It seems that the new system in Greater Knysna, which has the beach lifeguarding service as a division of the NSRI, is working well, with no major incidents or drownings reported this holiday season.
This is not to say that the watchdogs of our waterways have not been busy. Indeed, nothing could be further from the truth. But their presence and indeed proactive behaviour has surely been a testament to the old adage that ‘prevention is better than cure’.

With approximately 110 000 people visiting the beaches of Greater Knysna over the busy season, at the time of going to press, the lifeguards had attended to 113 incidents, including 38 first aid emergencies, two missing persons, and 73 rescues/help outs.
They have also had to close Swartvlei, Buffalo Bay or Myoli beach 12 times due to shark sightings. All this was handled by 30 lifeguards working from 9.30 am to 6 pm seven days a week, under the leadership of the Knysna Life Guard Operations Manager Mike Wood, a man who has more years of lifesaving experience than he’s prepared to admit.

We caught up with Mike at the Swartvlei Rivermouth Beach, where he was checking up on three lifeguards who were on duty there. He was particularly proud to point out that one of them was his granddaughter Jaylene Engelbrecht, who is usually part of the Durban Life Saving team but had come down to work alongside ‘grandad’ over the holiday season. She has thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on experience of working the Sedgefield beach with Xolani Qakatayo and Leith Wardlaw.
“It’s been very, very busy,” she said, “But very rewarding too. The beachgoers are mostly very appreciative of what we do, especially those who have children with them.”
Their busiest days by far were 31 December and 1 January, not only because the beaches were packed with New Year revellers as is tradition, but the Spring Tide brought extremely high waters and very strong and fast-moving currents.
“We did 25 Rescues over a two-hour period on Saturday,” Leith told us.
Mike said that at one stage, the water was rushing out at about 25km/h, which meant that very tight control had to be kept on swimmers to ensure that nobody got washed away.
“And we also had blue bottles to contend with,” added Leith.
Sadly, their biggest problem was bottles of another sort. Mike says that during the holiday season, there were far too many people drinking alcohol on the beach, and the presence of Law Enforcement was down to a minimum.
“This is something we are not mandated or even able to control,” says Mike, pointing out that there are good reasons that drinking on the beach is illegal. Drunk people near the water are not only a danger to themselves but also others, especially when they attempt to swim.
“And added to this, at times it got quite unpleasant for families on the beach,” he told us, “At one stage, I had to pull two of my female lifeguards off the beach as intoxicated men had started harassing them.”
With understandable concern for his team members, Mike told us that he believes that Law Enforcement should look into employing seasonal, visible beach monitors in order to keep this problem to a minimum.
“But all in all, it’s been a good season – so far, at least,” he said, “ And there’s no reason that trend shouldn’t continue. If lifeguards can keep people swimming in the designated areas (between the flags), they are better able to watch over them and react swiftly to prevent an ‘incident’ from becoming a tragedy.”

We’re dreaming of a local Holiday Season, how about you?
We have just had our local elections, and a new Council is finding its feet, but what if we extend our “voting period” and vote for our local economy this holiday period?
Voting with your money
Voting can be instrumental in different ways – bestselling author and respected advocate for food justice and sustainability Anne Lappe said that “every time you spend your money, you cast a vote for the kind of world you want.”
Small communities across the globe have seen a decline in locally owned businesses and the subsequent outflux of those that cannot make a living where they used to live. As people left, small towns became ghost towns with a significant loss of services, schools, health care, etc. Is that the “world” we want for Knysna and Sedgefield?
Greater Knysna’s economy has been hit hard by the COVD-19 pandemic. Local support is a key factor if we want to keep our local independently owned industries in business. There are many advantages, but the most obvious is that when you spend money at a local business, your money is likely to get reinvested back into the towns where we live. If you spend it at big online shopping platforms, your money is definitely not being reinvested locally, maybe not even in South Africa.
Why would one buy products made in overseas factories when similar items are produced locally, at competitive prices, and with more heart for people and the planet? The “world” that we vote for should foster a sustainable, resilient local economy that creates jobs and opportunities in Greater Knysna. A world that cares about communities.
A 2019 Business Report estimated that South Africans spent about R260 Billion over the traditional Christmas holiday period. Even if only a fraction of this money is spent in our towns, it will make a significant contribution to our local economy.
If you are doing gifts this year, why not ask your family for vouchers or gifts from your favourite local businesses? Think local crafters & manufacturers, gift shops, clothing stores, florists, restaurants & coffee shops, hair & beauty salons, art venues, handmade and homemade goods and local service providers. Experiences are great gifts too!
Support local businesses without spending any money.
There are non-monetary ways that you can support local businesses too. Recommend them to visitors and other residents, especially online. Like and share their social media posts, tag a friend, write a nice comment with an emoji, post a photograph (preferably of your purchase), and leave an online review. This will “give their posts legs” and boost their online exposure.
Vote with your heart
Greater Knysna is fortunate to have numerous organisations doing fantastic work in the community, whether creating food gardens, beautifying public areas or running soup kitchens. Get involved – donate local and volunteer local! There is an African saying that it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a community to build a village. So, join us this year to make our Holidays dream come true – let’s have a local Holiday season!

