A botched attempt to steal electricity cables left Meer-en-Bosch, Flamingo Bay and Sandown Bay residents in the dark on Tuesday evening, 16 May and most part of Wednesday, 17 May.

The Municipality's Electricity Department worked tirelessly to re-instate the power after the issue was logged.
Vandalism of electrical infrastructure and cables theft, including meter tampering, bypassing and illegal connections, have a serious impact on the municipality’s budget for service delivery – particularly the electrification of areas that do not have access to it.

“It is money thrown down the drain - instead of taking the services to informal settlements where it is needed the most, and improving on the current electrical infrastructure, the municipality spends huge amounts of money and man-hours on overtime attempting to replace stolen cables across the Overstrand,” explained Stephen Müller, Director of Infrastructure and Planning.

The past week has been a busy one for Overstrand’s Law Enforcement Department as they continue with its clean-up operation geared towards removing abandoned vehicles from the municipality’s streets.

For the rest of the month, Law Enforcement in conjunction with the Special Task Team, Traffic Services, and SAPS will also target vehicles parked on sidewalks in residential areas that can be seen as wrecks being used for spare parts.

“Vehicles that are completely stripped or burned can not only be an eyesore but can take up valuable parking spaces in crowded residential areas,” says Johan du Toit, assistant chief:  law enforcement.

A written warning was given to the owners before the vehicle was impounded and owners will have to pay hefty release fines to obtain their vehicles. If the vehicles are not retrieved, they will be sold at auction. 

The 2016/17 End of Fire Season debriefing session hosted by the Overstrand Municipality was recently held at the Pringle Bay Community Hall on Thursday, 11 May 2017.

The event was an opportunity for the relevant emergency services officials involved with various fire-related incidents in the Overstrand area to analyse and discuss their collective experiences over the period. The full-day workshop was well represented by affected personnel of the Overstrand, Overberg and City of Cape Town municipalities, Provincial Traffic and Law Enforcement, as too partners and stakeholders such as Cape Nature, Working on Fire, NCC Environmental Services and the Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association.

Challenges that came to light were a lack of resources, suitably trained control room staff, specialised fire engines and apparatus, budgetary constraints, by-law enforcement, instances of poor maintenance by some private land-owners, mismanagement of ritual fires on private land and the need for effective communal radio channels, to name but a few. 

Overstrand Association for Persons with Disabilities (OAPD) recently launched a Wheelchair Wednesday initiative with the express aim of challenging organisations and decision-makers to ride in the tracks of a wheelchair user. It is a creative way in which to focus attention on the physical challenges facing wheelchair users in their everyday life, particularly in the workplace. 

The project serves three important purposes, i.e. to raise awareness, encourage community support and improve accessibility for those who are wheelchair bound.  Underscoring that is the mindfulness of local structures, businesses and the public to simple matters like the importance of reserving Disabled Parking Bays for mobility impaired people.

The Overstrand Municipality remains committed to serving all its people responsibly and effectively and therefore had no hesitation in partnering with OAPD in identifying ways in which to establish greater inclusion for people with disabilities in the organisation.

Overstrand Deputy Mayor, Dudley Coetzee and Cllr Grant Cohen, along with a few officials of the Hermanus and Kleinmond offices respectively, were the first to kickstart the project on Wednesday, 10 May 2017