Yesterday (Tuesday 21 September 2021) saw local runners joining Henry Cock as he ran his 76th consecutive half marathon along the streets of Sedgefield. That’s 21,1km of running every day, for 76 days – making him the new Guinness World Record holder…. for men.

Interestingly, the record for women is more (102 consecutive ½ Marathons), but if Henry has his way, he will be breaking that record too in 36 days. Indeed he will run right past it en route to his is final goal – 133 half marathons on the trot!

Henry began his amazing journey on the 8th of July 2021 at Kosi Bay in KwaZulu-Natal and, all going well, will run his last half marathon somewhere around Vioolsdrift in the Northern Cape. He will then have achieved a total of 2 800 km.

Surprisingly, running isn’t Henry’s biggest ‘thing’ – his most important mission on this more-than-impressive running tour is to raise awareness about Mental Health and raise funds for the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG).
Henry hopes to raise R4 million for SADAG through his ‘Mentally Aweh Initiative’.
“If I can raise 10c from 8000 people for every kilometre I run in 2021, that’s one coffee per month, per person, I can reach my target and help people get the help and support they need for mental illness,” he says.
In South Africa, one in five people suffers from a mental health disorder.

“Yet, 75% of these people don’t receive any mental health care or support,” says SADAG’s Founder Zane Wilson. Shockingly, the percentage of South Africa’s uninsured population that has access to some form of mental healthcare is under 1%.

In 2019, Henry started seeing a therapist.
“After months of therapy,” he said “I got the courage to take medication and admit to the people I cared about the most that I suffered from anxiety.”

Unfortunately, mental illness is still very stigmatised, and many people are ashamed to admit or seek help for their mental health issues. They believe that they are weak or that there is no treatment or hope for mental illness.
“It takes great courage to speak out and recognise that you suffer from a mental disorder. The more we can open the conversation surrounding mental health, the greater the understanding and empathy will be for those that suffer,” Henry suggests, “In many ways, it’s easier for me to do a 21,1km run every day for 133 days than it is for some people to get out of bed to face another day. I’d like to inspire as many people as possible to become a beacon of hope for those who suffer in silence.”

SADAG, the country’s foremost mental health counselling and support NGO, operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is manned by over 200 volunteers. The pandemic has put a huge strain on an already failing mental health care system, and now, with thousands of people feeling vulnerable, anxious and lonely, SADAG is busier than ever. From January to September 2020, SADAG received 315 666 calls – that’s enough people to fill the FNB stadium more than three times. From 2019 to 2021, the calls have increased from 600 to 2,200 daily. SADAG also runs the only suicide prevention helpline in South Africa, which costs over R120 000 a month to operate.

A stipulation from the Guinness World Records is that for every run, Henry must have at least one other person running alongside him as a “witness”. There has been no shortage of volunteers to fulfil this role. “Lookout for Henry passing through your city, join him, cheer him on or have a chat”, Zane Wilson encourages.

Support Henry Cock on the road with his Mentally Aweh Initiative.
Follow him on Facebook: henry.cock or on his website www.runhenryrun.co.za
Donate: www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/mentally-aweh

Written by Pamela Victor, photograph taken by Andre Victor.
On Saturday, 28 August, crowds gathered at the slipway next to the lagoon to witness the unveiling of Sedgefield 1 – a mosaic creation by Masithandane’s mosaic team – Hyla Hartlief, Sophia Nguma, Petrus Kiewiets and Ricardo Baadjies – that is bound to become one of the village’s greatest tourism icons.
Jacky Weaver, Chairperson of Masithandane, welcomed everyone to the historic unveiling, and Colleen Durant, General Manager of Visit Knysna, expressed her appreciation to all involved in the project.
“Sedgefield can be justly proud of this mosaic masterpiece, and it can confidently take its place in the overall Knysna Interactive Art project,” she said.
Then Masithandane’s guitar group, the “Lil Dudes,” delighted the crowd as they played and sang Bob Marley’s “Three little birds” with much enthusiasm.
Then the big moment arrived. Councillor Skozana and Ms Durant cut the red ribbon while Jacky Weaver and Hyla Hartlief peeled back a white silk cover. Voila! ‘Sedgefield 1’ emerged – a gleaming bright blue and silver mosaic masterpiece with a perfectly crafted protea on her boot and colourful panels of flowers on her bonnet. Her headlamps sparkled in the sun as laughing children rushed forward eager to climb onto her wooden seats.
After a long dreary winter, the rain stopped, the clouds separated, and sunbeams danced upon the water. Sedgefielders, both young and old, gathered around the once dilapidated volksie taking “selfies” and having fun.

