NOT-SO-GREAT WHITE EXPERIENCE

Two local kayakers faced a fisherman’s biggest fear early on Sunday Morning when a four-metre Great White got quite serious about having them for breakfast. When the huge shark hit one fishing kayak so viciously the paddler fell into the water, his fishing buddy truly believed a tragic end was looming…

Experienced fishermen Hanno Smit and Dennis Robson launched their fishing kayaks (or skis) from Myoli Beach at about quarter to five in the morning, well before sunrise. Conditions were perfect for paddling.
“The sea was beautiful,” Hanno told us later, “It was flat, glassy smooth, with very little swell and good visibility. Nice and warm too. Perfect”
They had paddled about 1km out to sea before stopping to gear up. Hanno described to us what happened next.
“We opened our hatches and I was just taking my fishing rod out when we heard this sort of deep, loud explosion,” he said. They did a serious double-take when they saw what had caused it. “It was a great white that breached right over Dennis’s kayak and landed right between us!”
He says at first they were just awestruck, not fully understanding what they had just witnessed. Then they started babbling, almost in disbelief.
“What just happened? Can you believe it?”

But 10 seconds later their excited chattering was interrupted as a shark hit, this time from underneath.
“Whether it was the same one or another one, I don’t know,” Hanno told us, “It hit the nose of Dennis’s kayak from underneath with huge force, and took it right up out of the water, throwing old Dennis right out of his ski!” Hanno went on to describe how the shark seemed more interested in the ski than the now frantic Dennis who was desperately trying to get out the water.
“It kind of rolled with the ski. Dennis was trying to clamber back on to it, but all the time the shark was wrestling with the ski and didn’t let go.”
Finally Dennis managed to get back onto the kayak as Hanno bought his own alongside to steady him. Fortunately, as Dennis got on, the Great White released the craft’s nose.
And then they sat next to each other, holding the boats together and bracing themselves for the next attack.
“After about a minute of nothing happening, I noticed that Dennis’s fishing rod was all tangled up with his paddle leash, so he wouldn’t be able to paddle,” recalls Hanno, “So I took out a knife and freed up the ski.”
The two men then started gingerly paddling back towards the shoreline. For the first 200m they kept the kayaks firmly together in the middle, only using the outer blades of their paddles. “It was very tense, we were anticipating another attack at any moment,” said Hanno.
They then started paddling naturally, with their blades hitting the water on both sides of the kayaks, but still keeping the two craft very close together. Hanno said that they both expected another hit every second of the way back to the beach. Fortunately it seems the shark had lost interest.
Once safely on the sand, and after regaining their composure, the two men closely examined Dennis’s ski. They found several shark size tooth marks as well as two shark teeth still stuck in the hull!
Having had time to think about the terrifying incident, Hanno is convinced the great white was looking to feed rather than just being curious. He explains why.
“From underneath it wasn’t sure what we were. That’s why it breached right over us – to see what we were. And when it saw us moving and screaming it saw us as living things. That’s why it immediately came for the kill.”

The hardened fishermen were both shaken up by this experience.
“We were SO lucky to survive,” said Hanno, “Especially old Dennis. It felt like he was in the water forever, and at some stage he must have been touching the shark because I saw black right next to him! Very, very frightening.”
Hanno feels quite strongly that there has been a definite change in Great White behaviour .
“We have been fishing these waters for 13 years, between 15 and 30 times a year, and up until three years ago we hardly knew that there were Great Whites off Myoli. But the last few years we’ve had regular sightings of them, and this last year they’ve been very aggressive. Bumping us, and coming right up to us with almost no fear.”
He is convinced that this is the result of shark cage diving companies ‘chumming’ (enticing the sharks to come closer by throwing food in the water.)
“That’s made the sharks so at ease with humans and craft – the food factor. Because in reality why else would a Great White come up to a boat?” he said.

Picture:- Dennis Robson, safely back on shore and ecstatic to still have all his limbs after being knocked off his fishing kayak by a 4m Great White Shark.

