The CRA was established to effect changes to the St Francis Bay SRA.
Changes are necessary to ensure that the SRA operates in accordance with legal requirements and is managed on the principles of Inclusivity and Fairness - currently not the case.
14/12/2024
BEACH SCHEME – What’s Really Happening?
In an interview in July, Furphy, Chairman of SFPO NPC, stated, “We expect to be ready to start construction in September this year.” However, since that announcement, there has been silence from the SRA, no updates provided, and no work has begun.
SFPO NPC -the SRA - has a mandate from just 850 St Francis property owners out of more than 4,000 in the area to move forward with the R100 million+ Beach Restoration Scheme. While this scheme will impact all property owners and thousands of visitors to St Francis, the SRA has not made efforts to engage with or be accountable to the broader community.
There is no doubt that the current state of St Francis Bay beach requires action, both to rehabilitate it and to halt its ongoing deterioration. However, it is crucial that the proposed scheme, including the installation of groynes, is executed correctly. This is a once-off project, and if it goes wrong, the consequences could be catastrophic for St Francis and the wider community, with irreparable damage.
For more details on the current issues, please refer to the attached extracts from the latest edition of the St Francis Chronicle.
12/10/2023
ST FRANCIS BAY CONCERNED RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
LEGAL DISPUTES AND SCA APPEARANCE : LATEST NEWS AND APPEAL
The CRA Committee are now in a position to update all present, new and future residents of St Francis Bay of the current situation with regard to CRA legal issues, with particular reference to the appeal in the Kouga Municipality vs St Francis Bay (Ward 12) Concerned Residents Association matter, and the application by St Francis Property Owners NPC (SFPO NPC, the company who administer the monthly SRA Levy on behalf of the Kouga Local Municipality(KLM)) to involve themselves in the matter.
In correspondence received from the Chief Justice we are notified that the matter has been enrolled for hearing in The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on 13th November 2023.
In total there have been three cases involving the CRA that have gone through the Courts. In brief they are listed below; and should anyone require any further information it will be made available:
1. Defamation : SFPO(NPC) Sued 31 Residents of St Francis Bay Community
The seven Directors of the SFPO (NPC) sued 31 elderly residents of the SFB community. Residents who dared to request a members meeting with the Directors of SFPO to clarify how the monthly SRA money was being spent and the manner in which the contracts were being awarded. This meeting was denied and was followed up with a Summons listing the seven Directors as the Plaintiffs and the 31 members of the community as the Defendants. The seven Plaintiffs each claimed R500 000 from each and every one of the 31 Defendants, (i.e. R3.5 million in total from each Defendant). Before the Court date arrived, the Plaintiffs withdrew the case and the seven SFPO NPC Directors were ordered by the Court to pay the Defendants costs.
2. High Court : St Francis Bay CRA vs KLM, SFPO and SFPO NPC
This is the main case: St Francis Bay (Ward 12) concerned Residents Association vs Kouga Local Municipality (1st Respondent), St Francis Bay Property Owners Association (2nd Respondent) and St Francis Bay Property Owners NPC (3rd Respondent). The case was held in the High Court of South Africa (Eastern Cape Division) and the judgement was handed down on the 26th April 2022. The Court found in favour of the St Francis Bay (Ward 12) Concerned Residents Association and ordered the Kouga Municipality to pay CRA costs.
Kouga Municipality then decided to appeal this decision at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein.
3. SFPO NPC Application to Join the KLM Leave to Appeal in the SCA.
This case being the St Francis Bay Property Owners NPCs’ application to join the Kouga Municipality’s Leave to Appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. The High Court on the 26th September 2022, denied the application and found in favour of the St Francis (Ward 12) Residents Association and ordered SFPO NPC to pay CRA costs. .
APPEAL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
During the long period of litigation significant costs have been incurred by the CRA, which have been borne by CRA Members and donations received. Costs incurred by Kouga Municipality have presumably been financed from the Municipal coffers (i.e. Ratepayers); it is unknown how the SFPO and its Directors are funding their actions.
