NOTES ON THE INFORMAL CONVERSATION ABOUT OUR
BURNT OUT HALL
Held at Pike’s Post, Wednesday 20 September 2023
About 25 people signed the attendance register. Apologies were received from a number of community members, and from one member of the committee.
Nick Cowley, Stan Esterhuizen and Jacqui Nel (of Ndlambe municipality) agreed to be panellists.
Nick Cowley gave a brief summary of some mysteries surrounding the building of the hall more than 100 years ago. Stan Esterhuizen gave an example of the kind of symbolic bridge-building function that could be fulfilled by the hall rebuilt as a library and information centre. Chris Boyd filled in some background regarding events following the February 2022 fire. There are various conflicting accounts of events, and apparent lack of effective investigation by SAPS.
Jacqui Nel was standing in for the Director, Corporate Services, of Ndlambe municipality, who had been invited but was unfortunately not able to attend. She set about supplying information regarding municipal action in respect of the insurance claim for the building. The claim was initially repudiated by the insurers (whose identity was not known), but eventually settled at something over R500 000 after being challenged by Ndlambe.
Enthusiastic questioning by Bathurstians identified a number of gaps in the information Jacqui Nel was able to provide. It was therefore resolved that BR&RA would elicit additional information from the municipality as soon as possible, and would also take steps necessary to ensure that the statutorily required public participation process is undertaken forthwith in order to allow planning of a way forward.
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Minutes of Special General Meeting 18th July 2023
BR&RA Draft Minutes of SGM held at Showgrounds on18 July 2023 18:00
Attendance register 22, Apologies 6
| Topic | Decision | |
| 1. | Constitution | Elizabeth asked if there were no objection to the amended constitution which had been sent to all members for perusal with the invitation to the special general meeting.
Chris Boyd asked that the changes were briefly outlined and Elizabeth explained them all. Chris expressed concern about the change of ‘The inclusion of juristic persons as well as natural persons as members of the BR&RA’ on the basis that if a resident had many businesses, he could have many votes. Elizabeth explained that the reason for the inclusion was mainly that quite a few farms in ward 6 are trusts and therefore excluded. The dispute was resolved and Chris agreed to write an amendment to the constitution that corporates could have 1 vote per fee, as long as they were properly registered businesses. The amended constitution, subject to the agreed amendments, was accepted unanimously. |
| 2. | Presentation by Lindsay Luppnow | Lindsay, as chairlady of PARRA gave a great presentation about the beautification of Port Alfred town in conjunction with the Ndlambe municipality and the importance of working together and service delivery. |
| 3. | Presentation by Hyman van Zyl | Hyman presented the Sunshine NGO Forum, the development of aid and the Sunshine NGO Center |
Minutes of General Meeting 19th April 2023 & Annual Report
Minutes of GM of the Bathurst Residents and Ratepayers Association held on 19th April 2023:
Welcome
Chris Boyd welcomed all who attended and thanked them for taking time out for this meeting.
| Topic | Decision | |
| 1. | BR&RA background | Chris Boyd explained the reasons for the 2021 reestablishment of the BR&RA. |
| 2. | Warne Rippon proposal | Warne Rippon had to cancel at short notice. Chris Boyd gave a summary of what he thought Rippon would say. |
| 3. | Chairman’s report | Chris Boyd presented the Chairman’s Report – see below. |
| 4. | Roads | Chris Boyd engaged with the municipality regarding the maintenance of the minor roads, in the hope that that would translate into a budget. This didn’t happen. |
| 5. | Burned-down hall | No progress to report |
| 6. | Volunteers | 17 members expressed willingness to get involved with BR&RA efforts. |
| 7. | Financial statements | These were presented by Warwick Lewarne, and accepted. |
| 8. | Constitution | Chris Boyd mentioned that this would have to be revised and approved at a special general meeting. |
| 9. | Election of new executive committee | The following members were proposed and seconded: Elizabeth Milne: Chairperson Shane Steenkamp: Vice Chairperson Warwick Lewarne: Treasurer Clare Rothwell: Secretary |
| 10. | Votes of thanks | A vote of thanks for Chris Boyd was proposed. Chris Boyd proposed votes of thanks for Patrick Grafton and Stanley Esterhuizen. |
BR&RA – Chairman’s Report 19 April 2023 by Chris Boyd – available here
General Meeting held 28th August 2021
In 2021 some residents in Bathurst felt that the old and defunct Residents and Ratepayers Association should be re-instated and thus a General Meeting was held on 28th August 2021.
- Constitution: Earlier version of a constitution had been revisited and significant amendments were proposed and this new version was adopted without any amendments. The constitution is to be submitted to the national depaartment of Social Development and BR&RA registered as s non-profit organisation. The municipality will be notified that a bona fide rate payers association has been formed and requested to be recognized as such.
- Elections: Chairperson Chris Boyd
Vice chair Stan Esterhuizen
Secretary Clare Rothwell
Treasurer Warwick Lewarne
Membership Carey Tesselaar - Membership fees: Proposed membership fees are R 150.00 per member or couple and R 200.00 per family.