 

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DEMI ON THE ROAD TO MISS UNIVERSE

Sedgefield’s darling Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, who was crowned Miss South Africa in March this year, is ready and eager for the 66th Miss Universe Pageant to be held at The Axis in Las Vegas on Sunday, November 26.

Social media was all a-twitter last week, when the national costume was first revealed at her Miss Universe Farewell in Cape Town

Inspired by the protea, this stunning outfit was designed by Malikah Hajee and Lloyd Kandlin and their team at The Costume Department, while Anel Botha has designed a number of other outfits Demi will be wearing, including the finale gown.

Hajee and Kandlin said: “We were approached by the Miss South Africa Organisation’s pageant coach and stylist Werner Wessels to create the Miss South Africa national costume. Wessels had a vision of what he thought would be most effective. We then took his idea a step further and created our version of the South African national flower, the Protea, which is also the official Miss South Africa emblem. We looked at the elements of the flower and colours and recreated it in a costume form.”

More than 80 countries are expected to join the pageant, and should Demi-Leigh win, she will be crowned by Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere.

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DEPUTY MAYOR OUT

During a Special Council meeting held this morning (25 October) in Knysna Council Chambers, a Motion of No Confidence against Deputy Mayor Peter Myers was successful, with 11 councilors voting for and ten against.

This motion was proposed by members of his own party, the Democratic Alliance, after weeks of internal headbutting.  The main catalyst of this discontent was the recent signing of the Service Level Agreement between Tourism and the Municipality, a move which Myers was vehemently against and resulted in his storming out of a council meeting, leaving his party colleagues to apologise for his behaviour.

The council meeting of 25 October took a different turn when another vote of no confidence was proposed, this time by ANC Chief Whip Victor Molosi, who suggested that Mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies and Speaker Georlene Wolmarans be removed from office. A vote of 12 to 9 against this motion made sure that it was not carried.

Myers retains his seat as Ward 10 Councillor.

Meanwhile, Knysna Municipal Manager, Kam Chetty, has assured residents that as far as municipal administration is concerned, it will be business as usual.

“I would like to assure residents of Greater Knysna that the removal of the Deputy Mayor will in no way impact on the functionality of the Municipality,” he stated.

He added: “When I took office on 1 July, 2017, the first thing I said was that I am not interested in politics and that my job was to ensure that the administration of the municipality is run well and according to legislation, and that is exactly what we are doing.”

The Municipal Manager explained that a municipal council has various responsibilities. “These include making the laws and policies, providing financial oversight, planning the budget, and hiring the municipal manager. It is further responsible for ensuring that the municipal administration fulfills its duties to the community.

Council has not yet decided on who will fill the position of Deputy Mayor.

“It is important to note that Council is not the only oversight body of local government. The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) is the Supreme Audit institution (Sai) of South Africa. It is the only institution that, by law, has to audit and report on how the government is spending the South African taxpayers’ money.

“All local government administrators need to answer to both the Council and the AGSA, so rest assured there is competent oversight in place. Residents must not lose sight of the fact that the Knysna Municipality received a clean audit by the AGSA during the last financial year,” concluded Chetty.