After 18 months of suspension, during which he received full pay, Knysna’s Municipal Manager, Dr Sitembele Wiseman Vatala, has finally resigned, giving the local authority the opportunity to at last fill this important post on a permanent rather than acting basis.
Said Christopher Bezuidenhoudt, spokesperson for Knysna Municipality, “We can confirm that the Executive Mayor received Dr Vatala’s resignation on Saturday, 21 August 2021. Dr Vatala has taken up the position of Municipal Manager at the Central Karoo District Municipality. His resignation will serve before the Council at a Special Council Meeting on Wednesday 25 August for further deliberation on the disciplinary matter.”
Dr Vatala’s suspension has cost the local taxpayers a vast amount of money, with a monthly salary of R115 000+ paid in full for the 18 months (whilst an ‘Acting’ Municipal Manager has also had to be paid), plus hundreds of thousands of Rands in legal costs (unfortunately the Municipality were unable to provide the official figure at the time of going to press). Yet, still, questions are being asked as to whether or not Council should accept the Municipal Manager’s resignation in Wednesday’s meeting and move on, or continue taking appropriate legal steps against him.
Whilst a cut and dry departure of Dr Vatala might save further legal expenditure on the matter for Knysna; many believe that in the bigger picture, if Council believes he is guilty of any misconduct, allowing him to move on to another post in another municipality would be setting a dangerous precedent, adding another nail in the coffin of good governance.
Indeed, in March 2019, when it was first announced that Dr Vatala had been appointed as Knysna’s new Municipal Manager for a three-year term, a quick online search revealed that the previous year he had left Emalahleni Municipality in Mpumalanga under a dark cloud. However, it seems that because the allegations raised against him (irregular appointments and nepotism reported in the Dispatch Live in December 2018) had not ultimately resulted in charges of misconduct, they did not affect his application for Knysna’s top post.
Less than a year after his appointment in Knysna, Dr Vatala was placed on precautionary suspension following a Special Council Meeting on 13 February 2020 due to allegations levelled against him. At the same time it came to light that Knysna Municipality had reportedly plunged from a projected R50 million cash surplus in November 2019 to a projected cash deficit of more than R200 million.
The Knysna Ratepayers Association claims to have played a major part in Vatala’s suspension. A statement made on their Facebook page at the time explained the reasons they were determined he should be brought to book.
“We became aware that properties to a value exceeding R60 million, that had previously been disclosed as Contingent Assets, had inexplicably been omitted from (Knysna Municipality’s) Annual Financial Statements by the CFO. The Municipal Manager, who is also the Accounting Officer, signed off on those statements. The Auditor General queried the removal of those assets and was provided with false and/or misleading information regarding their status. We submitted a complaint to Deputy Mayor Tsengwa against Dr Vatala in connection with this matter, as well as in connection with a tender that should have been awarded to a local company, but was unlawfully awarded to a company from out of town that had tendered a price R3 million higher than the local company.”
When the Deputy Executive Mayor Councillor Aubrey Tsengwa announced Dr Vatala’s suspension at the Special Council Meeting of Feb 2020, he said that Council would appoint an independent investigator and the Municipal Manager would be on suspension for the duration of the investigation.
“The investigator must submit its findings to the Municipal Council within 30 days,” Tsengwa promised.
The process has clearly taken a good deal longer than expected and indeed substantially drained the coffers of our already cash-strapped local authority. We look forward to bringing you details of Council’s decision on the matter, and indeed to the future appointment of a new Municipal Manager.
Watch this space.

