Ratepayers’ Association Seeks Your Input

Dear Member,

We are contemplating adding a category of affiliation called “Supporters of the Plett Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association” and would welcome your opinion.

The reason the Ratepayers’ are recruiting Supporters is to broaden its representation in the communities, and leverage the social pressure a larger association can exert. It is not to garner more subscriptions, but to provide better representivity in court when representing Bitou citizens. We want to include as many residents as possible who share our values of open, responsive and accountable government for our town and who are affected by our work.

It is well known that our council has become all but dysfunctional, and as many of the municipal officials no longer provide the necessary skills and resources to govern adequately, the need and benefit of our oversight activities increases.

The work is expensive as the miscreants use municipal funds and resources to abuse the law as a shield to avoid scrutiny and accountability. Until now we have depended on a small membership and relatively expensive membership fees as well as a few generous donations of money and expertise to fund our activities, especially unavoidable civil litigation.

This equation no longer makes sense.

Our Association needs to reflect the vastly increased number of people who are affected by and are coming to depend on the PBRRA’s efforts to ensure that governance and service delivery do not collapse completely.

Very few of these beneficiaries are able to afford to pay high subscriptions but may be willing to provide their backing and moral support by becoming associated with the PBRRA and thereby letting their voices be heard and strengthening our arm to ultimately benefit them indirectly.

To this end it has been proposed that we establish two levels of affiliation: Full Membership and “Supporters of the PBRRA.”

The information we have and the corruption we pursue is in the interest of ALL residents and should be available to everyone. The Supporters will not have to pay, although they can make a small donation if they like; they will receive all the communications that Members receive, but have no voting rights or a say in how the Association is run. They will stay informed, support the PBRRA, and in time, we hope, become full paying members.

Please give us your views so we can decide what best to do.

Kind regards,

Peter Gaylard

Chairman