As so often in life, it is the same folks who came forward every time to help financially, and while many of our CRA supporters are enthusiastic supporters, many have never contributed to the cause.
Therefore, as we are now hopefully about to reach the end of this long legal journey; we appeal to all CRA members and other supporters to contribute and give us your financial support.
Each and every contribution, no matter how small, will be a great help.
The account details for your deposit:
Bank : FNB
Account No. : 523 0002 5048
Branch Code : 210 216
Ref : RAE207
Should you wish to remain anonymous please add “CRA Supporter” as reference.
Thank you.
Angela Cadman, Brian Truscott, Jean Charoux, Rose Cook and Dee Love.
St Francis Bay Concerned Residents Association Committee
12/10/2023
ST FRANCIS BAY CONCERNED RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
LEGAL DISPUTES AND SCA APPEARANCE : LATEST NEWS AND APPEAL
The CRA Committee are now in a position to update all present, new and future residents of St Francis Bay of the current situation with regard to CRA legal issues, with particular reference to the appeal in the Kouga Municipality vs St Francis Bay (Ward 12) Concerned Residents Association matter, and the application by St Francis Property Owners NPC (SFPO NPC, the company who administer the monthly SRA Levy on behalf of the Kouga Local Municipality(KLM)) to involve themselves in the matter.
In correspondence received from the Chief Justice we are notified that the matter has been enrolled for hearing in The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on 13th November 2023.
In total there have been three cases involving the CRA that have gone through the Courts. In brief they are listed below; and should anyone require any further information it will be made available:
1. Defamation : SFPO(NPC) Sued 31 Residents of St Francis Bay Community
The seven Directors of the SFPO (NPC) sued 31 elderly residents of the SFB community. Residents who dared to request a members meeting with the Directors of SFPO to clarify how the monthly SRA money was being spent and the manner in which the contracts were being awarded. This meeting was denied and was followed up with a Summons listing the seven Directors as the Plaintiffs and the 31 members of the community as the Defendants. The seven Plaintiffs each claimed R500 000 from each and every one of the 31 Defendants, (i.e. R3.5 million in total from each Defendant). Before the Court date arrived, the Plaintiffs withdrew the case and the seven SFPO NPC Directors were ordered by the Court to pay the Defendants costs.
2. High Court : St Francis Bay CRA vs KLM, SFPO and SFPO NPC
This is the main case: St Francis Bay (Ward 12) concerned Residents Association vs Kouga Local Municipality (1st Respondent), St Francis Bay Property Owners Association (2nd Respondent) and St Francis Bay Property Owners NPC (3rd Respondent). The case was held in the High Court of South Africa (Eastern Cape Division) and the judgement was handed down on the 26th April 2022. The Court found in favour of the St Francis Bay (Ward 12) Concerned Residents Association and ordered the Kouga Municipality to pay CRA costs.
Kouga Municipality then decided to appeal this decision at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein.
3. SFPO NPC Application to Join the KLM Leave to Appeal in the SCA.
This case being the St Francis Bay Property Owners NPCs’ application to join the Kouga Municipality’s Leave to Appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. The High Court on the 26th September 2022, denied the application and found in favour of the St Francis (Ward 12) Residents Association and ordered SFPO NPC to pay CRA costs. .
APPEAL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
During the long period of litigation significant costs have been incurred by the CRA, which have been borne by CRA Members and donations received. Costs incurred by Kouga Municipality have presumably been financed from the Municipal coffers (i.e. Ratepayers); it is unknown how the SFPO and its Directors are funding their actions.
As so often in life, it is the same folks who came forward every time to help financially, and while many of our CRA supporters are enthusiastic supporters, many have never contributed to the cause.
Therefore, as we are now hopefully about to reach the end of this long legal journey; we appeal to all CRA members and other supporters to contribute and give us your financial support.
Each and every contribution, no matter how small, will be a great help.
The account details for your deposit:
Bank : FNB
Account No. : 523 0002 5048
Branch Code : 210 216
Ref : RAE207
Should you wish to remain anonymous please add “CRA Supporter” as reference.
