join them in that. We would urge you to take their concerns seriously. For our part we will focus on working closely with OM in maintaining and improving all aspects of life in Rooiels. In that spirit of co-operation and good management, we would ask that you let us share in regular reports on the success or otherwise of the Pringle Bay programme and that these are, where possible, independently verified. In particular we view casualty and birth rate amongst the Pringle Bay troop as being a key indicator of the levels of distress being caused by your programme. We look forward to your response and ongoing effort to do the right thing by all your ratepayers and the animals that have to live alongside us. Yours faithfully Tom Baigrie Chair RERA Exco 2024
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Please send any comments to [email protected] by 30th June 2023 Contents
RERA is delighted to report that, after many months of lobbying and collaborative working with our Overstrand Municipality (OM) , our efforts to further protect Rooiels and our surrounding nature have achieved real success. Deep within the recently approved OM’s INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT PLAN REVIEW 2023 TO 2024 on page 50 you’ll find the section on PLANNING FOR ROOIELS. There it states under the title Protection of the Environment: “RENR (Rooiels Nature Reserve): the areas around the coast, at the Kopje and on the Rooiels River estuary (all currently zoned for nature) are to be officially proclaimed as protected nature reserve and included as an extension of the Rooiels Nature Reserve.” Furthermore, under Protection of the Environment and Character of the Area, the Hangklip Conservation Overlay Zone for protecting dark skies in our three villages is to be adopted and the section also notes that: the RECOZ Heritage Overlay Zone is to be adopted and extended to all of Rooiels. On page141 it confirms that the Rooiels Estuary Management Plan is in the process of finalisation by Province, along with others like the Buffels, Klein and Bot. And on page 261 it notes that: “Key to the future of Rooiels is to protect the vast environmental resources within and surrounding the settlement. The unique characteristics of Rooiels include its location along the coastline within a pristine natural setting.” “A New Urban Development area (was) proposed on the southern periphery of the settlement (of Rooiels). The land area (on Erf 324) is ± 1.12ha in extent (and) was included by realignment of the urban edge with the coastal management line. However, the historical subdivision of the project has (now definitely) been cancelled. It is arranged that the area be a protected area. Development of this area therefore (is) no longer an option.” One could say that a scorecard of the Integrated Planning Review might read: Nature 5: Urban creep 0! These rulings have been won by several years of continuous and very diligent Exco effort by RERA and REC and our colleagues in Pringle and Betty’s Bay. The work has at last yielded increased legal and thus real protection for the nature we all live within. We hope this delights you as much as it does your 2023 RERA Exco. We are grateful to the OM executive and their advisers for their farsightedness and wisdom in making these decisions. More feedback The recent heavy rains have created significant damage and Betty's Bay and Pringle Bay were/are particularly badly affected putting a strain on OM Kleinmond services. Reports from the Councillor and OM have been shared on Rooiels Communications and OM are hoping for some assistance from the Provincial Disaster Management team. They have asked all residents for their patience and understanding as they try to repair damaged roads as soon as possible. The progress on illegal developments which RERA has raised with authorities is slow, but we are assured, steady. You might be interested to learn that on legal breaches RERA cannot get involved beyond reporting and enquiring. There are relevant legal cases currently on the Municipal Court Roll and some engagement of different agencies with owners to try to rehabilitate the natural fynbos where possible. The OM have also asked all residents to download the CollabCitizen App to facilitate quicker and more responsive service delivery and to build evidence of demand. You can download the App for free on either Google Play or the Apple Play Store. The requests for Tankers and all other service requests can best be made through the app, which allows you then to track the response and timing of service on the App. Please note that all service requests relating to your property must be reported either on the CollabCitizen App or directly to the OM Kleinmond (028-271-8400) and a reference number obtained. If you would like RERA to follow up because of non-response, please can you be sure to provide the reference number. RERA will take up Issues involving general infrastructure or impacting nature (i.e. not related to individual properties) as soon as we are alerted, but it’s vital those directly affected also report it to OM directly, not least to provides additional weight to RERA requests for speedy resolution. All on RERA 2023 Exco wish you as warm a winter as possible! REC calls for volunteers to tackle Hakea sericea infestation on Klein Hangklip range The Rooiels Conservancy is calling for volunteers to tackle the spreading silky hakea infestation on the eastern slopes of the coastal range between the watershed and the R44. We want to mobilise a special team for these hacks which will fall outside the traditional 1st-Saturday-of-each-month hacks. Volunteers should be relatively fit. Contact Gavin Lundie on +27 82 900 3173 if interested. Photo: Dense infestation on an inaccessible mountain slope.The Guide to Biological Control of Alien Hakea Species, Plant Protection