Author: Chantel Edwards

George Municipality has been announced as winner of the Top Performing Municipality (Category B Municipality) by the Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities (AMEU) on 4^th October. The  68^th AMEU Convention hosted in the first week of October ended with a gala dinner and the award was presented to Electrotechnical Services Director, Bongani Mandla as part of the AMEU President’s Legacy Awards Programme.  The award celebrates the Electrotechnical Services department of a top performing category B municipality with the focus on revenue management, repairs and maintenance, infrastructure capital expenditure, electrification amongst other areas.

The participating municipalities were compared on a number of aspects where performance had to be indicated. These aspects included non-technical losses, which are measure d by subtracting the technical losses from our total Losses. George Municipality performance in this regard equated to 4.87%. Other aspects reviewed were revenue collection, electrification of formal houses as well as un-proclaimed areas, indigent customers with access to Free Basic Electricity, Unplanned Outages that are restored to supply within industry standard timeframes and capital expenditure.

TOP PERFORMING LOCAL MUNICIPALITY (CATEGORY B MUNICIPALITY)
An award celebrating a top performing category B municipality with focus on revenue management, repairs and maintenance, power purchase, BBBEE procurement spend, training and development, infrastructure CAPEX spend and electrification

As part of enhancing biodiversity awareness the Executive Mayor of George, Alderman Leon van Wyk encourages the citizens of George and the Garden Route to participate in the Great Southern Bioblitz (CSB) competition that will run between 28 – 31 October 2022.

According to Christine Ridge-Schnaufer of The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) Eden, the ‘Great Southern BioBlitz’, or ‘GSB’ for short, “is an international period of intense biological surveying to record all the living species within several designated areas across the Southern Hemisphere in Spring.”

“The purpose of this event is to highlight both the immense biodiversity spread across the Southern Hemisphere in the flourishing springtime, as well as to engage the public in science and nature learning using the citizen science platform iNaturalist,” said Ridge-Schnaufer.

“By the end of October, the natural world is on full throttle. Flowers are blooming, insects are emerging, birds are singing, and reptiles are coming out of their winter hibernation. It makes sense for the Southern Hemisphere to observe life at this time of year. The Garden Route has participated in the international City Nature Challenge (CNC) and GSB since 2020 and has been amongst the leaders for biodiversity each time – not really surprising.”

To mark the end of Tourism month (September), Mayor van Wyk visited the Garden Route Botanical Gardens in George on the 27^th of September, as one of the sports to show off tourism attractions in George. Cornè Brink of the Garden Route Botanical Gardens took Mayor van Wyk through the tour.

“As the George Municipality, we encourage all the citizens in the George young and old to take pictures using cameras and cellphones of all natural living things on the iNaturalist website throughout the Garden Route Municipality,” said Mayor van Wyk.

“I think it would be great if all of us take a little look at nature out there and start recording this and be part of this whole competition in this wonderful and beautiful natural world we live in.

It is important to know how many wild animals and plants can be found in the area. Are there any threatened species? It is all about Conservation, sustainability, community involvement, making a difference, thinking global and acting global, and of course just wanting to be out in the veld too!

Photos / Observations can be taken using a cell phone or camera (with GPS data) and after registering on iNaturalist www.inaturalist.org must be uploaded onto the website.

Online tutorials are available and answers to any questions can also be found online.

The artificial intelligence of iNaturalist helps with Identifications but is not infallible.

BUT hundreds of experts internationally use iNaturalist (e.g. SANBI) and search for new observations of their specialist field and fine-tune Observations made by Citizen Scientists (you and I !) –  depending on the quality of the photos. And all free of charge.

As each individual becomes more familiar with the functions of iNaturalist, more and more nodes of information can be found, studied and extracted.

https://greatsouthernbiobl.wixsite.com/website/about
Twitter @GSBioblitz
Instagram gsbioblitz
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GSBioblitz/
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2022-garden-route
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2022-umbrella
https://www.greatsouthernbioblitz.org/

George Municipality manages and maintains a water and sewer infrastructure consisting of 116 sewer pump stations and 28 water pumpstations. Ongoing loadshedding implemented by ESKOM over the past few years has raised concerns with regard to maintaining the supply of potable water and sewer services.

