Please click on the link below each section, to be redirected to the submitted IDP request.
• Affordable senior accommodation retirement facilities
Requests:
SBM to make the holiday houses in Oostewal Caravan Park as well as land available for affordable retirement accommodation / facilities for Langebaan.
Langebaan does not have any affordable retirement facilities. The reality is that many long-term Langebaan
residents have and plan to relocated out of Langebaan to find affordable facilities.The existing holiday houses at Oostewal Caravan Park provide the ideal opportunity for the first step in creating affordable senior housing. There is also sufficient land (and we believe services) available to build additional facilities, modelled on
existing ACVV facilities such as Huis Wittekruin and Moorreesburg retirement home. This is a complicated project that requires cooperation and support by local social services structures such
as churches. Langebaan Ratepayers and Residents Association together with Langebaan NG Church is willing to kickstart the project. It is foreseen that all churches and social services in Langebaan will support and join the project.
• Beach erosion
Requests:
• That the erosion of Langebaan’s beaches be addressed.
Motivation:
• Many of the sand bags have been lost and the beach at Lientjiesklip Caravan Park is eroding.
• The cause of the erosion can be debated and thrown around, but SBM approved the beach front
for development and also own properties, roads and infrastructure within the at risk of erosion
areas.
• SBM must take the lead in actions to stop the erosion, and must take the responsibility to get other
responsible parties such as National Government, Provincial Government, District Municipality, Portnet,
etc. involved and accountable
• Coordinated Langebaan Security NPO
Request:
• Support and cooperation by SBM for the establishment of a “Special Rating Area (SRA)” as per the existing By-Law that was adopted by SBM September 2017,with the specific goal of funding and managing the overall security in Langebaan.
• All SBM Langebaan based security facilities and equipment to be incorporated into the proposed Langebaan Security Management Non-Profit Organisation, to the extent that the SRA is adopted by ratepayers in a geographical area.
Motivation:
Langebaan has been identified as the South African coastal town with the 3rd highest crime rate in South Africa, a totally unacceptable position.
Why has this happened:
• Our local SAPS is understaffed and poorly managed. The expectation is that this will not improve. SAPS operate by responding to reported incidents of crime with very limited facilities and even
less pro-active crime prevention measures.
• Private security operators are fragmented with limited co-operation. Also, they only work for properties that pay for their services.
• Team Langebaan Neighbourhood Watch struggles to get support from residents. Those that do volunteer, pay patrolling costs out of their own pockets, thus the few working and paying for the
majority!
• The currently promoted Langebaan Street Patrol Groups is poorly structured and can easily be infiltrated by criminals as no Police Clearance is required to join. Also, no co-ordination with Team
Langebaan Neighbourhood Watch. Again a few is asked to protect the majority, which includes the many holiday homes which are not permanently occupied.
• SBM Law Enforcement and Traffic Enforcement is inefficient and poorly structured in Langebaan.
Some of the problems are:
o No direct accountability to Langebaan,
o Working hours when criminals are not active,
o Long response times,
o Control room and camera monitoring is located outside Langebaan.
• Open spaces and green belts add to the character of Langebaan. These however also provides easy to use routes for criminals. The installation of cameras with human form recognition, supported
by targeted patrols, will make use of these routes difficult.
• Abandoned and derelict buildings are used for criminal activities. Proper oversight and safety management of all abandoned and derelict buildings within the town of Langebaan, regardless of
the owner (state or private) is required. As an example, the old Tolhuis is being used by vagrants and known criminals. Wild animals have been slaughtered inside the Tolhuis and the building is
filthy inside, strewn with waste, human excrement, drugs, and broken bottles.
• Installed streetlights should be inspected and maintained in good working order with a focus on safety and security. An example is streetlights from LCE to Spar, all along the pedestrian walkway
that have been dead for some time.
Furthermore:
• It is requested that the Law Enforcement Officers are given regular refresher training programmes that includes a program on how to deal with the public, given that Langebaan is a tourist destination.
