Westdene-Sophiatown Residents Association officially registered as a non-profit organisation

The Westdene-Sophiatown Residents Association is excited to announce it has officially registered as a non-profit organisation.

The association’s chairperson, Dauw Steyn said the association was now officially compliant with the law in terms of having the finances of the association audited and releasing financial reports on a yearly basis to residents.

“We also wanted to start fundraising for the purpose of fixing features in the community and are learning from the Greymont [suburb] model, which permanently employs people to maintain the community,” said Steyn.

“This is the model we would like to apply for Westdene and Sophiatown. It’s been a long process to finalise the registration and we can now begin the process of getting finances in.”

He added in terms of the scourge of illegal buildings in the area, the association would like to obtain legal representation, who can address issues on their behalf. There are currently five known illegal buildings which are complete, three of them have occupants.

“We have a provision within the association’s constitution where members are required to make provisions for membership fees, however, it hasn’t been implemented.

“The fees don’t have to be monetary, they can be in the form of services such as assisting with the administration or an attorney who’s a resident and is willing to offer their expertise. There’s a huge effort which goes into running the association,” said Steyn.

Volunteers are welcome to contact the association for donations and queries.

Details: dauwq.steyn@gmail.com

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