DOUG GREWAR has again been elected Chairman of the AbaQulusi Residents Association (ARA), one could almost say “by default” as no one else volunteered for the position. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association was held on Thursday evening last week in the hall of the Risen Son Academy.
The AGM was relatively well attended with about 30 people present, and they heard Mr Grewar say in his annual report that 2014 had been “another frustrating year for the ARA as we have seen virtually no improvement in service delivery by the AbaQulusi Local Municipality (ALM).” He did however specifically thank two members of the municipality’s management staff, Ken Tupper and Vasan Chetty, through whose cooperation the ARA had been able to solve some problems.
Mr Grewar described the municipality’s Urban Design Framework Program as a failure. He said, “The three projects that the ALM started, namely the High Street Bridge, the Demoina Lane / Mason Street upgrade and the Mason Street Park upgrade have all come to a standstill.
“The ARA helped business and property owners in the Demoina Lane / Mason Street area to form the Demas business association. Demas tried to get the ALM to alter their upgrade plans. Some alterations were made but others weren’t.
“The ALM just bulldozed ahead with their plan to build stalls for street traders right in front of the Plaza’s shop front windows on Mason Street. This has caused three plaza shops to close with a loss of workers’ jobs.
“Now we hear that the street traders are not happy with the design of the stalls so it is an all round disaster.”
Regarding the illegal dumping of waste in and around town, Mr Grewar said that efforts to curtail the practise, including the warning of a R2,000 fine, had come to nothing. “One of our members gave us a report with full details of a person that he had caught dumping.
“We had a cast iron case but when we tried to get the ALM to take action we were informed that according to the law dumpers could not be charged by the municipal police unless a peace officer had actually witnessed the dumping himself.
“Our member could have laid the charge himself but that would have made it like a personal vendetta and could put him in danger. So our time was wasted.”
The ARA’s Paddadam Cleanup Project had made significant progress but a lot remained to be done. Mr Grewar thanked “all of the very many good people who contributed to this project, and especially Claude Newberry, Hugo Burger of Kenton Energy Holdings and Dirk Booysen of Lowveld Material Handlers.” The project will continue later in the year when the rains cease and the dam dries up again.
On the positive side, Mr Grewar said the recent hiring of contractors to repair the potholes was positive, and that they were doing a fast and efficient job.
He welcomed the declaration by Afriforum that it would make 2015 a year of action for Vryheid and Newcastle. “They have already made a start on tackling the water problem, and we hope to get them involved in fighting the ALM’s many other failures”, said Mr Grewar.
He welcomed new members from the Zulu community saying, “They are welcome because bad service delivery affects all communities so we should stand together for improvement.”
Under General, Mr Grewar was thanked by Jabulani Khumalo for “challenging our municipality”, and there were brief discussions regarding the state of Market Square, the new private hospital and the ongoing problem of large trucks in the CBD.
