Cleaning up and protecting the city’s natural environment has emerged as a key theme of the new ratepayers’ association launched last week.
Ward 18 Ratepayers and Residents’ Association spokesperson Kevin Harris is the founder of Save Nahoon, a member of the Green Ripple public interest group and was active locally in the successful campaign to prevent the Wild Coast from being blasted, drilled and mined by oil major Shell.
The new association covers the core of the city’s most affluent suburbs —Nahoon, Stirling, Stirling Extension, Bunkers Hill, Vincent, Vincent Heights, Berea, Woodleigh and Nahoon Valley.
Harris said its lineup included people who had a close association with the coastal environment. They are surfers, paddlers, walkers, bathers and nature lovers.
The association is led by Grant Sinclair (chair), Bulla Wood (deputy chair), Dale Onions (secretary), Russell Seymour (treasurer). The other committee members are George Murdoch, Russel Kruger, Alan Wild and Andy Morris.
“We intend to work closely with 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,” Harris said.
“We are very worried about threats to the environment.
“We find ourselves in a crisis with water outages, electricity outages and infrastructure breakdowns, which all impact on the environment.
“This is happening alongside ongoing problems with crime and the pressing human crisis of homelessness, vagrancy and mental illness on our streets.”
However, he said the association would tap into the new civic approach, which was to find solutions.
“There is much to be positive about: the association will be announcing a 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 — starting with environmental degradation, how to go beyond concern and frustration and actually do something about it,” Harris said.
“Pollution and sewage systems will be a key focus because of the damage they do to the environment, public health, tourism, investment.
“When you look at a trashed place you feel trashed. We you see an effort to clean, repair and uplift, you feel uplifted.
“We are inspired by the example of the Quigney Ratepayers and Residents’ 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 environmental impacts.
“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.
“Connecting to our natural world is a very healthy activity and makes environmental projects and campaigns vital to communities.
“We want to care about the next generation.”
BCM spokesperson Luzuko Buku warmly welcomed the new association, saying it was encouraging to see the shift toward collaborative problem-solving.
“We are eager to partner with these emerging institutions.
“Our 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 South African Police Service work hand-in-hand with community policing forums, much like the dedication we witness from Tidy Towns and local cleanup crews.”
Ward 18 councillor Jason McDowell and DA caucus leader Sue Bentley reacted positively, with McDowell saying he was delighted because he had been encouraging residents to form a ratepayers’ association for a number of years.
Bentley said: “More and more residents are needing to take ownership by keeping their pavements mown and gutters litter free; by stepping up against the breaking of municipal bylaws, loitering, drinking in public, illegal businesses, illegal signage etc, and then of course, on a larger scale, for standing up for the environment against sewage spills which are having such a detrimental effect on the Nahoon River and Beach, which is one of our greatest assets in BCM.
“Any time residents want to step up to make their living environment better amid 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.”
Daily Dispatch
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