Research Institute. HOW TO GIVE Don’t forget to pay your membership fees for 2023! Thank you to those who have already paid and a huge thank you to those who have so generously donated additional funds. Rooiels has three member-based associations which depend on membership fees and donations. They are the Rooiels Ratepayers Association (RERA), the Rooiels Conservancy (REC)), and the Rooiels Security Association (RESA . All three organisations work for the common interest in Rooiels. The 2023 annual membership fees are R250 for RERA, R250 for REC and R2000 for RESA. Hack day (just another way to give): First Saturday of each month, except if specifically postponed or cancelled due to weather or conflicting calendar events. New Year Greetings and New Committee The RERA AGM was held on 30 December, attended in person and on Zoom by 56 people. All the documentation presented is available on the RERA AGM webpage. The meeting appreciated the superb Breeze and commended the Editor and the outgoing committee for their service. The AGM reaffirmed the importance of retaining Rooiels as natural as possible and called on the new committee to continue to protect Rooiels and to be open and inclusive. The new Executive Committee for the Rooiels Ratepayers Association in 2023 was voted in: Achim Halpaap is a Special Adviser to the UN with expertise in the green economy, chemicals and waste, and governance. Inspired by their stay in Cape Town in 2001-2002, Achim and Beatrice bought in Rooiels to be close to nature and to appreciate the many diverse dimensions of South Africa. Andre Roothman will retire to Rooiels as soon as his house is completed. He is a celebrated South African actor and teacher. He hopes to explore his painting and artistic talent more upon retiring. He is passionate about nature and served on the 2022 RERA EXCO. Eldie Brink was on the 2022 RERA and REC Excos as Secretary and has served Rooiels for many years with his legal and accountancy background. He brings deep institutional memory and local government expertise to the committees. He has worked tirelessly for Rooiels over many years - see the Breeze history article for some of his early contributions to Rooiels. Lesley Lundie retired with her husband Gavin from Gauteng to Rooiels 5 years ago, having visited their holiday home in Betty's Bay over the years. She owned a building company and has business and development experience. She has been meticulous as the Treasurer of both RERA and REC Excos in 2022. She is passionate about nature and Rooiels. Piet van Rensburg is an outdoorsman with a passion for nature, mountain biking and the underwater world. His company specialises in international business facilitation and intellectual property rights. He is committed to supporting Rooiels and liaising with authorities to ensure that service delivery and new developments enhance, rather than undermine, the Rooiels Vision. Tracy Cronje served on the 2022 RERA Exco as a relatively new resident. She showed her commitment with tireless support for animals and nature and liaised with a range of agencies to support traffic calming and environment-friendly signage and education materials. She is currently working as a home loan finance facilitator in the Overstrand. Tom Baigrie has been a Rooiels swallow since the 1980s. He and Alison built their Rooiels home in 2006 and they now spend more and more time here each year. Tom founded a financial advisory business in the UK and has recently stepped back to become its Chair rather than CEO. He has time now to serve Rooiels and hopes to do so using the values he learned in business: Openness, Tolerance, Care and Honesty are the way to Excellence. Anuta and Kay are retiring from the Committee and would like to thank all Rooielsers for their support during 2022. We congratulate the new RERA Executive Committee and thank them for serving. We wish them every success in the coming year. Best wishes to you all for 2023 - Kay Leresche and Anuta Scholtz Please go to the Membership Page to join for 2023 Copyright © 2023 Rooiels Ratepayers' Association, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive email from the Rooiels Ratepayers' Association (RERA). RERA AGM
meeting linkDear RERA members This is a reminder of the RERA AGM to be held on Friday, 30 December 2022 at 10:00 in the Pringle Bay Community Hall. For those members unable to join us in person, here is the Zoom link: RERA (Rooiels Ratepayers Association) AGM https://uct-za.zoom.us/j/96363165718?pwd=UXA2WWx0bnpTMDBuKzBSdy9KSzFSQT09 We hope to see you there. The DRAFTAGMMinutes were prepared, as has been the custom across the years, by the incoming Exco. The link was sent out together with the first formal Notice of the Meeting, together with links to the Nomination and Proxy Forms on 6th December. As indicated to all Rooielsers in the Mailchimp of 22nd December, we have four of our current EXCO availableforrelection and 3 nominations for new Exco members to join the team: Achim Halpaap, Piet van Rensburg and Tom Baigrie. The Minutes of the most recent meeting held with the Mayor are now available from the Plot Clearing webpage together with the OM Policy on Plot Clearing and all the Objections made. Hope you are enjoying the festive season and we look forward to seeing you at the AGM. Sincerely, RERA Exco Dear Rooielsers
