BR&RA Archive of Committee Meetings

BR&RA Committee Meeting dated 16th October 2024
  1. Monty reported on the progress of the Commonage management as follows:
    • The commonage committee met last week with the council, which Monti chaired and Danie took minutes. At a meeting tomorrow this committee will be launched properly to elect a chair and other officials as well as 2 representatives of horse owners, cattle owners. traditional healers, etc. This will become a model for municipalities with the official status a sub-committee to the municipality.
    • Cattle owners are fencing the commonage along the R 67 for which project they need some materials, like poles, wire etc. Warwick reported that we had received donations for this project and will hand over the money to Monty to purchase materials. The department of Agriculture had promised a lot of poles, but then retracted their promise again, when progress was too slow.
    • David Gradwell is opening old roads in the commonage for grazing cattle.
      It was suggested that clearing thorn trees would get more grazing for the cattle.
    • The application to re-open the quarry for sandmining is a concern and an application for a shooting range was discussed.
  1. Clare reported that a film company had approached Sue from Sunshine coast tourism.
    • We will only know if the money applied for regarding waste pickers and fencing will only be decided upon by the end of the year.
    • She also mentioned that Abbi’s sister who has a certificate from Lego should maybe be approached for funding.
  1. Warwick reported that the last year finance report was awaiting approval.Thea reported that the Pineapple Festival in February to be held at Summerhill was sorted with regard to music and vendors. She will engage with the Museum and Selena at the Stage for local talents. She will put out an appeal for volunteers to help with the Festival organisation closer to the time. Caitlyn needs to be contacted regarding the pineapple costume to ensure that this will be done in time.
  1. Elizabeth said
    • that she met the chair of the PA Rotary Club and spoke about the possibility of Bathurst becoming a subgroup of this rotary club.
    • Met with the new roads manager for the eastern side of Ndlambe, as well as
    • The new water manager from Ndlambe.
    • AGM to be held at 5.30 for 6.00 pm on Wednesday 13 November in the Memorial Hall at Bathurst Showgrounds. There will be the chairs report, the financials report and then the election of the new committee.

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    BR&RA Committee Meeting dated 11th September 2024
    1. Elizabeth reported that she is in the process of trying to finish:
      a) The traffic calming petition to go to Traffic office and
      b) The outline of what people think might be possible in a redevelopment of the Town Hall site.
    2. Thea reported on progress and stumbling blocks regarding the Pineapple Festival on 24-25 February 2025 at Summerhill.
      She also reminded BRRA about the wish-list from Bathurst to Sunshine Coast Tourism for possible funding.
    3. Warrick reported that the Financial Records from the previous had finally been signed off.
    4. Maya reported that she is updating the events calendar on the website regularly. She also mentioned that the annual Art Affair Bathurst is being held on 2nd – 3rd November 2024.
    5. Clare reported on the waste pickers on the dump in the commonage. She had some quotes for clothing and will try to get the funding for this from Cacadu Development Agency foundation.
    6. Monty had the first Commonage meeting, which was a success and there is now a Commonage Committee. They will meet regularly in future and start projects regarding the Commonage. Stock theft is a big problem in and around Bathurst.
    7. Danie reported on the success of the CPF and the crime database which is now pretty complete. He also said that communication is key especially regarding the security blocks, some of which are very organised and other not as yet. There is definitely an organised crime syndicate in Bathurst. SAPS biggest problem is that their vehicles are forever broken down and not available.
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    Minutes of BR&RA Committee Meeting held on 13th August 2024

    Apologies were received from Elizabeth (hospital), Danie (CPF meting) and Monty (sick).

