‘We cannot do it alone’ – SPCA pleads
Without doing any fundraising, the Randfontein/ Westonaria SPCA can only keep its doors open for another eight to nine months.
Without doing any fundraising, the Randfontein/ Westonaria SPCA can only keep its doors open for another eight to nine months.
This was revealed at the SPCA’s annual general meeting held in Randfontein on Saturday, 21 July.
Lorika Boshoff, Randfontein/ Westonaria SPCA chairperson, said more fundraising will have to be done to help cover their monthly costs and strengthen their bank balances.
Lorika stated at the meeting that the amount of available money is R810 690,34 in total (Randfontein – R205 477,96) and (Westonaria – R605 212,38). Expenses per month (salaries and basic running costs) are: Randfontein approximately R55 000 and Westonaria approximately R35 000, which adds up to R90 000 in total.
“As the chairperson, I cannot give feedback on the past year as I was not part of the SPCA, and all the then members have since left. I can, however, based on the figures and reports, share what we plan to do differently to fix the errors of the past and work on a better future.”
As of December 2017, the NSPCA intervened and has taken over management of the two branches. Lorika said strides had been made since April this year, with the Randfontein/ Westonaria SPCA now falling under the management of Franci Swanepoel, and as of 2 May, new committee members, including a chairperson had been co-opted onto the committee.
“One of the first things that was implemented was to have the branches operate legally from all perspectives – staff, office management and safety. We have increased staff salaries at the Westonaria branch to government minimum wages as they were earning far below the threshold. Since December 2017, we have employed a new trainee inspector, Rene van Straten, and sent one of our long-time employees, Jored Ndlovu, on training. He recently qualified as a field officer.
“We ensured that our foreign staff’s work permits and documents are up to date. As stated above, measures were put in place to track monthly expenditure and income to ensure our auditing process can better handled in future. Safety measures have been put in place for staff and animals in terms of possible threats and evacuation procedures as required by law.
“We also had to clean up the premises and remove years of rubbish, and do some upgrading of the premises, inside and out, to not only look pleasant for the public when they visit, but also for our staff and mostly for our animals.”
But, Lorika admitted that to achieve all this required a lot of hard work, money and willing hands.
“There are so many organisations and charities, one of them being the SPCA, which also needs the community’s support. Let us fix and help our home first before going elsewhere. We cannot do it alone,” she pleaded.
Lorika added that from 1 August 2018, the Randfontein/ Westonaria SPCA will be known as the Rand West SPCA with Randfontein being the head office and Westonaria being a satellite.
During the meeting, Lorika thanked the following people and entities for helping to kick-start the process of rebuilding the SPCA: Franci Swanepoel and each worker at both branches, Chris Boshoff, Spiffs Grooming Parlour, Zanel Boyder and Steel Pipes and Supply, Anglo Platinum ESTC, Nola, and each member of the public, school and business, as well as the Herald.
The following people will serve on the committee: Lorika Boshoff (chairperson), Erika Joubert (secretary), Chris Boshoff (vice-chairperson), Henri van den Berg (additional member) and Zanel Boyder (treasurer). Janette Muller, Navesh Singh and Vonnie Strachan from the NSPCA head office will serve on the committee until the board feels that Randfontein has stabilised, at which time they will be released from the committee.
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