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COME FLY A KITE

60 kilometres of kite string would stretch from the Eden Kite Festival venue at Eden Lawns in Sedgefield to the Beacon Island Hotel in Plettenberg Bay; 650 square metres of cloth weighing 65kg would cover the Centre Court at Wimbledon almost 5 times; Add 2kms of 2mm thick fibre-glass rods weighing only 13kg, and then you can start preparing to break a record…
Cutting and sewing the cloth into 2 000 kite skins and adding two fibreglass rods per kite took three people 22 days of full-time work. Screen-printing the 2000 kites took two people 20 days. Winding the 60 kilometres of line onto 2000 handles, hand-cut from correx board, took four people 16 days of full-time work.
That is what has gone into producing the kites for the Sotheby’s Africa Record Attempt at the 3rd Eden Kite Festival! Our goal is to get as many of those 2000 kites into the air simultaneously. For this we need 2 000 kite fliers – including you!
The kites are for sale at tremendously reduced prices at the festival as well as beforehand at Sotheby’s offices, Knysna Tourism in Knysna and Sedgefield, and at the Scarab, Wild Oats and The Heath (Harkerville) markets. Those places are also where you can buy your entrance tickets for the Kite Festival on 22nd October (not to mention the pre-festival Wendy Oldfield & Leroy Botha concert at the Octopus Garden at Scarab Market on the evening of 21st October.)
The Executive Mayor of Knysna, Councillor Eleanore Bouw-Spies will open both events and you can also meet professional kiters from South Africa, Poland, England and the Netherlands.
Tickets for the festival are R20 for adults and R10 for under-12s. And the kites – worth R95 – are only R35 each. Payments can be made by EFT or ‘Zapper’ before the event, or in cash at the gate. The advantage of buying your entry tickets beforehand is that you get to use the Express entry at the festival and miss the queue to get in.
Tickets for the Wendy Oldfield concert are R100 each, and going fast!
The 3rd Eden Kite Festival is sponsored by Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty of Knysna, Sedgefield, Mossel Bay and Stilbaai, and is in aid of Masithandane’s Bursary Fund, which keeps children in school by providing transport and essentials such as feminine hygiene products and stationery. There is no high school in Sedgefield and no public transport is available to get learners to the nearest schools.

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WISHING OUR MATRICS ALL THE BEST

As the academic year draws to an end, ‘Matric farewell’ season is upon us. The Grade 12s are all donning their glad rags and heading off to booked venues to celebrate the end of their schooling careers in as much style as they can muster.

And from then on life gets serious for them. With exams beginning later this month, many parents will be hoping that most of the matric-writers’ studying has been done, and only last minute reviews are necessary. Strength to all – matriculants AND their parents.

The three stunning young ladies pictured here are (would you believe?) the Heunis triplets, Angelique, Amoré and Annika, who are off to their matric farewell at Outeniqua High. Many will surely agree that time must have seriously whizzed by since the announcement of their birth in 1999. Like their elder sister Elani, the girls attended Sedgefield Primary and Outeniqua High School.

Proud parents Johan and Elaine say that the three sisters will be taking a ‘gap year’, or two, whilst they decide what they want to study.

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ONE WEEK, TWO FIRES, 31 HOMES DESTROYED

With the wounds of the Knysna fires still raw, Sedgefield has faced two more blazes in less than a week, with a total of 31 homes being destroyed and an estimated 100 or more people losing most of their worldly belongings.
The first fire ravaged through Smutsville’s Beverley Hills in the early hours of Friday 8 September. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but seven informal homes were destroyed. The cause is, as yet, unknown.
The following Thursday, just before 3am, another started. This time in the area known as ‘Slange Park’ on the Eastern side of Smutsville. A high density area, packed with informal structures less than a metre apart, was quickly engulfed in the fast-moving inferno.
There’s no doubt people were sleeping lightly, as miraculously no serious injuries have been reported.
One victim, Vuyisile Pauli, said he was fast asleep when his girlfriend Zowa Bevu fortunately heard the crackling flames. She immediately woke him and they both rushed to the window. The house four doors down from them was already in flames so they grabbed what they could and rushed outside.
“We went to help, but the flames were just too hot, and we had to get away,” Pauli said later.
Asked if he knew anything about the cause, he said that he had spoken to the man who had been sleeping in the first house that had burned. “There’s no proof, but from what he saw when he woke up, he suspects someone set it alight,” Pauli suggested.
The residents were grateful that the fire brigade arrived to tackle the blaze and prevent it spreading further, but it was just too late for the 24 homes that had been razed to the ground.
We contacted the Municipality for feedback regarding the fires and the councillor for that ward, Levael Davis, who is also the Mayoral Committee Member for Technical Services, said that he had been devastated to hear about the fires and that his heart goes out to those who had lost so much.
As far as support for the victims goes, he responded as follows: “Although the fire victims were offered temporary accommodation at the Sedgefield Community Hall, they preferred to stay with friends and family. A contractor is currently on the Beverley Hills site assisting residents with rebuilding their structures.
“Currently building material is being delivered and people in this community have agreed to rebuild their destroyed homes themselves. The municipality has also provided the affected with clothing.
“A big thank you to Ward 1 Committee Members for coordinating the assistance needed by the victims and also for going the extra mile. I also would like to extend my gratitude to Rebuild Eden Sedgefield for providing food and to all other NGOs that assisted.
“Thank you to the Sedgefield Community at large for once again standing together, supporting and assisting those affected by this tragedy.”