    1. Danie had been elected Chairman of the CPF 2 for Bathurst village and reported that the CPF committee had been organised and sent communication from the Community Police Forum (CPF) regarding the allocation of executive portfolios and our initial actions in line with our safety and security objectives.
      He gave thanks to Chris Boyd and Georg Kukulies for taking the first (of many) steps to get the CPF off the ground.
      1st CPF communication available here.
    2. Thea reported about meeting with Sue from Sunshine Coast Tourism and the ideas / wishlist to
      a) Beautify Kowie Road
      b) erecting Gym sites at certain stations throughout our village
      c) Signage to our River walk
      d) extending the side walk from the 4-way stop to the Co-op
      e) promoting film crews to operate in and around BathurstPineapple Festival date was finalized to be the last week-end in February to be held at Summerhill. She will engage with Sue regarding the necessary permits and with Eugene from Summerhill about more details. Caitlyn needs to be contacted regarding the pineapple costume.
      Thea and Clare proposed pineapple candles and pineapple bags. Maya suggested to speak to Lee about bags for the fest.
    3. Clare reported about the difficulties she has to engage with businesses regarding the Eastern Cape Website from Hogsback. She will consider to carry on with this project after the meeting with Sue on 14th August 2024Clare also reported regarding the recycling project and that she made contact again with the East London company, Cliff Freeman from DNF recycling contacted her last week, and hopes that we can engage them especially after the PA recycling site has closed down.
    4. Warwick reported that the financials from the previous year had been finalized and that he is awaiting the report.
    5. Maya reported that she had updated the website with various sports available in Bathurst / Nolukhanyo and has made use of sharing the Bathurst Country affair on Facebook to add to the BR&RA visibility. She also updated the website with the fact that the Municipality had cleaned water reservoir and consequently the water in Bathurst is now clear.
      She also mentioned that the website should be reporting the fact that the Kowie Museum has / is being relocated to the Bathurst Museum, which is looking good.
    6. Monty’s report: Following conversations with Director Booysens of the Ndlambe Muni Community Protection Services , Lucy Gradwell and Khayalethu Sweli of the Cattle Owners, we had a meeting with Director Booysens, Deputy Director Fanie Fouche, Mr Mbolekwa LED officer, Sipho Velezanizi By-Laws Officer, Andile Marazi, the council Speaker and former Bathurst Ward Councilor to discuss the fencing of the rubbish dump, and the commonage generally – especially keeping cattle off the main road. It was decided to hold a meeting next Thursday in the Nolukhanyo Community Hall to establish a committee with broad representation. The Committee will try to be inclusive and create a common understanding of commonage matters. One of the issues the council is keen to do is to establish a cooperative for those who rely on the commonage for economic sustenance, i.e. cattle owners, agricultural project, traditional healers, etc.

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    Minutes of BR&RA Committee Meeting held 16th July 2024

    Elizabeth introduced Danie Boneschans, who has joined the BR&RA committee – security portfolio. Michelle Oosthouzen confirmed that she is happy to continue doing background research for BR&RA, but that she wishes to resign from membership of the committee.

    Thea was telling us that the Pineapple Festival should ideally happen when pineapples are ripe in February / March of the year. It was decided that the weekend after 25th February would be the best date, being far away enough from Christmas as well as from the Bathurst Show at end of March/ beginning of April, i.e 1st March 2025. The pineapple festival will be an ideal opportunity where villagers can talk to the surrounding farmers.

    Thea also suggested a Fete to generate some income where members struggling with paying the fees could take part with home-made goods to be sold instead. However, it was felt that R 150.00 per person is not too much to pay, but a fete could be adopted to generate some income at some stage.

    Warrick confirmed the number of paid-up members we have at present. It was also noted that the BR&RA Municipal Services whatsapp group has more than double the amount of members, and it was agreed that these people should be encouraged to become BR&RA members. Elizabeth said that she would address them individually. Warwick confirmed R 9400.00 in the bank account.

    Maya to add new activities like table tennis, etc. to the website and needs to speak to Russel regarding events on the facebook page to be spread to add to the visibility.

    Michelle needs to speak to the Municipality regarding the storage of tools for plumbing, etc.

