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Dear Members, The COVID pandemic has challenged the activities of the Plett Ratepayers' Association, but on the litigation front, we continue to work hard. In spite of the lockdown, we remain focused and are redoubling our efforts to prevent fruitless and wasteful expenditure from gobbling up a large proportion of municipal revenue, especially in light of the
13 May 2020 Dear Mayor Lobese, Can you please explain to us the delay in demolishing the derelict and illegal structure on ERF 156 below Signal Hill, which is unsafe, an eyesore, and is negatively affecting property values around it? We have heard from the Planning Department that the delay is with the mayor's
29 April 2020 Dear Members, The Plett Ratepayers' Oversight Report of the draft Bitou 2020-21 Budget is below. We are very concerned that it does not reflect the current economic environment, does not provide for maintenance and expansion of our aging infrastructure, and includes massive non-essential expenditure. We have forwarded our concerns to Mayor
15 April 2020 To: Mayor Lobese; Cllr Gcabayi; Cllr Mbali; Cllr Wildeman; Cllr Swart; Cllr Nel; Cllr Windvogel; Cllr Kamkam; Cllr Matyila; Cllr Olivier; Cllr Seyisi; Cllr Ndayi; Cllr Jacob By email Dear Sir or Madam UNLAWFUL OVERPAYMENT OF REMUNERATION OF SENIOR MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS The maximum remuneration payable by a municipality to a senior official
Bitou Municipality announced on 26 March that they "resolved to unblock all prepaid electricity meters" during the lockdown. The Plett Ratepayers' queried this and received a response from CFO Mkhefa on 3 April that it does not include the practice of shortchanging prepaid electricity consumers on their purchases. Since Mr. Mkhefa's letter was marked Personal,
14 April 2020 Department of Local Government Western Cape Dear MEC Bredell, On 14 February we provided you with a carefully crafted report on the State of Failures of Governance in Bitou. Taken alone, the picture it revealed was a most unhappy one but read in the light of your forensic report, it was
10 April 2020 Dear Members, The Plettenberg Bay Ratepayers' and Residents' Association has, in its capacity as amicus curiae (friend of the court), today filed its Heads of Argument in the matter of Department of Local Government MEC Bredell vs Bitou Municipality, relating to the unlawful appointment of Lonwabo Ngoqo as Bitou Municipal Manager. In addition,
27 March 2020 The Plett Ratepayers' Association wrote to the Bitou councillors on 13 March requesting that they ensure the municipality desists from unlawfully selling prepaid electricity at unapproved tariffs. It is obvious to us that the councillors and officials have no intention of responding to these objections to their unlawful actions coming from
13 March 2020 Dear Mayor Lobese, On 4 March the KwaNokuthula community staged a protest march over the Municipality’s failure to credit purchasers of pre-paid electricity with their full amount. In law, they have every right to object to the way they are being treated. The contending positions are set out in the CXpress
They say there is no rest for the wicked but, in this case, just how wicked are the rest? Not a lot, if the forensic report is anything to go by. This is a comfort. It confirms what most residents of Plett know from experience – Bitou staff may sometimes be short on skills