There’s been no vote or even selection process, but The EDGE Team can only stand in awe of the work that Martie Rooi does in the community, so as August is National Women’s Month – we pay tribute to this selfless lady.
Indeed, when we interviewed her on Monday’s National Women’s Day public holiday, Martie mentioned that it had been a busy weekend for her, and she hadn’t been able to get more than an hour’s sleep on Saturday night. When we pushed her for more detail, we learned she had given medical attention to no less than nine stab victims!
Most of what Martie does goes unrecorded because she is the sort of person that just gets on with what needs to be done, without any thought for any accolades for herself. She has been described as Smutsville’s ‘Florence Nightingale’ but could equally be seen as the community’s very own Mother Theresa.
Martie wears many community hats, but the biggest has to be heading up Smutsville’s First Aid Crew, which is run literally on her front stoep. For the last three decades, she has been tending to the wounded, the sick, the aged and even those giving birth, without thought for her own safety, never mind any compensation.
Indeed a few years back, The EDGE reported on an incident in which Martie was tending to a man who had been badly wounded by a group of men who had attacked him in a bar brawl. He had escaped and made his way to Martie’s home, but whilst she was trying to bandage his wounds, his attackers rushed in to try and finish him off.

But this and many other incidents that she has dealt with over the years has not put her off.
“Sometimes I get frustrated, and I say I am going to stop,” she says, “But then the next day people come, and I just start again.” It seems her faith plays a major role in keeping her strength and spirits up, as she glances heavenward, smiles and says, “I have got someone looking out for me!”
When patients arrive at her home, Martie has to decide whether they need more medical attention than she is qualified to give. If they do, then she calls the ambulance from Knysna. Indeed, the paramedics have realised over the years that when Martie calls, it must be something that needs swift attention.
“The ambulance people know me by name,” she laughs, “I have a hotline to them!”
Whilst she worked alone for many years, Martie says she now enjoys the support of other members of the First Aid Crew, including Selina du Plessis, Rachel Harker and a thirteen-year-old boy Eddie Kasanya who has decided to learn everything he can from Martie and is proving to be a great help to her.
She is also very grateful for the ongoing assistance she receives from the community at large – by donating into her very active pharmacy account or dropping off goods at her home.
One would think that her being unofficially ‘on call’ practically every night, Martie’s days would be spent catching up on sleep, but no. Martie has other selfless duties she attends to.
She works as a care-worker for Masithandane, is the community contact person for Fresh Start’s ‘Helping Hands’ – which identifies and assists community members with particular needs – and she also runs her own soup kitchen, mainly for children.
During our interview, it became very evident that this amazing lady holds a special place in the local children’s hearts, with so many coming along, especially to say hello.
Martie laughed, “When we do a street or house clean up, they often come to offer help,” she said, “And if we haven’t done one in a while, they come to me asking, ‘When can we come and clean with you again?’!”
And as if she hasn’t got enough on her plate, Martie is currently looking for over-locking machines to start a new job-creation project – a sewing circle to provide an income for unemployed women.
When asked her age, Martie grinned mischievously, saying it isn’t something everyone needs to know. But she certainly isn’t setting any date for retirement in any form.
She simply said, “I will stop when the Lord says I must stop.”.

(Picture: Stacks of timber illegally harvested from private land on Cloud 9. )

LANDOWNER ASKS QUESTIONS AS TO WHY NO ARRESTS WERE MADE

There was much alarm and consternation amongst the residents of ‘Cloud 9’ hill on the northern side of Sedgefield, when on 15 July, a group was discovered illegally stripping private property of an estimated R90 000 worth of timber.

It must be pointed out that this crime was not a case of a few subsistence firewood cutters trying to eke out a living, but a seemingly well-organised operation involving approximately 15 men, three tractors and a number of bakkies. An estimated 2,5 hectares of private land was harvested of pine in a short space of time, and logging trucks from at least one timber transport company had to be used to move the timber. Furthermore, the theft was perpetrated after permission had been denied, in no uncertain terms, by the owner of the land, Kurt Wucherpfennig.
According to one resident, who asked that his name be withheld, all of the land on the much-loved ‘Cloud 9’ ridge is privately owned. The residents have, on occasion, permitted two small groups of people to cut firewood.“But only blue gum and wattle, and only in very specific areas,” he explained, “While we understood their needs and wanted to accommodate them, we made sure that very strict protocols were followed whenever permission was requested so that it could not turn into a free-for-all or become a threat to our security.”

