(PICTURE: World Champ Roedolf Robertson and his exceptionally proud mother Tanja)

Local lad Roedolf Robertson and his teammates are the Tug-of-War World Champions!

Roedolf’s team is in the 560 kg weight class and they competed in two sets of championships held in Holten in the Netherlands. The first was the Tug-of-War International Federation Club Championships held on Thursday, 15 Sept. Taking part as Club Oakdale, they pulled against 13 Clubs from different countries. Tug-of-war competitions are decided on a ‘best of three’ basis and the team won all their pulls 2 – 0. This earned them the World Club Champions title.

As if this wasn’t a big enough feather in their collective cap, on Saturday, 17 September the team took part at the Closed World Championships, representing South Africa as the Protea National Team. Only eight countries qualified – France, Thailand, Netherlands, Germany, England, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei and South Africa.

The team pulled against all seven countries, winning 2 – 0. In the Semi-final they were up against the home team Netherlands, and then met Chinese Taipei in the final.

This was certainly no pushover! The first pull against the Chinese team lasted over 10 minutes – an exceptional length of time in tug-of-war terms, and the second pull took just over five minutes. The South Africans won both pulls and were crowned World Champions.
“Roedolf has worked hard,” says proud mother Tanja, “They practice three hours a day, then there’s weekend practice camps, and all this in between doing his matric exams!”

Ward 1 DA Councillor, Levael Davis (pictured above), may well be vacating his post as Executive Mayor of Knysna today (31 August), along with his deputy Mark Willemse (KIM), Council Speaker Julie Lopes (DA) and Council Whip Hilton Stroebel (DA), after the Knysna Council meets to vote on four ‘Motions of No Confidence’ (MONCs) in a special council meeting.

The MONCs were delivered to the Council Speaker on 22 August by members of the ANC / PBI / PA coalition, along with a letter requesting that a Special Council Meeting be held to consider the removal of the four Executive Councillors. Whilst ‘MONC’s against executive members of the DA / KIM ruling coalition have been proposed before during this council’s term of office, none has been successful.

This time, however, the request was signed by the majority of Knysna’s councillors (eleven out of twenty-one) which infers that all four motivations will probably succeed. Of particular note is the inclusion of the signature of EFF Councillor Neil Louw, whose single vote will swing the decision in the ANC coalition’s favour. Previously, in decisions such as these, this councillor has either abstained or voted on the side of the DA coalition following the EFF’s claim at a national level that they would not work with the ANC.

In letters submitted by ANC Councillors Tsengwa and Matika for the removal of Mayor Davis and Deputy Mayor Willemse, respectively, both cited ‘failing to provide leadership’ as their motivation, whilst Councillor Charlie (PA) claimed in her motivation to remove Speaker Lopes, that she had ‘on numerous occasions failed to act impartially’. Council Whip Stroebel was accused of ‘failing to exercise his duties’ in ANC’s Kay Andrews’ motivation letter for his removal. All motions were requested to be served on the 31 August 2022 Council Agenda.
Should these MONCs result in the removal of these office bearers, voting will take place at the same meeting to fill the newly vacant positions.

When asked for comment, Executive Mayor and Sedgefield’s Ward 1 Councillor Davis was clearly frustrated by this political upheaval and the effect he believed it would have on the council’s momentum should the motions be carried.
“I will most certainly be very disappointed if this happens. There are so many innovative plans we have for Knysna. In this short space of time in office, we have built positivity, formed great partnerships, and have been able to introduce incremental changes that have enhanced Greater Knysna. Should we lose this vote, we will commit to being an effective opposition and continue the fight for freedom, fairness, opportunity and diversity.”

When a few selfless people put their shoulders to the wheel, it has a ripple effect, and great things start to happen. Revive Sedgefield has been testimony to that, and it seems that it isn’t only their hardworking team that is out and about (dare we say it) Making Sedgefield Great Again!

“Revive Sedgefield” was launched on 21 June after a public meeting initiated by Sedgefield Ratepayers and Residents Association (SR&RA) showed great enthusiasm amongst residents for cleaning up, beautifying, and reviving Sedgefield’s public places.

As Lilith Seals, Chair of SR&RA, succinctly says, “The people who want to do something instead of moaning about the state of our town have gotten together and started!”

Once the SR&RA had got the ball rolling, a committee of six Sedgefielders was formed, with Linda Patton as Chair. Meetings were held to discuss the logistics of making the Revive Sedgefield project work and keeping it energised. After that, there was a call for volunteers, and soon a work group of people happy to put their hands in the soil and a spade in the ground was ready for action. It was recommended that they start with small steps and work on one small project at a time.

The first project, which started on 25 July, involved the Municipal offices and the Library gardens. These have been weeded, composted, landscaped, tidied up, and planted. And it really has made a difference.
The next step will be to look for funding. Or contributions. Or help with planting or improving the visual look of our town. Small steps! The Knysna Municipality has already contributed plants from the Municipal Nursery, and the fire department has helped by watering the gardens once they have been planted.

“When the government and community come together, things get done,” says Lilith, “Sedgefield Ratepayers and Residents association would like to thank the energetic and enthusiastic Revivers!”

Meanwhile, Lindie and Kayla, the two young ladies that make up ‘Team Creatively’, have finished their (much) larger-than-life mural at the Swallow Street Shopping Centre. It is both quirky and beautiful and, judging by the positive reaction of so many locals, is another excellent effort towards Sedgefield’s make-over.

