TOTT 14 February 2019

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February 14, 2019
Debate
over
electricity
p ro v i d e r
JON HOUZET
Ndlambe council debated giving an electricity
service provider a 10-year contract at the
recent council meeting.
Ndlambe’s previous 15-year maintenance
contract with Manelec has expired. The
infrastructure directorate advertised the
service for a five-year period, but it was later
realised a five-year contract would not be
suitable for the operational requirements and
relative investment required to render the
service, so the municipality changed the
recommended contract to 10 years.
The municipality published a notice inviting
public comments on the draft contract and
availed contract/tender documents for
comments. The public participation process
was opened for a 60-day period ending on
December 27.
Ward 9 councillor Stwiga Njibana expressed
reservations about giving a 10-year contract to
Manelec, or any service provider.
“We are paying money to Manelec to fix
street lights that aren’t fixed. But they say they
are,” Njibana said.
“Management must explore if this service
cannot be done internally. We are paying
another service provider for a job Manelec
should have done. We can provide jobs to
people if we can do this internally.”
In response, DA councillor in Ward 9, Skura
Venene, said: “I’m glad you brought this up.
But you need to look at the list of all the
SMMEs [small, medium and micro
enterprises] who did jobs for us. They were
paid. Did they do the job?”
Venene said the municipal administration
had done its job, but councillors need to have
an oversight role on work done in their wards.
Speaker Vivian Maphaphu said the ANC
caucus had agreed to refer the item back to
the administration.
DA caucus leader Ray Schenk asked: “Why
do we need to refer it back? Part 2 in the
recommendation takes care of it [it states that
the tender/contract document be approved
subject to effecting necessary amendments as
per received comments].
“The bid committee must take notes of
comments made here.”
Finance director Michael Klaas explained
the situation to council.
“The Municipal Finance Management Act
requires any contract over three years has to
be opened to public participation. We did that
and we incorporated comments in the
proposed contract,” Klaas said.
He said Manelec provided electricity to Port
Alfred town, Thornhill, Alexandria and Wentzel
Pa r k .
“We can’t measure Manelec’s performance
with regards to streetlights in the township.
It’s up to the administration to keep those
lights burning.
“The township is provided directly by
Eskom, but the municipality owns the
streetlights and Manelec is hired to do repairs
and maintenance,” he said.
“We must consider the contract in light of
what I have explained.”
BEEFING UP SKILLS: Multi and Atlas Security officers receiving self-defence training – in this scenario how to use a baton against an assailant armed
with a knife
Security officers enhance their skills
Multi/Atlas Security’s armed
response officers are going
through a rigorous training
process for the next four weeks –
including firearm training, tactical
training and medical training.
Group marketing manager for
Atlas Security, Wayne Hart, said
teams were being put through
various scenarios: how to react
when approached by a suspect,
and how to deal with a medical
e m e r g e n c y.
“We ’ve beefed them up on how
to deal when being pepper
sprayed, as many suspects use
this to avoid arrest or as an
attempt to attack the team,” Har t
said.
“Our armed response are
considered the number one team
in the area – for service levels,
technological advances, and
structure of operations,” he said.
“At Multi/Atlas Security we pride
ourselves on keeping response
times low and these are monitored
in detail daily – both from the side
of the control centre and also the
armed response officers on the
road.”
Hart said candidates for the
armed response team go through
a training process and evaluation
in order to become employees at
Multi/Atlas Security.
This includes polygraph tests.
Where incidents have occurred,
on-duty response officers need to
go through a process of reporting
and a polygraph may be required
as part of this.
“All our calls and vehicles are
tracked and logged and we are
able to pinpoint exact information
with regards to records and the
movements of our officers,” Har t
said.
Crowd prevents police
arresting alleged criminal
ROB KNOWLES
As SAPS officer, Constable
Cheslin Nelson, attempted to
arrest a man in Main Street
at about 4.15pm on January
31, a crowd of about 30
people began pushing and
yelling in an effort to prevent
the arrest.