The public often forget that during loadshedding the municipal sewer pumpstations and water treatment works are put under immense pressure and traditional storage capacities are not adequate to compensate for extended loadshedding.  In a bid to ensure the provision of adequate potable (drinking) water and to reduce water pollution, 13 large-scale generators have been installed at our most critical installations including high risk identified sewer pumpstations as well as at the Old and New Water Treatment Works that treats raw water received from the Garden Route Dam into potable (drinking) water.

The tender process for the purchase and installation of two (2) 1100kVA generators to be installed at the Garden Route Dam raw water pumpstation have recently closed and are being evaluated. This installation will mean that during loadshedding or any other power outage, raw water can continue to be pumped to the Water Treatment Works for processing for drinking water supply.

Executive Mayor Ald Van Wyk noted that these generators need to be constantly re-fuelled with diesel as the municipality attempts to keep operations going under conditions where Eskom is unable to provide electricity for up to eight hours per day. A recent Energy Summit hosted provided insight into the state of Eskom. “I was recently privileged to attend an Energy Summit where the Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter spoke about the power station fleet that had been operated at maximum capacity for too long. This means that maintenance needs to be undertaken to avoid complete breakdowns. New generating capacity will have to be built over the next 15 years,” said Ald Van Wyk.

The purchase and installation costs of such large-scale generators is high, and these are not just ordered off the shelf. To date the municipality has installed generators at our sewer pump stations at a cost of approximately R13 million. The generators are diesel operated and have weather and vandal proof covers for protection. All of the backup generation is equipped with anti-vandalism and anti-theft devices and each is linked to the municipal telemetry and SCADA system for remote monitoring purposes.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GEORGE, WILDERNESS AND UNIONDALE – TOURISM UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2022
#GeorgeTourism #GettoknowGeorge

Us ‘Georgiette’s’ are the envy of many South Africans, especially those far from the sea, sitting in long daily traffic commutes – we won’t say who! We get to live in one of the top destinations in South Africa, surrounded by abundant beauty yet with all our creature comforts within proximity, and plenty to do and see! Each month the tourism section of George Municipality, which represents the tourism offices for George, Wilderness and Uniondale, will be sharing snippets to help you get to know more about all that is available to you and your visiting friends and family.

EVENTS
What’s happening in George, Wilderness and Uniondale? Here are a selection of events taking place during the rest of September. View the full events calendar at visitgeorge.co.za.

16-17 September 2022: Thousand Sensations Craft Liquor Food & Music Festival at Woodfield’s Estate in George
This annual event takes place on the Map of Africa and calls to craft enthusiasts! Not the knitting type, mind you, but the liquor type. The festival village is set in a natural amphitheatre and there are a variety of craft beer and other types of craft liquor stalls, as well as food vendors, a tented area and a large live music stage with headline artist, Andra. Festival goers can taste and buy the crafts available which include beer, whiskey, gin, brandy, rum, and more. Set in an incredible natural setting, situated on grasslands between natural, pine and eucalyptus forest and with magnificent mountain and sea views, this festival promises too not only be fun but also beautiful. Make sure to organise responsible transport arrangements.  Get more information via Facebook.

23-25 September 2022: The Heritage Festival at the George Showgrounds
A new festival on George’s calendar, this is a music and dance festival celebrating South Africa’s diverse arts and heritage.  There are a multitude of South African performers in genres such as local Jazz, Boere Musiek, Mbaqanga, Khoi Music, reggae, Afrikaans pop, folk, blues, Xhosa/Tswana/Sotho traditional music and even more.  Delicious South African style food will be on sale, featuring bobotie, braai, mala-mogodu (aka tripe) and other interesting fare.  The event includes an art exhibition and children’s activities.  Attendees are encouraged to dress according to their cultural heritage.  heritagefestival.co.za

24-25 September: GTR Endurance Lap Race at the George Riding Club
The GTR Endurance Lap Race is a timed 3km cross country route that is repeated in laps at the George Riding Club.  The event village will keep the energy up with live local artists and DJ’s on stage while you run.  There are solo and team entries and runners can enter either the 1 hour, 6-hour, 12-hour or 24-hour categories.  The 12 and 24-hour team entries include camping at the George Riding Club.  Learn more via Facebook.