Our boys have done it again! Only weeks after bringing home the Knysna Local Football Association (KLFA) Easter Tournament Trophy, the men from Smuts United are flying the Sedgefield flag high once more – this time as victors of the Knysna Oyster Soccer Tournament. The match took place on the Loerie Park field, and opponents FC Rebels from Hornlee certainly did not make it an easy win for the Smuts squad.

The exceptionally close game ended on a single goal difference. Smuts United team captain Corne Melite celebrated a brace of goals, one in each half, with No. 6 Jeswin Windwaai also managing to boot one home in the second. The Rebels managed to equalise in the first half, but when Coach Pieter Hardnick brought on his ‘supersub’ Ayanda ‘Nomvete’ Oniwe at No. 11 after the break, Smuts United’s game went into super drive. Whilst Ayanda didn’t score, the quick-footed centre-forward was instrumental in setting up both goals in the second half for his skilled teammates to hammer into the back of the Rebels’ net.

The Hornlee crowds had some reprieve when their side managed to cut the lead after catching the Smuts United lads on the back foot whilst they were still celebrating their third goal, but though the teams battled back and forth in each other’s territory, this was to be the last goal of the match, and our Smutsville team’s supporters roared with delight when the final whistle blew!

It certainly was a day of celebration for the Smutsville club. Earlier, their Under 13 team had won their division of the tournament, beating Pine Stars by five goals to four after a penalty shoot-out.

“Right from the beginning, we were so proud, opening the game in the brand new shirts Sedgefield Lions had recently given us. We want to thank all those who have assisted us along the way:- Our sponsors, Miss Kay Rob, coaches Pieter Hartnick and Gavin Kamfer, our management team, and under-13 coach Adam Hartnick,” Says Smuts United’s Club Secretary.

This is the first time a Knysna Local Football Association team has won both the Easter and the Oyster tournaments, and now all eyes will be on the logs for the KLFA league to see if Smuts United can make it a hat trick – a feat never achieved by another Knysna team! They only have two games left, both to be played this coming weekend, Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 July. If they win even one of these matches, Smuts United will finish at the top of the league and truly have their name engraved in the history books of local soccer.

Picture by EL Rorke Photography.

Our small but rather proud troupe of Sedge Players is on its way to perform at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown).

Who would have thought that the rather tongue-in-cheek Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), put together by this tiny bunch of local yokels over three years ago, would be so well accepted locally, and indeed regionally, and end up ‘on the boards’ of the Victoria Theatre at this nationally acclaimed arts festival?
This show (which some audience members say would make The Bard turn in his grave whilst others swear they can hear his soul chuckling) saw its inception in the lowly Studio 42 theatre as the players kicked off in October 2018 with a read through and then lots of practice. Throughout 2019 the show was touring and went from strength to strength all over the Garden Route. Two shows in George, nine in Sedgefield, two in Knysna and four more in Plettenberg Bay put them at almost 20 shows before theatres all over the globe were shut down due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
But as things started to wake up and open up in the first half of this year, the cast began rehearsing up a storm on a gloriously updated and adapted script (A New Variant!). With costumes and props thoroughly and oh-so-beautifully upgraded by The Costume Mistress (Linda Ormond of TwinX), actors Nita Allsopp (from local nurse to Comedienne Extraordinaire), Gareth Pretorius, (bee-keeper, stable hand and now a celebrated Actor of Note) and Bomber Webb (relatively unknown and now stepping out of obscurity to squint into the limelight) got ready to go again. Their mission is best described with a line from the script ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, we shall do it again… BETTER!’
The troupe insisted on reworking the lines (Producer/Director Melanie Baumeister swears they never learnt them in the first place anyway), threading an adaptation of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (it is her majesty’s Jubilee year, after all) all the way through. Once it was deemed a workable show (just as the nation was scheduled to head into its 5th wave of the current pandemic), two outdoor performances of ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged (A New Variant)’ were scheduled at the Mosaic Market. The deck of Andy B’s Art Gallery was transformed into a theatre with all the accoutrements, from lights and sounds to backdrops and wings. With even a makeshift Green Room, the loyal, kind, and always forgiving local audience was given a preview performance of the show (unfortunately, the second had to be postponed due to bad weather). It was another Sedgefield first. The venue hosted close to 100 audience members, and TCWOWSA was performed pretty much ‘under the stars’. The house literally came down (the backdrop dismantled itself) in the second act as the three ‘highly trained profiteroles’ attempted Hamlet at various levels of acceleration. Never knowing what was scripted and what was just plain having fun, the audience rolled in their seats with tears of laughter, holding their bellies and rubbing their cheeks. How we survived not being this entertained for this long is anyone’s guess.
The National Arts Festival will see the Sedge Players performing five shows over five days between 27 June and 3 July, and this merry band says they cannot wait to bring the mirth to further-flung audiences from all over the country. Tickets are becoming increasingly scarce as this show has been known to be ‘Sold Out’ well in advance at each of their previous venues. Radio Algoa even saw fit to report on their wild and crazy antics portraying all of Shakespeare’s 38 plays and 137 sonnets in a brisk 90 minutes.
‘Break A Leg’ Sedge Players, have a ball out there and bring back the stories of the glories of life under the lights!