The R44 between Gordons Bay and Rooiels re-opened on 20th December but it will have only one lane operational and there may be additional delays when they are actively repairing the road. The Survey on the new Overstrand Municipality policy to cut back fynbos on empty erven has been closed. The survey was carried out to assess whether the RERA and REC Excos are representing both their members’ and the Rooiels community’s majority perspectives. That is to confirm that the majority of Rooielsers want to retain all the fynbos intact and healthy. They prefer to focus fire prevention on the removal of alien invasive plants and deadwood. The survey concluded that 97% of people want invasive alien vegetation to be cut from empty erven and road reserves, while 89% also want deadwood to be cut from empty erven and road reserves. A resounding 95% of people prefer to have fynbos preserved and for it NOT to be cut back to 50 cm. Sorry Images of the Graphs are not coming out on webpage. For the survey graphics results please refer back to the Mailchimp sent or link to the Plot Clearing page where full results are available -- In summary the results indicated that 95 percent of the 106 respondents do NOT want the fynbos cut down to 500mm (0.5m) - they want to retain the fynbos preserved and intact. 97% of the 106 respondents want to see alien invasive plants cleared from empty erven and road reserves 89% would like to see deadwood removed The Rooiels Ratepayers’ Association (RERA) will hold its AGM on 30 December 2022 at 10:00 in the Pringle Bay Community Hall. Although only paid-up members of RERA are eligible to vote, we welcome all Rooielsers to join us. Your copy of the Breeze (if not yet collected from the RESA office) will be available. The meeting will be followed by a break for tea. Four members of the current Executive Committee are making themselves available for re-election. Nominations for the Exco closed on 20 December and new nominations include Tom Baigrie, Achim Halpaap, and Piet van Rensburg. They have all accepted their nominations to stand. The Rooiels Conservancy (REC) will hold its AGM also on 30 December 2022 at 12:00 in the Pringle Bay Community Hall. Again, only paid-up members can vote, but all Rooielsers are most welcome to attend. There will be information on Rooiels for all new residents. The current Exco have all made themselves available for re-election and they are joined by Ralph Pina who has accepted the nomination to stand. We look forward to seeing you there and wish you Seasons Greetings in the meantime – hope it is festive. Sincerely, RERA and REC Excos Policy to cut fynbos to 0.5m for Firewise Erven and RoadsidesRERA needs to know the position of the majority of Rooiels ratepayers as we take discussions forward.
Please take a minute to answer three questions. Take survey Join us for the 50th anniversary of the Rooiels Ratepayers' Association and the launch of Breeze 2022 on 18 December 2022 at 18:00 PM at Gossip Corner. Limited seats are available, so secure yours directly with the restaurant. The price of R150 includes a welcome drink and a divine short-rib main course. Additional drinks and dessert menus are available. Attendees will receive their copy of Breeze 2022 at the event. Contact details to make bookings at Gossip Corner: Telephone number: 076 853 2955 Email: [email protected] Website: gossipcorner.co.za Address: 5 Anemone Street, Rooiels  Dear fellow Rooielsers,
This is the feedback from the Kleinmond Police Joint Operations Committee (JOCOM) meeting on Monday, 28 November 2022. Crime numbers remain relatively low. This reflects the seasonal crime patterns, which often involve aggression. Aggressive behaviour also accompanied the business robberies in Kleinmond and Betty’s Bay in the days before the current two-week reporting period. Rooiels and Pringle Bay did not report any cases for this period, while Betty’s Bay reported a few burglaries and drug-related incidents. Most of the crime was centred around Kleinmond and included burglary, arson, assault, general theft, drug-related crimes, and gender-based violence. Reports indicate that most burglaries and theft occur during the day, with roughly a third of incidents occurring at night. SAPS arrested several suspects in all categories. They successfully used the available licence plate recognition (LPR) camera system to track a vehicle and arrest the culprits. The station commander secured resources to increase visible policing and emphasised the importance of collaboration between all neighbourhood watches and security agencies for successful crime prevention. SAPS appeal to everyone to be vigilant. Child & Family Welfare offices sadly fell victim to arson with their offices severely damaged. Rapid action by the community led to the arrest of two suspects. They reported a significant increase in children being abandoned. The Child and Youth Care Centre is at capacity and registration for additional capacity is a complex matter. There is a pressing need for temporary carers, especially for infants. The Sixteen days of activism started on 25 November with a special event for individuals affected by Gender-based violence. Joint efforts of SAPS, Child & Family Welfare, CPF and other care facilities will host several events to raise awareness of the areas that are most in need. The annual Visible Policing drive-through plan is being finalised – another collaboration effort of SAPS, Overstrand Municipality response departments, neighbourhood watches, and security agencies. Details of the event will be communicated through the various Community Policing Forum (CPF) member channels. The Community Policing Forum (CPF) announced that the Hangklip-Kleinmond Community Police Forum Facebook page will soon be revised and will be the formal channel of communication with the community. The Kleinmond Festive lights will be switched on by the mayor, Annelie Rabie, on Wednesday 9 December 2022 at 20:00. Please report all incidents immediately to SAPS, your security agency, and your neighbourhood watch to initiate the required activities. ASK Control room
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AuthorThese are the Feedback from the Ward Committee Meetings and other related matters. They are lodged in Date order going backwards. Archives
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