Collaboration key to RAs success

Residents Associations (RAs) throughout the Northside are collaborating on an ever-growing scale, conducting various operations for the benefit of their respective neighbourhoods.

According to Willowbrook, Ruimsig, Amorosa, and Poortview Residents Association (WRAP) chairperson Martin van der Westhuizen, the problems local communities are facing are simply too widespread for any one RA to take on alone.

“We all struggle with the same challenges,” he says. “It makes sense for us to collaborate and address these challenges collectively.

“Working together allows us to share the knowledge and skills base within the different areas. Our bargaining power is also greatly enhanced since there is power in numbers.”

The Northside RAs as a collective have managed to get a lot of work done over the past number of months. They have a very effective working relationship with the Toolbox Hub, which has been instrumental in various campaigns throughout the Northside.

The Toolbox hub has been utilised for various security-related projects as well, like looking after cars and helping to direct traffic during the recent elections.

“This proved highly effective,” says Van der Westhuizen, adding that with the Toolbox patrollers on duty, not a single vehicle was stolen at any voting station throughout the region on voting day.

“Their agriculture team has also made a huge impact on open spaces throughout the Northside, cleaning and clearing open spaces and green belts, and removing invasive trees.

“This has helped to uncover hidden vagrant camps, exposed widespread cable theft, and helped to make it much harder for criminals to hide their activities in the tall brush.

The RAs have also managed to secure partnerships and sponsorships with many local businesses.

“Local university, IIE MSA, has contributed greatly to our clean-up operations, resulting in a huge swathe of open space being cleared.

“We can always depend on help from local businesses such as Clearwater Toyota, Honeydew Lawnmowers, Johnston Workwear, Pick ‘n Pay stores in Featherbrooke Village, Little Falls, and Rock Cottage, Del Forno in Honeydew and Featherbrooke Village, who all are very keen to support projects that aim to do good in their local areas.

“We also enjoy excellent relations with all the private security companies in our areas including Absolute Security, BCI Security, EC Security, and 6th Sense Security. All these companies go above and beyond to help us keep our neighbourhoods safe.”

Van der Westhuizen is adamant that the local RAs will continue to work together to make a difference within the communities they serve.