Thank you.
Angela Cadman, Brian Truscott, Jean Charoux, Rose Cook and Dee Love.
St Francis Bay Concerned Residents Association Committee
30/09/2022
CRA NEWSLETTER : 30 September 2022
COURT CASE – LATEST UPDATE
The next stage of the legal process was that the Municipality had to first apply to the High Court for permission to appeal the Judgement.
This took place on 26 September in the High Court in Gqeberha and consisted of two parts – the Application by the Municipality, and the admissibility of the belated application by SFPO NPC to join the Municipality in the Appeal.
Court papers are still awaited, but a summary of the proceedings follows.
The High Court granted permission for the Municipality to appeal against its Judgement in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein. This will only take place well into 2023 – so the well-used Stalingrad delay and dodge tactic that prevails in South Africa won out again – but not really surprising.
The practical implications are that the current situation and the status-quo with respect to the Municipality and SRA Levy-payers will remain unchanged at least until the Appeal is heard next year.
The other part of the Court proceedings was to consider the belated application by SFPO NPC to join the Municipality in their Appeal against the previous Judgement in favour of the CRA. This was totally rejected by the High Court, and furthermore SFPO NPC now have to pay CRA legal costs; hardly a good use of SRA Levy funds.
Angela Cadman, Chairperson, Concerned Residents Association
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MEMBERSHIP
All St Francis Bay SRA area property owners of are welcome to join the Concerned Residents Association. Forms available from Angela Cadman on [email protected] OR from the shop Gently Worn, Village Shopping Centre.
13/09/2022
CRA NEWSLETTER : 13 September 2022
COURT CASE UPDATE
Following on from the High Court Judgement in the case against the Kouga Local Municipality (background in the CRA MEDIA RELEASE dated 1 May 2022), the predictable response has been the decision by the Municipality to appeal the Judgement against them. Somewhat curiously SFPO NPC has now also decided to appeal the Judgement. The incongruity of SFPO NPC now suddenly appealing the Judgement against the CRA, when the 200 members of the CRA are also SFPO NPC members is intriguing. The costs will now start to mount up. The Municipality will undoubtedly use funding derived from Rates paid by the whole of the Kouga region. SFPO NPC, having appointed both an Attorney and a very experienced Advocate known for his high-profile cases, will presumably pay them from the SRA Levy paid by the property owners in the Village and Canals SRA area. Furthermore, the legal permissibility of this belated SFPO NPC intervention is under question.
The next stage of the legal process is that the Municipality has first to apply to the High Court for permission to appeal the Judgement; this is scheduled for 26 September in the High Court in Gqeberha. If this permission is granted - by no means certain - the appeal can proceed to the High Court. This has the appearance of the well-tried Stalingrad delaying tactics employed by other notables in South Africa, and it can take a number of years before final resolution, depending on to what court level the appeals go.
There have been many social media comments along the lines of “…….. the CRA always criticise, complain and run to the courts, etc., etc., but never come up with any proposals to address the many issues in St Francis Bay”.
While this knee-jerk impression might appear to have some validity, rest assured the CRA has some very clear proposals on the way forward. Some of these will undoubtedly cause serious indigestion amongst certain affected parties, but that’s just tough - things must progress to extricate St Francis Bay from the mess that currently prevails.
Regrettably, the Municipality and SFPO NPC, instead of taking action to fix things after the Judgement, have now chosen to appeal the Judgement, which means that everything is now sub-judice (Stalingrad-speak for delay, delay, ..…. ) until the legal process unfolds. So, until the legal side is settled, it would be pointless and counterproductive to publicly expand on the CRA proposals.
FAKE NEWS
Two issues of interest :
- There is unfortunately a false perception currently circulating in St Francis that requires a rebuttal : that the CRA is opposed to the Groynes solution proposed for the beach erosion. This is NOT the case and is fake news. The CRA does support any solution that will remedy the beach situation, and if Groynes are ultimately determined as the appropriate solution, go for it.