25 September:  Lions CCPP Group Karoo to Coast from Uniondale to Knysna
This beautiful yet challenging journey consists of a 100km solo mountain bike race, which starts in Uniondale and crosses the magnificent Prince Alfred’s Pass in to Knysna.  This year’s event is already sold out, but friends and family of riders can support them at the start or finish line. karootocoast.com

30 September-1 October: Uniondale Landbouskou at the Uniondale Showgrounds
The highlight of this event is the exciting South African Saddle Horse and Cape Boerperd show presented by the East Cape Agricultural Show Association. Visitors can look forward to competitions in various categories of horse gaits. In addition, there will be a merino show, boerbok show and a youth show where youngsters can showcase their self-bred livestock. Take part in wine-tastings, and enjoy the entertainment provided by the Bottomless Coffee band.   See more on Facebook.

Local Markets
Hinenni Community Market
Every Wednesday from 08:30-15:00 | 63 Bo-Langvlei Road, Rondevlei, Wilderness

Outeniqua Family Market
Every Saturday from 08:00-14:00 | N2, George

Sunday Funday Market
Every Sunday 10:00-15:00 | Milkwood Village, Beacon Street, Wilderness

MOUNTAIN BIKING TRAILS
Do you know that George has a website dedicated to our trails?  Go to georgetrails.org.za for detailed information about available routes, distances and difficulties in not only mountain biking but also trail running, hiking and paddling.

The following excerpts have been taken from our latest blog, ‘Popular mountain biking trails to try’.

The Montagu Pass provides a whole different challenge. Start at the Engen garage in Heather Park and ride on until you reach the turn off to the pass. As you climb the pass, you’ll get up close with spectacular mountain scenery and fynbos panoramas. The elevation gain is approximately 862 meters. Once you’ve crossed the pass, you’ll find yourself in Herold, a tiny hamlet dating from the 19th century. Rest for a while at the Over the Mountain Tea Garden before returning to George. The route covers approximately 33 kilometres.

A popular trail taking mountain bikers through the pastoral farmlands of George is the Dairyland Route. This one start and ends at the famous Redberry Farm, the perfect place to relax and recharge with great food and something to drink after two hours of cycling.  The route comprises of 27 kilometres of mostly gravel road through dairy farms. Beautiful Outeniqua Mountain views can be enjoyed as the trail is not too taxing with little climbing.

Read the full post at visitgeorge.co.za/blog

Want to know more about what you can see and do and where you can stay in George, Wilderness and Uniondale? Contact George Tourism:

044 801 9295
info@visitgeorge.co.za
visitgeorge.co.za

Extended power outages on Monday early evening, 12 September in George affected a wide area including the George CBD, George Industrial area, parts of Thembalethu, Pacaltsdorp, Groeneweide Park, Herold’s Bay, Bos en Dal, George South and Delville Park. The duration of the outage was between 19h00 – 21h00 with certain areas being restored quicker than others.

On being alerted to repeat tripping of one of our 66Kv lines,  a municipal electrician went out to do a thorough investigation of the situation and discovered that the 66KV line had been damaged with parts of the line missing or  lying on the ground. The cost of damage and theft  to electrical infrastructure is estimated at R1.1 million. A case of damage to, and theft of electrical infrastructure was opened on 13 September 2022 at the Conville Police Station.

As a temporary measure and in order to restore power to the affected areas, the line (located between the N2 and Tamsui Substation) was secured  and municipal Law Enforcement officials together with a private security service provider kept guard to ensure no further damage or theft could take place.  The 66Kv line is currently in the process of being repaired and it is expected to take up to 5 days before the line is fully functional.

Executive Mayor Ald Van Wyk condemned the theft and vandalism to essential municipal electrical infrastructure. “George Municipality cannot overemphasize the danger of stealing or tampering with energised cables. We strongly warn the public to refrain from stealing municipal property, as it is not only cause huge losses paid from taxpayer’s money,   but also poses severe danger to the lives of those tampering with energised cables,” he said.