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MELODRAMA MAGNIFICENCE

Once again local residents, businesses and charity organisations have pulled out all the stops in support of the Sedgefield Melodrama, and if the response of the audiences thus far has been anything to go by, this year’s Once Upon a Night has met everyone’s high expectations and more.
The enthusiasm of cast and crew is what drives the show, and the laughter, cheering and calls for more from those who have gladly bought tickets to attend each performance lifts it even higher. The result is great fun on all sides and huge amounts of money made for local charities.
With many stalwarts, from Melodramas gone by, back on the planks alongside all the new (yet somehow still familiar) faces, the ‘smorgasbord’ of locals involved is what makes the show so special. Without wanting to ruin the surprise (there are still two shows left), those who attend may (or may not) recognise local teachers, hairdressers, doctors, restaurateurs, horticulturalists, coffee-shop proprietors, all dressed up a storm and all doing their very best to make fools of themselves for charity.
Says Director Bev Fowler “It has lots of variety, lots of fun and laughter. It really is an awesome show!”, whilst her able Assistant Director, Margie van Rensburg is already looking forward to next year’s Melodrama. “Each year we try to top the previous year. I envision much hilarity, fantastic music and record-breaking fundraising for our beneficiaries.”
With a total of over R500 000 made in the last eight Melodrama productions, producer Leigh-Ann Ralph is convinced that the 2017 effort will add a hefty sum onto that figure.
“It’s early days but with the fantastic turn out and generosity of the fabulous audiences and businesses, we should make close to R140 000.00 this year!” she said, adding “I can’t thank Bev, Margie, and the cast and crew enough for all their hard work.”
Major beneficiaries of the Melodrama are Laerskool Sedgefield, the Sedgefield Lions and the NSRI. “But hopefully after the last two shows we will have enough to add names of other charities to that list,” says Leigh-Ann.
At time of going to press about 850 tickets had been sold, and only a few seats were left for the night of Thursday 7 Sept. The last night (Friday) is already sold out. “If people don’t want to miss out they should book at Tourism before all the tickets are gone,” the proud producer urges.
A message from an overseas visitor who caught the Melodrama sums it up perfectly. “For a small community to put on a quality show like that as a charity event is unique and unprecedented anywhere in the world. You should be proud of what you are doing.”

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SCHOOL RAPE VICTIM TREATED AS CRIMINAL

As we draw towards the end of Women’s Month, it seems that at least part of our education system is still working to laws of the dark ages – this after a thirteen-year-old girl who was raped by a boy at her high school hostel, whilst two other boys held her down, has been expelled from the hostel for life.

The boy who raped her later admitted to his crime and was arrested, then released pending a trial. His parents have removed him from the school. The two boys who assisted him and cheered him on were given a nine-day suspension, and are now back at the hostel.

We have changed the name of the victim and her mother in this story for obvious reasons, but they both live in Smutsville, and the victim attended Heatherlands School in George at the time, staying at the girls’ hostel.