    Elizabeth reported that the Municipality had cleaned water reservoir and consequently the water in Bathurst is now clear. She will do the following as soon as she is able to after her operation:

    1. Write a covering letter and send petition regarding the request for speed bumps to the provincial office via our municipality
    2. Type up a proposal to the municipality regarding our burnt-out hall, in order to enable them to address this via a public participation process.
    Minutes of BR&RA Committee Meeting held 25 June 2024
    1. Commonage:

    Monty met with Director Booysen and the cattle owners where it was decided to put together a committee to address all issues re the Commonage.

    1. NRF

    A NRF meeting was attended by Monty where various topics were discussed, including the resignation of the Kenton Rates Association, successful Municipal Rate reductions on appeal and the inclusion of all Rate Payers’ Associations when Municipal debt is to be written off. There was also a request that all Municipal levies be ring fenced for that particular use

    1. Records and special projects:

    Clare led a discussion around looking into the economic use of recycled material. She also suggested the involvement of Rotary to acquire machines.

    1. Festival calendar and co-ordination:

    Eugene Ceronio is keen to proceed with discussions around the proposed Pineapple Festival with Summerhill being the primary venue (due to the location of the Big Pineapple).  All Bathurst business will be involved and role players advised/contacted once a date has been set.

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    Minutes of BR&RA Committee Meeting held 9 May 2024 

    Elizabeth introduced Brad Clements who has joined the committee for Community Development.

    1. Chair’s report:
      a) Met with Thea and Eugene at Summerhill to explore the possibility of staging a Pineapple Festival (and other events) there.
      b)       With Chris Boyd, Ahmed Ravat and Vivien Challis sorted out a process for getting municipal support for an appeal to Province for installation for traffic calming measures on the R67 through the village.  Petition and supporting affidavits to be delivered to Traffic by the end of May.
      c)       Attended a very badly supported CPF meeting in Nolukhanyo, and a follow-up the next day at SAPS, which resulted in a special CPF meeting the next week in Nolukhanyo.  This reinforced progress made with CPF and SAPS over the past months.  Const Harry Gobizembe is the bright young CPO in charge of community liaison.
      d) Attended the Farmers’ Association meeting in Shaw Park.  Discovered that Bathurst and Port Alfred SAPS are not running the mandatory monthly Rural Safety meetings – an issue for the CPF.
      e) Ran a “6 Thinking Hats” workshop with BR&RA Exco to collect creative ideas about the potential re-purposing of the site of the burnt-out Town Hall.  Another workshop is scheduled for 11 May with members of various village groups.  It is hoped that we can run similar workshops with people from Nolukhanyo, specifically with the help of Cllr Sweli, Vuyo Sontsonga, Funeka Xhanti and the CPF chair.  BR&RA and the Councillor have been trying for months to get the municipality to establish a date for a Public Participation meeting, but without success.  Followed up with Jacques de Wit of Bushmans’ regarding how they have arranged the community “takeover” of their town hall.
      f) Participated in a Teams meeting of the Ndlambe Ratepayers Forum, regarding Ndlambe’s dismal debt collection record.  This is being pursued by NRF in the coming weeks.
      g) Also attended the Ward 10 Mayoral Imbizo in Port Alfred and the follow-up NRF meeting to understand aspects of the proposed 2024/25 budget.  Ward 5 Mayoral Imbizo are scheduled for 13 May – village am, township pm.
      h) Met with Robyn Cloete regarding the state of the R67 verges, and the possibility of getting a group together to tidy them up.  I have been promised feedback on any necessary safety precautions by both Theresa Jacobs (Traffic) and Fanie Fouche (Community Protection Services).  This is imminent.
      i) In response to community indignation about the behaviour of the “car guards” in the CBD and the general rise increase in incidents of crime in the village, Chris Boyd called a community meeting to try to plan a way forward.  As a result of this, I met with two relatively new arrivals in Bathurst, Danie Boneschans (currently out of town) and Brad Clements.  Chris arranged a follow-up meeting which is likely to spin off the revival of the CPF in the village.
    2. Warwick reported that there is approx. R 9000.00 in the kitty and it was suggested that BR&RA should not make any donations, but instead rather lend out things like toolkits, etc. to good causes. This way we keep the assets under BR&RA’s control.
    3. Clare reported on progress on waste disposal with a company from East London and Phinneas from the waste pickers at the dump. Discussions are still ongoing.
    4. Maya confirmed that the website is up-to-date, but had very little to report other than to update the events calendar since the last committee meeting. A website called Bathurst Gems has been developed, with a listing of most of Bathurst businesses and their details.
    5. Thea suggested to use the old IPC Notice Board for a new Road map that Kane is developing. Printed Road maps should be available at various points / shops to enable to grow any events into more.