At this point Dudley
Waters from Panther Farm
Security, who was driving in
the area, witnessed the plight
of Nelson and intervened.
Waters showed TotT the
security camera footage he
had obtained of the incident.
As shown in the footage,
Wat e r s ’ attempt to help
Const Nelson was hampered
by the crowd. While Waters
had his hands on the
suspect’s belt and Nelson
attempted to place handcuffs
on the suspect, a black BMW
with Gauteng number plates
stopped close to the scene
and four EFF members, all
wearing the familiar red
T-shirts with three also
wearing red berets,
approached.
EFF activist Xolisa Runeli
(now an Ndlambe councillor)
began to shout at Waters,
eventually pushing him away
from the suspect.
“I had had enough at this
point and just walked away,”
Waters said. “I thought I was
just assisting the policeman,
like any citizen would do.”
Waters returned to his car
as other police officers
arrived to assist Nelson, but
the crowd seemed
unperturbed as they
continued to jostle and pull
at the police. Finally, the
suspect, who had been
brought to the ground by the
police, managed to gain his
feet and, with the crowd
defending him, walked away
from the scene.
Waters said the four EFF
members began to hurl
insults at him as he returned
to his vehicle. The EFF
members also got back into
the BMW and, before driving
away, stopped in front of
Wat e r s ’ vehicle and delivered
another round of insults
before driving away.
That might have been the
end of the incident but then,
a week later, Waters was
arrested and taken to the
Port Alfred SAPS offices.
Apparently Runeli had laid a
complaint against Waters on
the day of the incident.
“Do you know how
embarrassing it is to be
arrested, taken to the police
station and have your
fingerprints taken,
particularly when I did not
assault anyone?” a s ke d
Wat e r s .
“I just wanted to assist the
policeman in what was a
volatile situation.” Wat e r s
was released from custody
with a warning to attend
court the next day, Friday
February 8, for the case to be
heard. However, when he got
to the Port Alfred
Magist rate’s Court on Friday
morning, he was told that the
prosecutor had removed the
case from the roll and that he
was free to go.
“The arrest and
appearance in court were
disruptive and I lost money
over the matter,” said
Wat e r s .
Thus far Waters has
refrained from laying any
complaints of his own but,
armed with video footage of
the incident he said he would
hold this in abeyance in case
Runeli wanted to pursue the
matter further.
Provincial SAPS
spokeswoman Captain Mali
Govender has not responded
to requests for comment.
Jangle money for Retreat 2 Eden
ROB KNOWLES
The beautiful and
talented animal lover,
Ann Jangle gave a
stunning performance at
the Bean and Olive on
Saturday in aid of
animal shelter and
rehabilitation centre,
Retreat 2 Eden.
Jangle is a musician,
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singer, songwriter,
producer and composer
and has the chops to
pull all of this together.
Her lunchtime
performance on
Saturday was ample
proof of that. She
currently lives in
Muizenberg in the
Western Cape with
muso friends and her
dog, Kevin.
She is always
accompanied to her
shows by Kevin, her
constant companion
who, she says, adopted
her, “I was really after
his brother who had
longer ears”. Jangle’s
eclectic blend of African
rhythms and chants and
some distinctly
European influences,
showed off her unique
talents to the full house
at the Bean and Olive.
Jangle has toured
with the likes of PJ
Powers and Miriam
Makeba, and their
influence on her music
and presentation reflect
some of the best
aspects of these two
performing legends.
The experience
gained through h av i n g
toured extensively all
over Europe and Africa
shine through as she
belts out a tune with
just her acoustic guitar
for accompaniment, are
what makes Jangle’s
music so entertaining.
She even throws in a
Brenda Fassie riff.
She certainly kept the
audience at The Bean
and Olive entertained
throughout her one-hour
per formance.
RICH AND DISTINCTLY
AFRICAN: Ann Jangle
at the Bean and Olive
Picture: ROB KNOWLES