The results of Knysna’s local elections are in, and it is clear that no party has a ‘winning’ advantage.

With news breaking early yesterday of the ANC taking six of the eleven wards (3,4,6,7,8 and 11) and the DA the remaining five (1,2 5,9, and 10), it seemed that the two rival political powerhouses would be leaving the smaller parties in the dust.

But towards the end of the day, it appeared that the proportional votes were making a substantial difference to the council seat allocation, not only pushing the DA (with eight seats) one seat ahead of the ANC, but more importantly, giving neither of them anything close to an outright majority.

Though KIM (Knysna Independent Movement) did not win any wards, they won two seats through the proportional vote, as did the PA (Patriotic Alliance). The remaining seats went one apiece to the PBI (Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners) and the EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters).

According to figures from the Electoral Commission website, when combining the ward votes and the proportional (PR) votes for Knysna as a whole, the DA won 35,44% of the votes and the ANC 33,2%.

Next in line was KIM with 7,9% closely tailed by the PA with 7,37%

Of the 42 790 registered voters in Knysna, only 23 906 voted, making it a 55,87% turnout.

The fact that no single party has an outright majority in council means that both the top two parties – the DA and the ANC – will need to form coalition agreements with other parties to gain control. Indeed, unless they form a coalition with each other, which is highly unlikely, both of these parties will need to secure the support of at least two of the smaller parties to get a majority.

The Electoral Commission still has to declare the results to be accurate. Meanwhile, the Acting Municipal Manager, Dawie Adonis, has scheduled the first meeting of the newly elected Knysna Council for 11 November. At this meeting, councillors will be sworn in and then go through the motions of electing a House Speaker, Mayor, Deputy Mayor and a Council Whip. They will also vote on which councillors should take Knysna’s three seats on the District Municipal Council.

Whoever is chosen as Mayor will also announce his or her Mayoral Committee.

No doubt there will now be a time of feverish scrabbling amongst politicians as the larger parties attempt to curry the favour (and vote) of the smaller parties.

By Melanie Baumeister

Razina Theba, an up-and-coming novelist and author of “A home on Vorster Street: A Memoir”, has spotted and harnessed the incredible talent of our home-grown artist, Houghmorden Jansen – better known as Holmes The Creative.

Whilst on holiday here in Sedgefield in December 2020 and enjoying our outdoor markets, Razina came across Holmes’ colourful works and knew, instantaneously, that his style was perfect for the cover of her memoir. According to the artist himself, the author was browsing with her husband, and they were immediately taken in by the small exhibition that Holmes sets up every Saturday at the Mosaic Market. “It was the first time in ten years that her husband had liked any art!” Holmes expounds. Razina set about procuring a few of Holmes’ small A5 pieces that adorn interiors all over the world. She took his details and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jonathan Ball Publishers expedited the ‘back and forth’ of the cover art, with Razina in the control seat, two sketches of Razina as a child and the geography of Vorster Street, along with an artistic brief, were sent to Holmes, and these were combined to create the cover of Mrs Theba’s memoirs. The story offers a fresh narrative of this time in South Africa’s history from a unique cultural viewpoint. A gifted storyteller, Razina has a vivid, sensory style; her writing expertly mixes humour with emotional intimacy. No mean feat as Razina is also a busy attorney and divorce mediator. This, her first book, is bound to intrigue and entertain a readership that will identify with her story set during tumultuous times in South Africa’s past.

“Holmes has exceeded all my expectations in delivering a piece of art that was both soulful and cheeky. He pulled this off with very few instructions!” Razina had time to type as her star started its upward trajectory as a writer. She mentions too that Holmes’ cover art is part of a Facebook competition for those of you that are au fait with the social media platform, go and have a browse and check out the competition at:
https://gbasbookcoverawards.com/
Personally, this reporter thinks that Holmes should win hands down!

With thanks to Jennifer Ball at Jonathan Ball Publishers for the image of ‘A home on Vorster St: A Memoir’ by Razina Theba. Cover Art by Holmes The Creative.