    MINUTES OF COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2024

    1. Welcome and apologies
      Mauneen resigned from the BR&RA committee due to work pressures.
      Michelle was delayed on a trip from Port Elizabeth
    2. Finances:
      Warwick reported R 9457 in the account and .49. currently paid-up members.
    3. Records and special projects:
      Clare mentioned that the rocket stove project is still running, but continuation has been postponed due to non-availability of venue as well as the participants.
      She also mentioned that she is looking into the possibility to resurrect recycling at the dump and suggested that BR&RA will ask the Municipality for a roof at the dump for the pickers and the goods to be recycled.
    4. Website:
      Maya reported on updates and is waiting for various presentations regarding Snakes and the Commonage to be posted on the website.
    5. Commonage:
      Monty reported that he has had meetings but has not yet been able to create a Management committee. Buffalo Kloof have acquired the lease of Waters meeting 1 and 2 as well as have bought a nearby farm. They are serious about taking over and incorporating part of the commonage. Main obstacle for this are the cattle owners, and they may be looking at buying a farm for the cattle owners for grazing.
      There is the need to involve San Parks as well as Biosphere to avoid losing access to the commonage for Bathurstians.
    6. Membership development:
      Mauneen reported in absentia that no new members had been recruited.
    7. Festival calendar and co-ordination:
      Thea is struggling to get hold of business owners, but was advised that the Pineapple Festival should ideally be held at Summerhill. A meeting with Summerhill is scheduled for Friday 12th.
    8. Other issues:
      a)        Things to raise with municipality on Thursday morning meeting: Roads, water, dump
      b). Bathurst Stream walkway: a proposal will be given to Fanie Fouche & Willem Nel for       preliminary consideration next week.
      c) Burnt out Town Hall: Elizabeth reported that we are still waiting for a date for the required public participation process.
      d) Village crime, including recent spike: A wide-ranging discussion took place, and it was resolved that steps should be taken to facilitate the revival of the Sector 2 CPF, and generally improve service from SAPS.  BR&RA still needs to find the right person for the Safety and Security portfolio.
      e)  Traffic calming proposal for Kowie Rd and Trappes St: Elizabeth had created a sheet for signatures to be collected for a petition for speed humps. These will be given to the Municipality in due course together with affidavits from directly affected parties.

    MINUTES OF BR&RA COMMITTEE MEETING 5 MARCH 2024

    Elizabeth welcomed and introduced Michele Rowley (guest & representation of Bathurst on Sunshine Coast Tourism) and Thea Venter (co-ordinator of Pineapple and other Festivals)

    Elizabeth reported on the following:

    1. Looking into complaints about dogs and number of dogs per property
    2. Created a new whatsapp Forum BR&RA MUNICIPAL SERVICES for any complaints about roads and water, etc.
    3. Several people have expressed concern about the need for traffic calming measures along Kowie Rd and the Trappes St hill. Chris Boyd to co-ordinate an effort to organise a petition and the delivery to the relevant authority.
    4. Friends of Waters Meeting Thicket Festival is to be on 7 September, and BR&RA would like to turn it and any other festival inti a 2-day event to attract overnight visitors. Elizabeth suggested that Mauneen ask Village businesses what they’d like to organise around the theme for Sunday, 8 September. She also asked Monty Roodt if he would lead a commonage hike. Ideas regarding other events were also discussed, i.e. activities in Bathurst during the Grahamstown Festival, Music Festival, Art and the possibility of corporate team building, etc.
    5. Filling in for the missing committee members – S&S and Ward Liaison. The Community Conversation on 13 March will be about Safety & Security and all security companies, SAPS, CPF and neighbourhood watch have been invited to speak.
    6. Elizabeth has been attending CPF meetings in Nolukhanyo and is gradually developing the relationship. She and Warwick plan to meet the CF chair and treasurer on Thursday 7 March to discuss the possibility of using the BR&RA banking facility for CPF fundraising, as they say they are not allowed to have a bank account. Also to get an understanding why CPF is used for fund raising.
    7. She has also attended Ward Committee Meetings for Wards 5 and 6. Liaison with them could become important, especially in regard to getting things put on their agenda, because quite senior municipal officials have to attend them.
    8. Liaison with the local municipal officials has been reasonably successful regarding roads and water.
    9. Burnt out Hall: Elizabeth and Mzwandile Sweli will again ask the Municipality about a date for the public Participation process.
    10. Information on our PAIA applications: Michelle to follow up.
    11. No news as yet from Fanie Fouche regarding the walkway along the Bathurst stream. Maybe Friends of Waters Meeting will get involved with this project.

    Monty reported that he is making headway with the creation of a working commonage management team.

    Maya will post Monty’s presentation on the Commonage on the website soonest.

    Warwick reported that BR&RA have now 43 paid-up members.

    Mauneen had been concentrating on recruiting Company members and will then start with residents thereafter. Initially, she and Thea will approach organizations together.

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    Minutes of BR&RA Committee Meeting held on 15 February 2024
    1. Elizabeth welcomed all and received apologies from Monty Roodt
    2. Committee Membership
      (a) Ward 5 Committee representative is still needed on our committee, any suggestions are welcome.
      (b)          Safety and Security champion is also still needed. This has not yet been resolved.
      (c)           Membership and Events: Welcome back Mauneen
      (d)          Siphokazi Mkrakra’s membership was terminated due to non-attendance
    3. Portfolio Reports:
      (a)          Treasury – Warwick reported that CIPC have still not changed committee members, therefore Bank Account is also not yet changed.  Cash available R 7994.00
      (b)          Website Updates:  GV Roll posted under Home / Stats & Info including the objection form, write-up of SRA under last General Meeting on About page and Road & Water article under Community Initiative with its own page. Events are also updated regularly.
      (c)           Commonage – Monty to meet with Mzwandile Sweli, FoWM talk on 2/3. So far both our PAIA Applications – iro dump and commonage – have been ignored by the Municipality.
      (d)          Research – Michelle had been investigating about Citizen’s arrest, SRA, Water Act & Reality.   When he’s better Monty, Michelle and Elizabeth need to meet to plan further.
      (e)          Membership and Events – Mauneen requested pricelist from TotT for ads and suggested to make the TotT and Tourism Board honorary members of BRRA. Mauneen suggested a Newsletter to members, for example of water and rates, which Elizabeth will write.
      (f)           Special projects: Clare reported on her workshop with Stoves, as well as on her meeting with Abi and Caitlyn regarding plans for making a walking pineapple and their ideas for the Pineapple festival.
    4. Chairs report about what’s been happening:
      (a)          Special Rating Area and 2024 Valuation Roll have been dealt with and the write up is on the website.
      (b)         Water affairs: Chris asked to test water of Golden Ridge and Lushington, treatment Plant and at homes. Michelle will ask Rhodes University as well as the Research Station to assist with this.  Elizabeth to meet with various experts.
      (c)           Road verges, village aesthetics and alien clearance. After Cheryl complained about the grading, Elizabeth asked her or Nick to be champion to Municipality for verges and bush clearing.
      (d)          By-law enforcement – dogs, horses, cows, goats and various other livestock. Elizabeth reported on her meeting with Anel Slabbert.  We’re going to start publishing educational articles.
      (e)          Relationships – township (Ward 5) and farmers (Ward 6): Meeting scheduled 7/5/24 in Nolukhanyo. Ward 6 meeting scheduled 8/5/24 in Port Alfred. BRRA committee meeting will be held 9/5/24
      (f)           Tourism board appointment: Michelle Rowley has agreed to be Bathurst’s liaison to the PA tourism Board. On 22nd February there is a meet and greet of the Tourism Board at The Stage in Bathurst 6 pm. Everybody is welcome to attend.
    Minutes of Committee meeting 10th January 2024
    Topic Decision
    1. BR&RA Exco members: Elizabeth Milne introduced the new BR&RA Exco member Michelle Oosthuizen who is acting as our researcher.
    Richard is taking over the Safety and Security portfolio and met with SAPS and Multi this week in regard with this.
    Therefore, Monty Roodt will be lumped with the dump as part of the commonage.
    Clare Rothwell will be focusing on NGO responsibilities and will be handling Special Projects.
    2. Target dates: We all need to work with target dates for our projects for 2024 in order to get results, especially when working with the municipality.
    3. Security: Information shared at monthly CPF meetings in Nolukhanyo needs to be disseminated to our members, partly because they need to be informed of their rights.
    4. Commonage: Monty informed the meeting of his intention to create a committee to engage with the problems in the commonage regarding
    a) the dump
    c) recycling on the dump
    d) economic benefits for the community
    e) creating livestock camps on the commonage
    5. Roads: We need a plan as to what needs to be done by when. We also need someone to co-ordinate the photos regarding the state of the roads.
    6. Membership Elizabeth is hoping to get Mauneen Charter back to the committee with the view of making her Membership Secretary, as we need to increase our membership numbers.
    7. Burnt-out hall: PAIA applications need to be followed up, as there has been no response to these from Ndlambe Municipality. 
    8. Bathurst Walkway We also need to follow up with Fanie, regarding the requirements of our proposed walkway along the stream.