On the afternoon of Thursday 9 March ‘,Victoria’ went across to the boys’ hostel to fetch a laptop that one of the boys had borrowed from her. The laptop belonged to her mother, ‘Agnes’, who she was seeing the following day, and after asking the boy to return it a number of times without success, she had decided to go and fetch it from his room herself.

Knowing she was not allowed into the hostel without permission, Victoria says she looked for the hostel master, but he wasn’t there.

She decided to go in anyway, and when she walked into the room belonging to the boy she found him there with three other boys.

But instead of giving her the lap top, the boys grabbed her. Two of them, both boys she knows from Smutsville, held her down and shouted words of encouragement to the boy who raped her. Another boy kept watch at the door.

Eventually, they were disturbed by the roommate of the rapist, who walked in, saw what was going on and shouted at them. In the commotion, Victoria managed to escape and ran back to her room.

She was understandably in shock and did not tell anyone about her attack until the following day when she blurted out the whole terrible ordeal to her friend, who then went to the school authorities.

The first Agnes heard about her daughter’s attack was later that day, when she was visited at her home in Smutsville by someone from the Western Cape Education Department.
“An incident involving Victoria has happened,” was all he could tell her. He then phoned a social worker, also from the department, and handed Agnes the phone.

The social worker was at the hospital with Victoria, and she told Agnes the news that no mother ever wants to hear. There had been an ‘alleged rape’, Victoria was undergoing tests, and they were waiting for the police investigator to arrive.

The same investigator brought Victoria home at 5.30pm the same day. He had interviewed her in the car, and when he met with her distraught mother, he relayed the whole horrific tale to her. The case had been reported to the police and the family made contact with the investigating officer.

Though still suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Victoria bravely went back to school the following Thursday. However the next day her world fell apart again when she was sent home with a letter saying she was to face a disciplinary hearing at the school for ‘having sexual relations in the hostel’.

Having just started a new job, her shell-shocked mother asked if the hearing could be postponed to a later date, and eventually, 3 May was agreed upon. She also went to see her old Masithandane work colleague Barbara Pitt, who then called in Femke Hamming who is a well-renowned FAMSA counsellor.

Both ladies drove through with Agnes and Victoria to attend the disciplinary hearing at the school, and both were horrified with how it was handled.

They said the Governing Body Disciplinary Panel that they sat before with Agnes and Victoria, consisted of five men and one woman. When proceedings started another man came in and read out the charges for Victoria and her attacker. He also read a statement to the effect that the boy had admitted perpetrating the rape, and the fact that the two boys had held Victoria whilst the crime had been committed – which concurred with Victoria’s description of what happened. However, the boy had later retracted the second part of his statement.

After reading the charges and related statements, this man left the meeting, and Victoria had to face a long list of questions from the panel, often being pushed into such intimate detail that her mother, Barbara, and Femke cringed in their seats. Needless to say, Victoria became extremely upset during the questioning. Being asked why she hadn’t fought back she explained that she had, biting the two holding her on their arms. She was also asked why she hadn’t screamed.

Counsellor Femke could not believe the intimate questions that the obviously still suffering young girl was pushed to answer by adult men. “The disciplinary hearing should have only dealt with the fact that she had been in the boys’ hostel. The police are already investigating the rape case,” she said.

Eventually, Femke intervened and proceedings were brought to a halt before the long list of 23 questions had been completed. Victoria and those accompany-ing her were asked to wait outside whilst the panel deliberated. Half an hour later they were called back in, and Victoria was told the shocking news that she had been found guilty of misconduct and thus banned from the hostel for life.

This in effect, meant that she would have to leave the school, as the daily bus fare to and from George was totally unaffordable for her mother.

“I get the impression that they just wanted to get rid of her, to make the whole story go away,” said Agnes later.

Unable to believe that the young victim of this terrible crime has been the one punished, whilst the two boys who had held her are back at the school, Agnes, Barbara and Femke composed a long and detailed letter of appeal pointing out numerous irregularities in the hearing. This was sent to the school and to various directors in the Western Cape Education Department on 17 May.