- For some time there has been ongoing rumblings3 regarding the “democratic standing” of the CRA and the voting processes utilised for establishing the SRA, with “the majority rules!” being touted loudly. It is therefore opportune to review the overall numbers involved to demonstrate that the support claimed by SRA proponents is not nearly as strong as they would like everyone to believe.
Using round numbers :
St Francis Bay area : 3,300 properties
SFPO Association members : 500
SFPO NPC Compulsory members : 1,600
CRA Members : 200 (all are also compulsory members of SFPO NPC)
SRA Voting No.1 : Out of 3,300 : Abandoned by SFPO NPC when it became clear it would not
succeed in getting nearly enough YES votes.
SRA Voting No.2 : Out of 1,600 : Votes YES : 900; Votes NO : 100; Did not vote : 600
RESTATEMENT OF CRA OBJECTIVES
A lot has happened over the years since the CRA was established in 2018, so it seems timely to restate the objectives and position of the CRA.
The CRA was established to effect changes to the St Francis Bay SRA. Changes are necessary to ensure that the SRA operates in accordance with legal requirements and is managed on the principles of Inclusivity and Fairness – currently not the case.
The CRA is NOT opposed to the establishment of an SRA, but is opposed to the way it is implemented in St Francis Bay by SFPO NPC and the Kouga Municipality. The CRA members want an SRA established in accordance with legal requirements and managed on the principles of Inclusivity and Fairness:
LEGAL
The CRA, and their legal team, were of the opinion that the processes followed to establish the SRA, and it’s operations, had serious legal deficiencies. These deficiencies needed to be corrected, and a successful High Court action was undertaken. Instead of accepting the Judgment and undertaking the necessary actions pursuant to the Judgement, the Kouga Municipality and the SFPO NPC now intend to appeal the Judgement.
INCLUSIVITY
Excluding 50%+ of St Francis Bay from the SRA area (which is currently limited to the Village and Canals) is unacceptable. All St Francis Bay areas that will benefit from any envisaged improvements must be included, despite the claimed difficulties.
The exclusion of SRA Levy-payers from participative representation in decision-making, SRA Project definition/selection/governance, and the management of the SRA (SFPO NPC) must be remedied.
FAIRNESS
By virtue of items listed above, the SRA Levy structure requires review and amendment; particularly with respect to a reduction in the current 25% SRA Levy and pensioner exemption.
The SRA cannot ignore and neglect the prevailing conditions in Sea Vista. This aspect must be included in the SRA projects in line with the Integrated Coastal Protection Scheme, and with the St Francis Property Owners Vision 2030.
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MEMBERSHIP
All St Francis Bay SRA area property owners of are welcome to join the Concerned Residents Association. Forms available from Angela Cadman on [email protected] OR from the shop Gently Worn, Village Shopping Centre.
16/05/2022
A court ruling on a St Francis Bay special rating area with a R75m plan to beef up security, fix crumbling roads and shore up a disappearing beach has highlighted the challenges as communities face up to a range of pressing problems.
03/05/2022
Well ..... here is the response issued from SFPO NPC/Kouga Muni to the Judgment - hardly unexpected - but, if you think about it, what else could they say ?
"UPDATE ON ST FRANCIS BAY SRA COURT RULING - 3rd May 2022
The Eastern Cape High Court issued a judgement on 26 April 2022, in which it ruled that the SRA levy, SRA By-law and SRA Policy are unlawful.
The Municipality has advised us that they will appeal this judgement, as their legal counsel considers it seriously flawed."...... and here we go ……….. more Kouga ratepayers funds to be spent defending the undefendable ............
02/05/2022
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MEDIA RELEASE : 1 May 2022
STATEMENT BY CHAIRPERSON ON HIGH COURT JUDGMENT
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According to Angela Gawker-Cadman, chairperson of the CRA (Concerned Residents Association), the CRA is not opposed to the establishment of an SRA, but is opposed to the way it is implemented in St Francis Bay. She points out that approximately only one third of the property owners in St Francis Bay are paying the special SRA Levy, which is to be used mostly towards restoring the beach, upgrading arterial roads and CCTV cameras - yet this is to the benefit of all residents in St Francis Bay and not only the SRA area.