     

    Minutes of Committee meeting 15th November 2023Committee meeting 15-11-23
    Minutes of Committee meeting 11th October 2023
    Topic Decision/Agreed Action
    1. Secretary’s report It was decided that people who request to be added to the BR&RA Members’ WhatsApp group but do not provide names and surnames, will not be added.
    Dissemination of information to the community is to be shared between M. Stricker, C. Rothwell and M. Charter.
    2. Treasurer’s report Financials will be prepared for the AGM.
    Amendment of constitution: The amended version has been filed with CIPC by WL.
    3. Chair’s report The Ward 5 councillor and EM will write to the Municipal Manager and request detailed information about the proper public participation process in relation to the Memorial Hall.
    Minutes of Committee meeting 13th September 2023
    Topic Decision/Agreed Action
    1. Website and social media C. Rothwell, M. Stricker and L. Venter to meet before the next committee meeting, to discuss social media strategies.  
    2. Chair’s Report A. Two environmental projects are contemplated, and will probably be handed over to Friends of Waters Meeting to implement. One is the establishment of a Thicket Botanical Garden – the only one in the world – at the revived Summerhill Guest Farm. This is dependent on getting agreement on an adequate water supply – from PGA and/or the municipality. The second is the transformation of the dam at the Boundary/Kowie Road junction into an exhibition wetland. This awaits formal approval from the site owners and the availability of a scientific advisor, currently completing a PhD.

    B. The Bathurst Striders hiking club has started a roads survey of the Village. This has been temporarily halted, pending the establishment of a regular monthly meeting with the relevant municipal officials. The intention is to establish a record of all discussions with the municipality, and to follow up on progress each month. Once the meeting has been set up, we will be able to raise any issues we have about service delivery on a regular basis – buildings, roads, sewerage, water, street lights, dump management, commonage, etc.

    C. Commonage (including rubbish dump) management is coming to the fore. Tentative initial steps are being taken to establish the statutorily required Commonage Management Committee.