No replies have been forthcoming to date. Meanwhile Agnes began making efforts to get Victoria enrolled in another school. She had already missed a term and certainly did not want to go back to Heatherlands in George as she had not only been tarnished as the ‘guilty party’, but would also have to share the bus with the two boys who had held her down.

After the department had promised that she would have a space in Knysna Secondary, Agnes contacted the school but were told they knew nothing about Victoria enrolling. Eventually, after sending a threatening letter to the department, they managed to get a meeting with Circuit Manager K Eksteen who made sure a place was found for her at that school, and she is continuing her studies there.

Agnes is determined that this matter is not swept under the carpet, so the same thing can happen to someone else’s child. She says Victoria’s character has been changed by her terrible ordeal. The young girl is angry and frequently aggressive and is yet to be offered counseling or support from the school, or the Department of Education.

Agnes longs for the day when a high school in Sedgefield becomes a reality, or at least a proper bus service so that children can sleep at home and parents are not forced to compromise their safety.

Both Barbara and Femke believe there has been a total miscarriage of justice, and that the school system failed to protect the victim, yet allowed the boys back into the hostel after a short suspension.

“This matter was handled so terribly from the start,” says Femke, “Schools should have a plan in place for when such things happen.”

She pointed out that according to Section 55 of the Sexual Offences Act, it is an offense to attempt, conspire with another person or incite another person to commit a sexual offense. The penalty for this is the same as if the person had committed the act.

“This means that the other boys (who helped the perpetrator) should be charged,” she explained, “He retracted the statement that they were involved but it is in the statement of the victim…. even so, nothing has happened to them through SAPS and school only suspended them for nine days which meant they acknowledged their involvement.”

The EDGE has sent inquiries to the school and the Education Department offering a chance to comment. Shortly before going to print the following note was received from Paddy Attwell, Director of Communication, Western Cape Education Department.

“The department does not have jurisdiction over discipline at the hostel, and could not consider the appeal against the decision of the school governing body.

The department views the incident in a very serious light and approved the expulsion of the boy concerned from the school, following a separate disciplinary hearing of the SGB.

District officials have explained the disciplinary process regarding the hostel to the mother and her representative.

The SGB expelled the girl from the hostel, but not the school. The school arranged to accommodate her elsewhere.

She has since moved to Knysna Secondary and does not wish to return to Heatherlands High, according to our information.”

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“ACT OF GOD” RULED OUT AS CAUSE OF KNYSNA FIRES

On 14 August,  Knysna Municipal Fire Chief, Clinton Manuel, presented to various members of the media the cause of the devastating fires that spread through the area from 7 June. 

At the media briefing, also presided upon by Municipal Manager Cam Chetty and Knysna Executive Mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies,  Manuel offered detailed scientific evidence which pointed to the origin of the fire being on a clearing site in Elandskraal.

“Specific patterns of the burn scars on the terrain show a definite V pattern which indicates, with a high degree of certainty, the site where the fire started. Just below this scar, we have found evidence of man-made fire,” he said.

Manuel explained that part of that evidence was a small stack of firewood, as well as pine cones, which would have had to have been brought in by someone as there are no pine trees in that vicinity.

“I can confirm that the cause of the fire being an Act of God is dispelled,” Manuel stated, referring to a number of theories being circulated which suggest that a lightning strike in the same proximity was the original cause of the fire.  Using aerial photographs of the topography and compiled data of the timing, speed, and direction of the wind on 7 June (when the fire started spreading), Manuel tracked the fire’s progress from the hills and valleys of Elandskraal to surrounding areas. His presentation offered what he believes to be conclusive proof that the fire could not have begun at the point of the lightning strike. Included were pictures taken weeks after the fire, showing that the point where the strike occurred is still surrounded by thick green vegetation.

