Author: Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe

Load shedding occurs often in South Africa. Other countries in the northern parts of Africa and the Middle East, also experience power outages on an average of 23.5 times a month which lasts on average 9.4 hours at a time. South-East Asia is hit with an average of 17 power outages a month, lasting over an hour each time.

These outages have a direct impact on food safety. Three (3) factors are at play here – the length of the outage, its frequency of it and where food is stored.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀: 𝗔𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱, 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲.

Food in a refrigerator may be safe as long as:

– Power outages do not last longer than four hours

– the fridge door is closed

– the temperature of the refrigerator was at 4 °C when load shedding started.

Learn more by browsing here: http://www.gardenroute.gov.za/2022/06/30/30-june-2022-media-release-food-safety-during-load-shedding/

The Rooirivierrif Clubhouse which burnt and got damaged in November 2018 is being refurbished. According to Granville Campher, the Manager for Sport in the George Municipality, the renovations must be completed by the end of June 2022. The Executive Mayor, Alderman Leon van Wyk, accompanied by the Portfolio Councillor for Community Services: Social Development, Libraries & Sport, Brendon Adams visited the construction site on Tuesday, 28 June 2022 to assess the progress of the construction.

The Rooirivierriif Clubhouse housed a golf club and was also utilised for local soccer and cricket clubs before it burnt down just over three years ago. Subsequently to that, an investigation was launched, and an insurance claim was submitted. The repairs are being done from the pay-out of the insurance claim and the renovations will be completed by the 30^th of June 2022.

Mayor van Wyk is pleased with the progress made to renovate the clubhouse. “I’m delighted to see that the clubhouse is being restored to its original form and we are looking forward to the utilisation of the clubhouse for the benefit of sport in George,” he said.

Ends.

A surprise visit by senior officials from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and the National Treasury of projects funded through the Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP) on Wednesday 22 June 2022, turned out to be a pleasant surprise, says the George Municipality’s Electro-Technical Services department, as these officials were pleased with the progress on the two projects.

Danie Greeff and Deon Esterhuysen, both senior officials from the George Municipality’s Electro-Technical Services Department had to accompany officials from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and the National Treasury to the sites of the projects funded by the Integrated National Electrification Programme grant, to assess the progress of the projects. “Our Deputy Director, Mr Greeff, as well as Project Manager, Mr Esterhuysen, from the Electro-Technical Services Department, took the lead and showed our visitors the sites and the brief feedback from the visiting team was positive since they were very happy about the progress made,” said the Bongani Mandla, the director for the George Municipality’s Electro-Technical Service Department.

The two sites that were visited are the electrification of 300 residential units at Erf. 325 in Pacaltsdorp which was completed at the beginning of June this year and the second visit was at a substation site in Thembalethu. “The construction of the new 66kV/11kV 40MVA electrical substation in Thembalethu is well underway. Currently, the contractor is busy with the civil engineering works to construct an engineered platform for the new substation. The construction of the platform, roadworks, oil dam, concrete plinths, installation of the water mains, sewer lines, the erection of the security fence and electrical infrastructure, that form part of the platform, are due for completion by the end of October 2022,” Mandla added.

“The construction of the substation building is planned for the beginning of January 2023, or as soon as all the necessary approvals are in place. The transformers have been ordered and are expected to be delivered in May 2023. The anticipated completion date for the project is scheduled for the end of September 2024,” Mandla concluded.

Ends.

CAPTION:

PHOTO 1:

The electrification of 300 residential units was completed at the beginning of June 2022. From left to right: Mhlangabezi Mzalisi (Department of Mineral Resources and Energy), Unathi Lekonyana (National Treasury), Kate Modise (Department of Mineral Resources and Energy), Noluthando Jiyana-Kaulela (Department of Mineral Resources and Energy), Danie Greeff (George Municipality’s Electro-Technical Services)

PHOTO 2:

The construction of the new 66kV/11kV substation in Thembalethu is well underway. From left to right: Danie Greeff (George Municipality’s Electro-Technical Services Department), Kate Modise (Department of Mineral Resources and Energy), Unathi Lekonyana (National Treasury), Noluthando Jiyana-Kaulela (Department of Mineral Resources and Energy), Mhlangabezi Mzalisi (Department of Mineral Resources and Energy)

The Executive Mayor of George, Ald Leon van Wyk congratulated the Hennie Dollies (36) an agricultural worker from the Van Greunen Boerdery, a farming enterprise in the outskirts of George, who has been awarded a farm worker of the year and a winner of the animal production category a competition hosted by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture.

