‘Communication is key’

The Constantia Kloof North Resident’s Association was established 18 years ago and current chairman John Baisley has been with the association for the last 15 years.

“I took over as chairman in 1999 and back then we still used to charge residents a montly fee of R20 to be part of the association because we didn’t have the patrol vehicles yet. The price went up to R100 in 2003 and we decided that we needed two patrol vehicles to patrol the areas at night and during the day.”

He added that the residents had to patrol the area themselves before then and it was hard work coming home at 5pm and heading out at 10pm to patrol the streets.

“We employed two Dunmar vehicles that drove around in the area 24 hours a day; these guys really knew the area quite well and it made residents feel much safer in the area.”

Baisley explained that one of the vital parts of a successful resident’s association is communication and they started to use WhatsApp as a base to send vital safety and infrastructure messages across. “At this stage, we have about seven WhatsApp groups and one Domestic Watch group and we have noticed that communication is key. The first Domestic Watch meeting was held in August this year and we decided to hold it because its important to supply the workers with info about their safety and what to do in case of an emergency. We supply them with the numbers of our Sector vehicles and the two Dunmar Sector vehicles.”

Baisley mentioned that 80 per cent of the houses in the area are members of the association. “We aim to have a 100 percent rate where every household is part of the resident’s association.

“If residents are interested in joining the association they can give me a call,” concluded Baisley.

Details: John Baisley 071 864 7872.