TOTT 31 January 2019

2 Talk of the Town ADVERTISING / NEWSDESK: (046) 624 4356 Find us on Facebook
January 31, 2019
A passion for making toys
BOB FORD
Most little girls would
dearly love to have their
very own doll’s house to
play with. And Port Alfred
pensioner, Lee Botma, is the
man her parents should contact
to provide the real thing.
At the same time, Botma
spends many hours in his
workshop producing a variety of
about 25 different handmade
toys, ideal for both Christmas
and birthday gifts.
Born in Cape Town, but
educated at Durban’s
well-known Glenwood High
School, Botma was a keen
sportsman and took part in most
of the sports the school catered
for. But tennis was his greatest
love and he played in Durban’s
first league for several years
after matriculating. Though not
having played representative
tennis, his biggest claim to fame
was when he was invited to play
in an exhibition match with
famous Springboks Bob Hewitt
and Frew McMillan. This was
during a spell in Bloemfontein
when his club installed flood
lights and this match was
arranged at the official opening
of these.
Soon after leaving school,
Botma took up the sport of ice
hockey at the age of 18. In the
rough and tumble of this sport
he was badly cut on his chin in a
particularly over robust session
of play. He obviously needed
medical attention, which left him
with a bad scar and he decided
to hide this by growing a beard.
He has worn this ever since.
After matriculating in 1951,
Botma joined the well-known
manufacturing company in
Durban, Lever Brothers as a
junior clerk.
He explained that that was
when his first name was
changed. Being of French
Huguenot descent, he was
christened Lafras. This proved to
be too difficult for his co-workers
to pronounce and he was called
Latest prolonged water outage affects entire town
From page 1
Kenton-on-Sea has
also been on severe
water restrictions and in
the past other areas like
Alexandria also had to
endure days and often
weeks without water.
Six years ago the
Eastern Cape provincial
government appointed
Amatola Water to
establish and enact
plans to alleviate the
situation, but since their
appointment very little
has been achieved
Lee. And Lee it has been ever
since.
Besides working in Durban,
Botma worked his way up in the
ranks with sales being his
speciality as he also had spells
in Johannesburg, Bloemfontein
and Cape Town.
His final appointment was
with the FG Knight agency in
Durban in 1976 when he took on
the position of sales manager.
He immediately made an impact
and a year later became a
despite several false
starts and failed projects
that have wasted
millions of rands but
have brought no relief to
the area.
Residents are angry
about what they perceive
as the inability of the
municipality to fix the
problem in a timely
fashion, and some
residents have now been
without water for a week.
The municipality has
not sent water tankers
into the areas worst
affected, specifically to
residents on the east
and west bank, and
many residents have had
to rely on rainwater
tanks – which quickly
emptied – to wash
themselves, do laundry
or cook.
Schools in the area
have faced challenges as
school toilets could not
be used because there is
no water to flush with.
Kuyasa Combined
School principal Xolani
Mayana expressed his
concerns on Tuesday.
“We have been
director of the company. He held
this position until 1999 when he
finally retired.
With time on his hands he had
to do something and turned his
attention to woodwork. “This was
something I was always
interested in,” he said.
He explained that he started
slowly making bird feeders and
when he had built up his stock
to about 30 he would go out and
sell them in a day. As his
experience grew, he took on
without water and may
have to close the school
early today if the water
does not return,” he said.
Asked what he
envisioned if there was
still no water, Mayana
said they might not be
able to open the school
until water was restored.
Laura Guest, Port
Alfred High School’s
manager of marketing,
alumni and
development, said the
school was coping due
to the efforts of Red Alert
and its estate
management team, but
that the situation could
not continue indefinitely.
“We have asked our
pupils to bring hand
sanitiser to school,” she
bigger projects and made most
of the fine furniture that is still
proudly displayed in his Becker
Street home.
After he and his wife, Jean,
settled in Port Alfred in 2002,
Botma concentrated on making
children’s toys. These he sells to
businesses in Port Alfred and
Bathurst and they are
particularly popular at Christmas
time.
However, the biggest
challenge he undertook was to
said.
Tertiary institutions
such as Stenden also
rely heavily upon
municipal water and
Lindy Hulley from
Stenden said students
there were having to do
without water, and that
matters were becoming
critical.
Port Alfred Business
Forum chairman Marius
Claassens said his
business, like almost all
others, relied on water
and that rainwater tanks
were beginning to run
dr y.
“Hotels and guest
houses are having to
refuse bookings and
other businesses are
losing money as they are
make a doll’s house. He rates
this as the best item he has
made and took him three
months to complete after
working on it continuously.
He explained that it has 64
pieces of furniture in it all made
by himself. It even has a toilet in
the bathroom All the doors open
and close and all the windows
are curtained. The plates on the
stove are old one cent pieces
painted black.
After successfully completing
forced to turn customers
away, ” said Claassens.
Sunshine Coast
Tourism manager Sandy
Birch said she had
received reports from
Hotels and guest
houses are
having to refuse
bookings and
other businesses
are losing money
bed and breakfast
establishments and
hotels that might need to
close if the situation
remains unresolved.
“Water tanks are now
running low and
accommodation outlets
are unable to do laundry,
a critical aspect of their
business,” said Birch,
who also confirmed on
Tuesday that some areas
on the East Bank had not
had water for six days
prior to this.
Clinical services
manager for Port Alfred
Hospital, Marianne
Stiglingh, said: “Por t
Alfred Hospital is
dependent on a reliable
water supply by the
municipality. However,
the hospital maintains
sufficient water reserves
in on-site water tanks to
ensure continuity of
services during shortterm
water outages, such
CLASSIC CRAFT: Port Alfred
resident Lee Botma with
some of the colourful range
of toys he makes. The
beautiful doll’s house he took
three months of continuous
work to make can be clearly
seen Picture: BOB FORD
this it was proudly displayed in
his home, but he is now
contemplating selling it.
Now at the age of 84, Botma
spends six hours of most days
working in his well-equipped
workshop.
His other love is playing bowls
and he has been a member of
the Kowie Bowls Club since
2003, having captained the club
for three years.
The couple have two children
and two grandchildren.
as in the current
situation. With regard to
water quality, Port Alfred
Hospital frequently
monitors the quality of
its on-site water reserves
and, should it be
necessary, can treat the
water on-site to improve
the quality thereof to
required standards.”
Talk of the Town will
continue to
communicate with
municipal officials as
well as residents and
other stakeholders and
keep our readers
informed of
developments as they
occur on our web page,
w w w.t a l k o f t h e t o w n . c o . z a
and on our Facebook
page and group.
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29 Miles St, Port Alfred
PO Box 2871, Port Alfred, 6170
046 624 4356 / Fax: 046 624 2293
Mauneen Charter, mcharter@tisoblackstar.co.za
Anneli Hanstein, hansteina@tisoblackstar.co.za
Jon Houzet, houzetj@tisoblackstar.co.za
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