On 7 July, the same resident had been approached by two of the regular firewood cutters, asking if they could cut pine on a specific site. As it wasn’t his land and belonged to the Wucherpfennigs, the resident said he would ask the landowner on their behalf.
“Mr Wucherpfennig’s response was a very clear NO,” he said, “So I passed this on to the cutters and made sure they read the message.”

The owner later explained, “I declined the request to harvest wood as I am in the process of paying a company to submit a maintenance strategy to the Municipality which will require specific harvesting areas and firebreaks – so I did not want random harvesting to take place.”
So once this permission had been declined, it was presumed that would be the end of the matter. But clearly, it wasn’t.

Fortunately, the residents of the small community living along the ridge do tend to look out for one another, so on Thursday 15 July, when another resident (who also asked for his name to be withheld) came across the large team cutting logs on the Wucherpfennig land, he stopped to find out what was going on.
“A huge amount of timber had been harvested. There were stacks of logs waiting to be transported and at least twenty men working on the site. I could see three tractors and a number of bakkies,” he told us later. He approached one of the men and asked what they were doing and if they had permission. The man’s response left him feeling that it wasn’t safe to hang around.
“He got very aggressive and said that because it wasn’t my land, I could not stop them.”

After quickly taking pictures on his cell phone, the resident left the site. However, he wasted no time in making contact with the landowner, who fortunately happened to be in the area.
“I was on my way back to Cape Town from East London and had stopped off in Knysna for a few days to visit friends when I was alerted to the theft taking place on my property,” he explained.

The owner swiftly contacted the police, whilst another resident called ADT for assistance. Within two hours, the resident and the owner, along with police members in a SAPS van, and a number of security personnel in four ADT vans, swooped in on the site. They found the illegal timber harvesting was still in progress.

The working men were confronted by the men in uniform and ordered to stop what they were doing, but no arrests were made.
“I couldn’t believe it,” the resident told us later, “These men were caught red-handed, but not one of them was taken into custody.”

Instead, the SAPS members ordered the cutters off the site, instructing them to leave the cut timber and all the machinery and vehicles precisely as they were.
“We were even more surprised when the SAPS members suggested to the owner that opening a police case wouldn’t be worthwhile,” the resident informed us, “It was clear and blatant theft.”
Mr Wucherpfennig confirmed this.
“The police were more concerned about whether I had proof of ownership of the property on me,” he said, “But who carries their title deeds with them?”

The police members also asked him why there was no visible private property signage.
The owner hadn’t thought this necessary.
”The community often walk dogs or cycle on the property, which I have had no problem with up until now. We did have a gate some years back which was stolen.” he told us.
As far as he was concerned – this line of questioning from the police was simply deflecting from the theft that was going on on his land.

“Their whole approach was very passive and somewhat frustrating. I had to literally argue with one of the sergeants as well as one of the constables and insist on laying charges, despite the culprits being caught red-handed,” he said. “Perhaps that is why – despite the warning not to remove any of the wood that had been cut – the culprits felt emboldened to finish the job.”

Indeed the following morning, when he returned to the site, he found two of the three tractors had been taken away, as had a whole lot of the harvested logs. The remaining tractor was damaged, which was why, he presumed, it had been left behind.
Later that day, the owner was at the bottom of the ‘Cloud 9’ road meeting his neighbour to discuss firebreaks, when a truckload of timber came down the hill. They stopped it to chat to the driver and established it had come from the Wucherpfennig property and that at least four loads had already been removed.
“I couldn’t believe that despite their run-in with the police, the woodcutters had no fear of being held to account,” he said.

Since then, he has been regularly calling the police about the case but is yet to be contacted by the investigating officer.

We contacted the Knysna Police to enquire why no arrests had been made at the time, and if any had been made since. We received the following comment from spokesperson Sergeant Chris Spies.
“Knysna Detectives are investigating a case of theft with regards to this matter. Investigation into this case is ongoing.
“The allegations pertaining to police conduct must be reported to the Knysna SAPS station management for an investigation to be instituted.”