In a special meeting with Dollies and Nelius van Greunen, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Van Greunen Beordery this week, Ald van Wyk applauded Dollies for his dedication and hard work that have undoubtedly yielded good results.  “Today, I’ve met with Hennie Dollies who has won the award for being the top farm worker in the Garden Route; this is a competition that is held to reward and recognize farm workers and their achievements,” Mayor van Wyk said.

Dollies joined the Van Greunen Boerdery about 15 years ago as a general farm worker and have moved up the ladder to his current position of production assistant manager. Dollies had undergone an interview as part of the assessment criteria for the competition. “The interview was mainly about my duties and sought to establish my knowledge around my responsibilities of animal production. I also want to mention that the interview was done virtually as I could not be in the place of work on the day of the interview due to family responsibility leave,” Dollies said.

He says the news that he had won the competition was unexpected since it was for the first time, he entered such a competition. “What was even more surprising is to win the farm worker of the year award in addition to the animal production category which I’ve entered.  I was very excited, and I felt honoured, I never realised that I could win the farm worker of the year award.

Nelius van Greunen, the CEO of Van Greunen Boerdery echoed Dollies’ diligence in his work and acknowledged him as deserving of the award. Hennie is a model of the expression of growth and opportunity in someone’s life who grew from the lower ranks building up his career working his way up, through hard work and responsibility. Through this, Hennie has acquired insight into what agriculture and farming entail,” said Van Greunen.

“We are proud that one of our employees received this award of the farm worker of the year (2021); Van Greunen Boerdery is not only proud of him, but also all personnel members that have, over the past years been part of the enterprise’s growth and success. We are grateful to the Western Cape Department of Agriculture for this competition as it is also a good way of acknowledgement of people that live and work on farms and the role they play in the broader community,” van Greunen added.

In his closing remarks, Mayor van Wyk said, “it’s truly been an honour to meet Hennie today and I want to encourage all other farming enterprise workers to do their best and to also pursue these great achievements.”

Ends.

We have recently been informed that the Growth Potential Study based on 2018 data, lists Stellenbosch, Drakenstein and George at the top of the list in the Western Cape.

In determining the growth potential of towns, the study identifies five themes that are critical for economic growth: Infrastructure; Economic environment; Physical/natural environment; Institutional capital; and Human capital.

Key indicators inform each of the themes, which are modelled and analysed with a performance index calculated for each theme, along with an overall development/growth index.

Once one assesses the data up to 2022, it is likely that the George index could well be even higher.

It is evident from numerous discussions that there is increased economic activity taking place in the George area impacting on numerous sectors and starting to reflect in the volumes of sales for various commodity indicators.

The growth that is occurring vindicates some of the decisions that have been made at the municipal level particularly over the past 18 months to focus on improvements to infrastructure. Included in the process of encouraging investment is the work being done to ensure that the electricity, water, sewerage, and road infrastructure is maintained at a high standard. Some of the work being done to provide renewable energy to mitigate the risks of load-shedding is to ensure that George is a pioneer in local government. By way of example: our large sub-stations have been serviced over the past six months to extend their lifetimes while traffic lights at main intersections have been connected to uninterrupted power supplies.

One aspect of the growth is the extent of semi-gration where citizens are relocating from elsewhere in the country due to crumbling infrastructure. It is crucial however that George is identified as a growth node for particular niches in the economy that will lead to the attraction of investment resulting in increased employment.

We are experiencing green shoots in the agricultural, tourism event and education spheres that are all encouraging. Over the coming weeks, discussions are also likely to take place covering some other sectors where the municipality will make enquiries to the private sector to identify whether George could offer an investment destination. In order to ensure that meaningful collaboration takes place, it is also important that potential investors engage with the municipality at a senior level to indicate their interests and needs. Such interaction will provide opportunities to expedite the preparations and planning necessary to enable the environment for investment. We believe that such discussions will assist in establishing specific economic niches for George that will deliver the growth in employment and skills development that we desire.

We encourage our citizens to make approaches to discuss projects, by emailing supportbusiness@george.gov.za.