• Fire security and accident response
Request:
• Availability of “first responder” fire and emergency tender permanently located in Langebaan.
• Address the risk of fire spreading from the veld to Lientjiesklip caravan park residences and caravans by establishing a fire break.
Motivation:
Response times from the SBM centralized emergency services places lives and property at risk due to too long travel and thus response times.
It is requested that:
• Traffic and Law Enforcement Officers are based and operational in Langebaan 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
• That Langebaan based Traffic and Law Enforcement Officers are trained in firefighting.
• A first responder fire tender vehicle be located in Langebaan (until the larger municipal vehicles arrive from Saldanha Airfield).
• This will reduce response times and risk to lives and property damage.
• This will also contribute to managing and reducing the crime in Langebaan
• Pavements
Request:
• That Bogey Boulevard be upgraded to have raised and surfaced pavements that creates a safe pedestrian walkway.
• That Sleigh Street and Sunbird Street get surfaced walkways on the pavements.
Motivation:
• Bogey Boulevard does not have raised pavement sides resulting in vehicles often using the pavement as part of the road. This creates very dangerous situation for pedestrians.
• Sleigh Street has very wide pavement areas, but not suitable walkways. Result is that pedestrians walk in the street, which is designated for vehicles. This is dangerous especially with the high
volume of traffic on this street.
• Sunbird Street has areas with unsurfaced pavements which are difficult to impossible to pedestrian use as well as areas with very narrow pavements. This is dangerous especially with the high volume
of traffic on this street.
• Langebaan is a tourist destination and should have proper and safe walkways on all high-volume roads.
• Public ablution facilities
Request:
• That the availability of public ablution facilities be investigated, better managed and possibly increased.
Motivation:
• The ablution facility close to Fishermans lookout (on white road) is dirty.
• The ablution facility next to Watergat is often locked and not available.
• The informal trading area across the road from Spar does not have an ablution facility. Langebaan is a tourist destination with visitors walking around town. The existing ablution facilities are too far apart, resulting in regular urination in public and undesignated places.
• Public High School for Langebaan
Request:
• Saldanha Bay Municipality (SBM) to provide suitable land for the
establishment of a Collaboration Model High School in Langebaan.
• That SBM work with the Community volunteer group, the Provincial
Department of Education, and all other relevant parties for the establishment of a public high school in Langebaan.
Motivation:
This project which is driven by a community volunteer is supported by Langebaan Ratepayers and Residents Association.
In Progress: Collaboration Model Public High School for Langebaan
During the 2022/23 budget participatory meeting with the community of Langebaan in May 2022, many raised the issue of not having a public high school in Langebaan.
A community member volunteered to facilitate a work group to research, develop and implement a plan to realize this, with the proviso that the municipality would make ground available for the high school
We had a virtual meeting with the Management of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to make our intention known and build a relationship with them. At the meeting they confirmed that although there is a need for a high school in Langebaan, there is a greater need on the short to medium term at the other towns in the Saldanha Bay Municipal Area. They would support a collaboration model approach where the community contribute 60% and the WCED 40% to the building of the school. The education department would thereafter contribute to the budget in terms of existing policy guidelines to the running of the school. At the meeting the WCED proposed we consider the school’s core offer
to be Performing Arts. Improve Access to Quality Education with a “Collaboration School”, new type of public-school, run-in
partnership between an experienced non-profit school support organisation the “operating partner”, and the WCED which will oversee performance and will hold the school and the operating partner to account as part of the public education system. • This model of schooling will enable school leaders and operating partners to access additional resources and will allow for greater management flexibility to explore new ways of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of schooling. • School operating partners will ensure intensive support to teachers and principals through training, additional resources, performance monitoring and regular feedback. The overall aim is to substantially improve educational outcomes for learners in these schools. • A donor means a person or company who provides funds or property to a Collaboration School to develop a sustainable model for the purposes of improving delivery of education in low-income communities in the public education sector. A school operating partner aims to strengthen school governance and management