The reward for information leading to successful prosecution
George Municipality will pay a reward of R2500 to any person who offers information on vandalism and theft incidents, and which information leads to the successful conviction of the perpetrator in a court of law.  The paying of a reward is legal in terms of the MFMA (Municipal Finance Management Act) and is seen as a necessary step to combat the expenditure on the repair of vandalized and stolen infrastructure. These assets are managed by the municipality on behalf of the public and it is George Municipality’s request to all our residents to assist us in looking after and protecting these assets.

The public can contact the Anti-fraud toll-free number 0860 044 044 or report vandalism and theft verbally, by email, or any municipal or SAPS telephone numbers. The member of public reporting will have to supply their name and contact details as their testimony may be required for the successful conviction of the perpetrators. The identity of those helping will be protected.

George Municipality calls on the community to please assist us in eradicating theft and vandalism, to allow the municipality to improve service delivery levels and continue to improve the quality of people’s lives.

Report Illegal connections to 044 801 9222 or after hours on 044 801 6300. Report to 0860 044 044 with details to be eligible for the reward.

George motorists will be thrilled to see that the resealing of CJ Langenhoven Road  between Davidson Road (Provincial Hospital) has been completed, a full month earlier than the predicted mid-October. This is a testament to our Civil Engineering Department who undertook the remedial project at short notice after receiving a significant portion of the Provincial budget in the form of Grant Funding
(80%)with the proviso that the spending is completed before the end of December 2022.

CJ Langenhoven Road and York Street are both Proclaimed Roads within the Municipal Road Network, and the budget and maintenance of these roads is provided for by the Western Cape Government: Transport and Public Works who is the Road Authority of both Roads. CJ Langenhoven Street opened to traffic today and will be followed shortly by the opening later this afternoon of the Market/York Street intersection allowing for bi-directional traffic flow, another roads upgrade project which is progressing well despite initial delays.

Alderman Leon Van Wyk paid a visit to view the completed CJ Langenhoven Street together with Acting Director for Civil Engineering Services, Lionel Daniels. CJ Langenhoven Street is not only part of the main arterial network giving visitors access to the CBD and many tourist attractions, but also part of the GO GEORGE route.

Investment in road infrastructure contributes to growth and productivity
Our roads make a critical contribution to economic development and growth and, in turn,  bring about all-important social development. “A well-planned and well-maintained road network is vitally important for development in that they provide access to employment, social, health and education services.  George Municipality’s investment in road infrastructure directly contributes to growth and productivity in that roads are a critical component of the production process of many goods and services, “ said Director for Human Settlements, Planning and Development, Ms Lauren Waring.

Access to main tourist attractions
Joan Shaw, Tourism Manager for George is thrilled that both roads CJ Langenhoven and York Street which are exceptionally important tourism routes are being updated. “The two roads form part of the main arterial network giving visitors access to not only many tourist attractions, but to the hub of the city of George  – that is the home of many regional facilities including  the George Airport, George Provincial Hospital and the Medi-Clinic, Home Affairs Offices, the Garden Route District Municipality, to name a few.  York street also houses many of the banks and foreign exchange facilities.

These roads also give access to many of the main tourist attractions such as the George Golf Course, Fancourt Hotel and Estate, Red Berry Farm, Herold’s Bay, Gwaing River mouth, the historical hub of the city centre, and many other first-class accommodation establishments, restaurants, and attractions, including unique shops. It is vital that such these and other routes, are in tip-top condition for the upcoming festive season, along with the rest of our facilities”, said Ms Shaw.

York Street closes this week for resealing
York Street will close later this week for the milling and removal of existing bituminous layers as well as milling and removal of existing gravel base layers that will be followed by the placing of new bituminous base layers and surface layers. The anticipated completion date is currently projected by end of mid-January 2023 for the entire project, but the entire inbound lane will be completed before December 2022. Site inspections in this regard have already been undertaken with Provincial Roads officials.

The works include the  rehabilitation of York Street Northbound lanes with the  approximately 1000m section in question,  located between Nelson Mandela Boulevard in the south and Courtenay Street in the north. The George Civil Engineering Department will simultaneously address any storm water and kerb repairs that are needed.