    This needs to include all users of the Bathurst commonage – walkers, birders, riders, 4x4ers, cattle farmers, vegetable growers, herbalists, amagqirha, municipality etc. Establishing a relationship with credible representatives of each group is likely to take some time. As is developing a working relationship with the Local Enterprise Development department of the municipality, which  oversees commonages throughout Ndlambe.
    Minutes of Committee meeting 17th August 2023
    Topic Decision/Agreed Action
    2. Membership fee R150 per natural or juristic person per annum
    2. Financial year end date BR&RA year end is 31 August.  Warwick to see the revised constitution accords with this.
    3. Social media BR&RA should expand its reach beyond the “Facebook Generation”, starting with an Instagram account.
    4. Website Create a website backup and discuss other security measures
    5. Calendar / year planner Decide on a calendar plugin so that members can check and arrange events on the BR&RA website
    6. Roads Make a list of roads that need attention, with reasons and possible solutions – first steep roads that wash out, and later, more or less level roads where mud puddles develop.
    7. GM 20/9/23 Arrange hall with Alan Pike

    Minutes of Committee meeting 24th July 2023

    Topic Decision/Agreed Action
    1. Accounting Officer Elizabeth asked if we have confirmation on an Accounting Officer appointment?  Warwick said that Neill Pike has accepted the appointment.
    2. Review of SGM minutes Minutes of SGM were forwarded to Elizabeth and Warwick and posted on the Website as agreed.
    3. Revised constitution Elizabeth reported on her meeting with Chris Boyd and that it was agreed that amendments, as indicated at the SGM, will be made to the constitution to ensure that there is no abuse of voting by the juristic persons.
    4. BR&RA Website & Social media We also need to add the registration no. to the website. BR&RA Posters for the website need to be put up in strategic places. Maya to ask Chris Johnson for help with the other social media like Facebook, Instagram, etc. The same icon should be used everywhere.
    5. Sustainability of projects 1.       Road survey is now underway by the Bathurst striders, which will be used to hopefully get the Municipality to do the necessary repairs.

    2.       The big pineapple is in need of some repair – Elizabeth reported that Summerhill has agreed to allow BR&RA to hold a pineapple festival in early December in order to raise some funds towards the restoration of our pineapple landmark.

    3.       Ensuring sustainability of our commonage (with Fiends of Waters Meeting). Rhodes students are doing a survey of various residents regarding the commonage, as a start. On 5th August Friends of Waters Meeting will have a panel discussion about the commonage.  Hopefully, a commonage care group will emerge.

    4.       Alien vegetation eradication – (the village is drowning in lantana and other invasive aliens) – There is a possibility that there may be DEAT funding available for a start-up business to take this on.  But it’s early days and a long road ahead.

    5.       Security / crime prevention: Elizabeth reported that she has asked someone if he would be prepared to take on driving this project, and we await his response.
    6. Community meetings It was suggested that we should hold three or four open community meetings a year, to take the opportunity to present interesting initiatives to the community and to encourage people to air their enthusiasms, opinions and concerns.
    7. Membership Membership recruitment needs to become a priority.  In particular, we need to encourage business membership.
    8. Future Projects Projects for which we are looking for “drivers” – the burnt out hall, clearing invasive alien vegetation, possible wall art initiative, developing employability in Nolukhanyo youth, job creation, security/crime prevention.
    9. Committee meetings Elizabeth suggested that monthly committee meetings should be held and asked for input for suitable date and times.

    Minutes of Committee meeting 12th June 2023

             Topic       Decision / Agreed Action
    		Minutes of AGM held 19/4/2023 Minutes have been agreed and are ready for posting.
    2. Launch of the BRRA website Maya, Grant and Warwick to meet 14/6 to assess readiness
    3. Appointment of an Accounting Officer Neil Pike to be approached by Warwick via email
    4. The new draft Constitution Changes were agreed.
    5. AOB: SGM Work out how to communicate with members re SGM Agree date with Lihani