and improve quality of teaching and learning in that school, so all learners can reach their full potential. Harness strong management and innovation from donor funded non-profit organizations to strengthen the education outcomes, increase accountability, develop educators and enhance and support governance in public schools. Allowing a model for greater flexibility and support, to drive innovative practices that will result in improved education outcomes for learners. WCED maintains: • The financial allocation to the school in terms of the norms and standards for school funding. • All pro-poor policy initiatives applicable to the school such as Learner Transport Scheme, National School Nutritional Programme and No-Fee Schools. • The school’s infrastructure in terms of the Western Cape Education Department’s Infrastructure Plan. Donor maintains: • Funding for the operating partner to support Collaboration Schools and ensures interventions and strategies to enhance education. Researched revealed a success story with the building of the Jakes Gerwel Technical High School in
Bonnievale. See https://www.jgt.co.za The workgroup visited the town Bonnievale to experience the school and to build relations with the team that made it possible see www.Bonnievale418.co.za
Desk-top research on Performing Arts schools in South Africa, the Pro Arto School was a possible role model to pursue. See www.proarte.co.za This school was opened in 1994 and one of Gauteng’s Schools of Specialisation. This unique school is located in the East of Pretoria and successfully combines art and
business. They offer six specialised focus areas namely, Dance, Art & Design, Drama, Hospitality and Enterprise Management.
We were invited by the Langebaan Rate Payers Organisation to form one of their committees for them to support the project with motivation in the IDP for the municipality and promote it with their website and Facebook page. On Saturday the 27th of August the Work Group had their third monthly meeting. The findings at the
meetings and ongoing research are captured in a Skeleton Plan. It is foreseen that the Skeleton Plan will eventually inform both the business case detailed project plan. The intention is open the school in 2025 starting with Grade 7 and adding a Grade each year.
• Safety and Security & Law Enforcement
Request:
• Law Enforcement’s mandate be expanded to include Langebaan resident’s safety and security.
• Law Enforcement staff contingent to be expanded to provide 24/7/365 service and support for the expanded mandate.
• Law Enforcement to assist with patrolling especially from 00h00 to 06h00 to discourage criminals.
• Law Enforcement officer’s skills should be upgraded to ensure professional end courteous public engagement.
• Establish decentralised SBM Law Enforcement control room and camera monitoring in Langebaan.
• Traffic and Law Enforcement Officers to be permanently stationed in Langebaan. In the 2021 Local Government Election Manifesto, the DA stated the following: “A DA government will invest in localised law enforcement and tackle the local conditions which give rise to crime in the first place.”
There is a great need for Municipal Law Enforcement to be much more vigilant, visible and active in a positive manner. This is underscored by Langebaan being identified as the coastal town with the 3rd highest crime rate in South Africa. The fact that the municipal Law Enforcement services are not available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year for the enforcement of applicable law, is of great concern to residents. It is requested that the Law Enforcement mandate is expanded to allow for a fully functional, fully operational municipal law enforcement service that operates for 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It is further requested that the municipal Law Enforcement actively support SAPS and assist the neighbourhood watch with patrolling the town at night in order to reduce crime.
Furthermore:
a) It is requested that the Law Enforcement Officers are given regular refresher training programmes that includes a program on how to deal with the public, given that Langebaan is a tourist destination.
The decentralisation of the municipal emergency services due to Langebaan’s extended response time, and lack of SBM traffic and Law Enforcement presence must be addressed. Having traffic
officials and Law Enforcement officers based and operational in Langebaan 24 hours per day, 365 days per year will contribute to managing the crime in the town.
b) It is requested that the municipal control room and camera monitoring project is urgently decentralised. It is requested that space be allocated inside Langebaan municipal buildings where the
town’s cameras can be monitored by a person that knows or can learn to recognise the repeat criminal offenders in Langebaan, and that such a person is empowered with suitable equipment and
training to direct SAPS and TLNHW to the position of offenders. This is not possible in a single Saldanha Bay Municipal multi-town control room. Langebaan needs its own unique approach to fighting crime. It is unreasonable to expect a person from another town to recognise all the known repeat offenders and criminals in the different towns/area or observe unusual behaviour in every
town.