George Municipality apologises for the inconvenience and appeals to road users to be patient and exercise caution during the project. Please look out for and adhere to temporary road signage and roadworks personnel.   There will be height differences between the two lanes while milling and asphalt construction work is in progress. Drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians must exercise extreme caution, especially during wet conditions and when visibility is poor and at night. Vehicles with low profile tyres and motorcyclists must take extra care.

To celebrate Tourism month, George Tourism is putting every tourism business in George, Wilderness and Uniondale on the map  – the Google Map this is – literally!

In the first Tourism Month post-pandemic, George Tourism made a strategic decision to invest in upgrading access to our destination’s tourism service providers.   One means to this end is to ensure that every tourism business that is registered with the local Tourism Office, is successfully uploaded onto Google Maps.

Joan Shaw, Tourism Manager said, “Although we have long encouraged our products to do this, the area remained sorely under-represented on this platform, so we have tackled the issue head-on and tasked an intern in our office, Chulezwa Vena, to upload listed activities, restaurants, and accommodation onto Google Maps.”

The accommodation service provider then also links directly to Booking.com(if registered with the site)  and Google Maps displays the listed price of the accommodation establishment, making it quick and easy to book your accommodation online.  In the past month, more than 500 products have been uploaded to Google Maps, making a huge impact on the platform.

If your business is not registered with the local tourism office, please register this Tourism Month, and be a part of the action to improve visibility of tourism products in the destination.

To register, call Lindi Harley on 044 877 0045 or e-mail membership@visitgeorge.co.za.

Executive Mayor Leon Van Wyk and Ricus Fivaz, Municipal Project Manager show off the newly refurbished sidewalk along Market Street.

The upgrade of Market Street established in 1836, extends from York Street to Hope Street and includes a full rebuild and upgrade of the full road reserve and the asphalting of the pedestrian walkways that include the paving of the furniture zone. (The furniture zone is the area for all street furniture (benches), streetlights, waste bins etc. and acts as a buffer between the roadway and the pedestrian sidewalk.) Of the five (5) phases, three will be completed by end of September 2022 and the latter two phases,  are progressing well with completion set for February 2023.

Additional grant funding was gazetted in March 2022 and savings elsewhere on the GIPTN overall 2021/22 budget allowed for phases 4 and 5 of the Market Street upgrade to proceed to construction earlier than planned. An important requirement of the GIPTN funding agreement with the Municipality is that all road upgrades on GO GEORGE bus routes must be upgraded in terms of Universal Accessibility(UA) as well. What this means is that any individual (whose mobility, communicative ability, or understanding is reduced) should be able to access and use a pedestrian walkway, a bus stop and so on,  freely and independently.

George Municipality has made huge strides in drafting the necessary UA design criteria and is currently one of few that have produced a design criteria document. Retrofitting a street such as Market Street in terms of UA is not an easy task with provision having to be made for both property and street universal accessibility access, while maintaining the longitudinal slope along Market Street’s walkways.  The science of universal accessibility is not exact due to the variability of existing roads that must be adapted to, and a number of lessons learnt during the construction of Market Street will be carried forward to future road projects.

Executive Mayor Leon Van Wyk visited Market Street recently following an ad hoc inspection undertaken by UA specialists to assess the implementation of UA along Market Street. “These improvements for universal accessibility allow for wider pavements and will go a long way in ensuring mobility and access for all users; those making use of wheelchairs and people with other disabilities. Although this has been a challenging project that included the repositioning of streetlight poles to allow for universal access compliance, these challenges have been adequately managed by our highly skilled civil engineering services department.  This is a world class improvement along one of the most important and most used stretches/sections of road for our Go George bus services. These improvements are most welcome and will go a long way in servicing all residents,” said Ald Van Wyk.

The UA specialists noted that significant progress has been made by the Municipality and solutions were provided for any shortcomings which were identified during the inspection.  Further regular inspections are planned to ensure that the ongoing construction achieves the maximum level of UA compliance given the complex urban environment that is being upgraded.