Pensioners In other municipalities in SA are exempted from a special SRA Levy, but this is not the case in St Francis Bay. Pensioners who cannot afford to pay the special SRA Levy have to humiliate themselves and apply for an exception. She also points out that the way in which the SRA is currently managed in Kouga is at odds with the successful and constitutionally correct SRA structure that is followed in the Western Cape.
Although the Judgment fully vindicates the challenge by the CRA, what happens next will set the future course for St Francis Bay. The Judgment creates the opportunity to re-unify the community and rebuild relations with KLM for a better St Francis Bay and a better Kouga by starting afresh.
Appealing the Judgment will deepen the split in an already divided community, worsen municipal relationships and probably lead to more litigation. It will also become a wider Kouga issue, as Kouga ratepayers will have to finance KLM’s future legal costs – bearing in mind the costs already incurred, plus the Judgment that KLM have to pay the legal costs of the CRA in the initial application.
MEMBERSHIP
Residents of St Francis Bay are welcome to join the Concerned Residents Association. Forms from Angela on [email protected] OR from the shop Gently Worn, Village Shopping Centre.
02/05/2022
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MEDIA RELEASE : 1 May 2022
STATEMENT BY CHAIRPERSON ON HIGH COURT JUDGMENT
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According to Angela Gawker-Cadman, chairperson of the CRA (Concerned Residents Association), the CRA is not opposed to the establishment of an SRA, but is opposed to the way it is implemented in St Francis Bay. She points out that approximately only one third of the property owners in St Francis Bay are paying the special SRA Levy, which is to be used mostly towards restoring the beach, upgrading arterial roads and CCTV cameras - yet this is to the benefit of all residents in St Francis Bay and not only the SRA area.
Pensioners In other municipalities in SA are exempted from a special SRA Levy, but this is not the case in St Francis Bay. Pensioners who cannot afford to pay the special SRA Levy have to humiliate themselves and apply for an exception. She also points out that the way in which the SRA is currently managed in Kouga is at odds with the successful and constitutionally correct SRA structure that is followed in the Western Cape.
Although the Judgment fully vindicates the challenge by the CRA, what happens next will set the future course for St Francis Bay. The Judgment creates the opportunity to re-unify the community and rebuild relations with KLM for a better St Francis Bay and a better Kouga by starting afresh.
Appealing the Judgment will deepen the split in an already divided community, worsen municipal relationships and probably lead to more litigation. It will also become a wider Kouga issue, as Kouga ratepayers will have to finance KLM’s future legal costs – bearing in mind the costs already incurred, plus the Judgment that KLM have to pay the legal costs of the CRA in the initial application.
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MEMBERSHIP
Residents of St Francis Bay are welcome to join the Concerned Residents Association. Forms from Angela on [email protected] OR from the shop Gently Worn, Village Shopping Centre.
02/05/2022
MEDIA RELEASE : 1 May 2022
HIGH COURT JUDGMENT DEMOLISHES ST FRANCIS BAY SRA
JUDGMENT FINDS THAT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPECIAL RATES AREA IN ST FRANCIS BAY TO BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND UNLAWFUL
On 26 April 2022 the EC Division of the High Court delivered Judgment in Case 3251/2018, which is a legal challenge to the legitimacy of St Francis Bay Special Rates Area (SRA) by the St Francis Bay Concerned Residents Association (CRA). The Judgment fully vindicated the challenge and the court found in favour of the CRA. The three respondents in the action were the Kouga Local Municipality (KLM), the St Francis Property Owners Association (SFPO) and the St Francis Property Owners Non Profit Company (SFPO NPC).
The Judgment in favour of the CRA states that the KLM Council decision to establish the SRA was unlawful, and that KLM’s SRA Property Rates Policy is unconstitutional. All the relief sought by the CRA was granted, including the payment of their legal costs.