c) It is requested that “human form recognition” cameras and spotlights be installed at strategic places on greenbelts, which are activated when humans are detected inside the greenbelt areas of
Langebaan. The Greenbelts are major access route for criminals and burglars and reducing their ease of movement will have a positive impact on the reduction of crime. Response by law enforcement
agencies and crime fighting volunteers to identified human form movements within the designated areas will reduce criminal occurrences and activities.
d) It is requested that the municipality increase municipal oversight and safety management of all abandoned and derelict buildings within the town of Langebaan, regardless of the owner (state or
private). As an example, the old Tolhuis is being used by vagrants and known criminals. Wild animals have been slaughtered inside the Tolhuis and the building is filthy inside, strewn with waste, human
excrement, drugs, and broken bottles.
e) It is requested that safety and security driven, robust maintenance program is implemented (which includes preventative maintenance and frequent inspections) for the existing street lights of which
many are currently not working at all for long stretches, for example from LCE to Spar, all along the pedestrian walkway.
• Sea View Park building Contraventions
Request:
• That the illegal building structures in Sea View Park be addressed and demolished.
Motivation:
SBM is well aware of the illegal building structures in Sea View Park. Indications are that no action is being taken to address the issue.
These illegal buildings and structures have many negative consequences:
• It destroys values of properties that do abide by the municipal laws. Effected property owners could have a financial claim for destroyed value against SBM.
• The overcrowding due to the illegal buildings and structures has a negative effect on the Sea View Park resident’s standard of living and social development.
• It specifically supports accommodation for illegal foreigners.
• There are simply not enough ablution facilities on properties with illegal structures, so open spaces, sidewalks, and the veld area across the road from Sea View Park is used. This is very unhygienic and compromises the health of especially younger children.
• As a society, supported by our municipality, we should strive to improve the lives, health, and education of the less privileged in our communities.
• The lawlessness that is allowed in Sea View Park, is used as excuses by more affluent property owners to just ignore the rules.
• Yield signs vs Stop signs
Request:
• It is requested that where safe and practical, that yield signs be installed at road intersections.
• It is also requested that when maintenance is required, existing Stop Signs be replaced with Yield Signs.
• That 3- and 4-way intersections on high volume roads be upgraded to have raised surfaces that will require reduced vehicle speeds.
Motivation:
• Yielding rather than stopping does provide a small reduction in fuel consumption.
• It is also a fact that more than 50% of motorists do not stop at existing stop signs, most do reduce speed and treat the stop signs as yield signs. There are also motorists that do not slow down or even attempt to slow down.
• The odd fines that are issued does not seem to change motorist’s behaviour, perhaps due to fines not being well enforced.
• Youth employment
Request:
• That as far as practically possible, all contracted projects and services, to include the requirement that Langebaan based unemployed youth must be employed by
the contractor.
• That SBM sets targets for youth employment and training within its own activities.
• That practical training be provided to these youth employees.
Motivation:
• Lack of employment opportunities is a serious problem in South Africa and Langebaan.
• Together with poor schooling and high school dropout rates, this results in criminality, drug use, basically an ongoing downwards spiral for marginalised, unemployed and “no hope” young people.
• Economic Development is one of the core functions of local government.
• Examples of opportunities for suitable young people are:
o Training and use at municipal holiday resorts
o Establishing “Business Corners” and Business Support Centres at libraries, manned by currently unemployed young people.
o The establishment of an affordable retirement facility should employ and train young people in skills to care for the aged, cleaning services, food preparation, etc.
• An important requirement in this process is that these young people be taught and skilled in work
discipline.
o Adherence to contract of employment conditions
o Adherence to work times and schedules.
o Responsibility towards the employer and the job at hand.
o Not to abuse sick leave.
o To not arrive at work under the influence of alcohol and or drugs.
o Dress code and basic decency and communication skills.
o Not to steal
o To take responsibility
o And many more…