Asked whether arson was suspected, Manuel said they could not come to this conclusion. The fact that a man made fire had resulted in such huge devastation did not necessarily mean that it had been intended for anything else than a means to keep warm or cook.  “We cannot say that this fire was started as a criminal act of arson, in other words deliberately. This investigation is now being handed over to the South African Police Services,” he stated.

At the briefing, the Mayor thanked South Africa for their continued support of Greater Knysna during and after the fires, and for keeping its residents in their thoughts and prayers.

“Following the fires we needed to decide whether we recreate what was there before or if we do things completely differently. We have chosen to respond to the disaster by finding innovative ways of becoming a disaster-wise community,” she said, “One of the biggest culprits for the intensity of the fire was invasive plant material. The Knysna Municipality plans to use that exact material to build labour intensive, cost effective, fire resistant housing.”

The Mayor added that the fire has left the area with bare slopes that are extremely susceptible to erosion. “We’ve acquired erosion control materials that are made from the fibres of invasive plants and already these geo-textiles are being installed by municipal staff in the erosion hot spots,” she explained.

Also addressing the media at the briefing, Knysna Municipal Manager Cam Chetty pointed out that Clinton Manuel has many years of experience in forensic fire investigation, including the Cape Town Fires in Camps Bay, Strandfontein, Lakeside and the Southern Peninsula fires, and that in every case his findings and conclusions had been verified,  surviving intense interrogation.  He said that there had not been a ‘delay’ in concluding the Knysna fire investigation and releasing its results, as some had suggested, but that it had taken the time that such a comprehensive investigation would anywhere else in the world.

“This report presented today included evidence and opinions of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and several other scientists, and I must say that I am extremely impressed with their methodology,” he added.

According to Chetty the Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille’s office has set up the Garden Route Rebuild Initiative to support the rebuilding of the region. Preliminary estimates, to address the infrastructure of disaster damage totals R496.3 million for the entire region.

Cost estimates for Knysna alone are:

Health infrastructure – R 1, 256 million

Agriculture – R40 million

Human Settlements – R44,920 million

Local Government – R91 573 175

Environmental affairs – R134.89 million

“Much of this funding must still be raised and applications are being made to various government departments for assistance,” the Municipal manager explained.

The Fire Chief’s scientific and technical presentation is available on the Knysna Municipal Website.

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DECEASED’S BROTHER ASKING QUESTIONS

Research and information provided by Noel Solomons.

The brother of a man whose decomposing body was found lying in a ditch on the side of the road last month is appealing for information on how his thirty one year old sibling was killed, this after his inquiries with the police have brought no answers to the desperate family.

Gotso Motkhatule says that his brother Thabiso (pictured on the right) had been missing for two months before his body was found on 3 July, lying 10 metres off the N2, by truck driver Donald Stroebel.

Stroebel says that it was just before 11am when, finding the Engen Petrol Station too full for him to park his truck and use the toilet, he had stopped just short of the Swartvlei Bridge to answer the call of nature.
“As I was walking down the slope I saw something. At first I thought it was a buck or something, but when I got closer I realised what it was and rushed to call the police,” he told us.

After waiting half an hour for SAPS to arrive, he saw a policeman driving past on the way to George. He flagged the vehicle down and told the officer driving what he had found – the SAPS member kindly offered to wait on the scene so Stroebel could carry on with his journey.

Later that morning SAPS members were able to identify the body, and Gotso was called to the scene to confirm it was his brother.
The coroner has listed the cause of death as ‘Under Investigation’ on the death certificate, and SAPS spokesman Sergeant Chris Spies says that no foul play is suspected in the case.

But Gotso says that he and his family are determined to find out how his brother could have met such an untimely death. Having seen the body, he believes Thabisa had been badly beaten up, and thinks that foul play did indeed occur.

He explained that Thabisa was due to be a witness in a court case, and that this had really scared him, hence he was in the habit of disappearing for days at a time. When he hadn’t returned for so long the family believed he had gone into hiding.
Gotso is calling for anyone with any information at all about his brother’s case to take it to the police – the case number is 48/07/2017.

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