National legislation provides for the establishment of an SRA (Special Rates Area), whereby the residents in a demarcated area can, by majority vote, declare it an SRA; and then, more importantly, legally compel all residents in that area to pay an additional monthly property rate (the “SRA Levy”). The SRA Levies are collected by the local municipality and used to improve/upgrade that area only. The local municipality’s SRA By-law and SRA Policy govern how the upgrades/improvement are to be implemented.
After considerable controversy and dissent, and an aborted first attempt, the St Francis Bay SRA was finally implemented in 2018. During the process, the community was split into ‘Yea Sayers’ and ‘Nay Sayers’ and a ‘War of Roses’ erupted on social media. It also created tension between KLM and the community members.
The vote to implement the SRA barely achieved the required 50% +1 of the residents of the demarcated area. At the same time, KLM delegated the management of the SRA to SFPO NPC. The CRA was also established during 2018 as concerns about the SRA manifested themselves.
Since 2018 the SRA has been collecting an additional 25% property rates (“SRA Levy”) from residents in two areas of the town (Canals and Village). The Canals and Village, with some 1600 properties, comprise just less than half of the greater St Francis Bay area. The other adjoining areas of St Francis Bay (Santareme, St Francis on Sea, Port St Francis, Otter’s Landing, Sea Vista and The Links) do not contribute to the SRA Levy. To date the SRA has collected some R20 million, with the intention to use the majority of these funds (collected to date and future) for the rehabilitation of the Beach, River and Spit (project cost R130+ million - groynes, sand importation, etc., etc.), plus lesser amounts for CCTV cameras and arterial roads.
While it is anticipated that KLM might well appeal the Judgment, the chances of success would need to be carefully evaluated by KLM before spending yet more Kouga ratepayer funds on such an appeal, as the Judgment is clear, concise and emphatic in its conclusions. KLM must notify the High Court by 26 May of its intentions in this regard. Should KLM decide to appeal, the application of the Judgment is suspended, and the collection of SRA Levies will continue until the case is heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal sometime in the future.
The implications of the applying the Judgment are considerable and far-reaching, with many complications still to become apparent. The principal issues would seem to be the repayment of all the SRA Levies that have been paid to date by SRA property owners, and the dismantling/disentanglement of the SRA management organisation and contracts set up by KLM and/or SFPO NPC.
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MEMBERSHIP
Residents of St Francis Bay are welcome to join the Concerned Residents Association. Forms from Angela on [email protected] OR from the shop Gently Worn, Village Shopping Centre.
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The St Francis Bay Concerned Residents Association (CRA) : Background
In 2016 an initiative was launched by St Francis Property Owners Association (SFPO) to establish a Special Rating Area (SRA) in St Francis Bay. The principle objective of the initiative was to address the serious deterioration of the local infrastructure (roads, beach erosion, sewage) by imposing an increase of 50% in the Property Rates Levy in St Francis Bay, and by so doing accumulate dedicated funding to address these problems.
The legal processes to proceed with the establishment of an SRA require a 50%+1 majority vote from those property owners in St Francis Bay affected by the Levy increase.
A first voting process was carried out across all affected properties in St Francis Bay; however, this was aborted when it became clear that the required 50%+1 vote threshold would not be achieved.
By strategizing and reformulating the SRA proposal (reduce the SRA levy to 25%, new sources of funding, reduce the SRA area), a second voting process was developed and carried out, but limited to properties in the Village and Canals areas of St Francis Bay only – about 50% of the total properties in St Francis Bay.
This second vote was successful by a small margin, and the SRA was duly established, effective 1 July 2018.
The reformulated proposals, although ultimately successful in achieving the desired voting threshold, were challenged by a large number of the affected property owners in the SRA area. The principle concerns of these property owners were (1) the lack of transparency regarding the sustainability and sources of income specified in the SRA Business Plan, (2) the choices/priorities of the proposed capital/maintenance projects, and (3) the legal processes followed in establishing the SRA, which were believed to be seriously flawed.
Negotiations between the disaffected parties and the management contractors created to manage the SRA (SFPO NPC) proved fruitless.
The Concerned Residents Association (CRA) was therefore established to address the concerns listed above, and to effect changes to the St Francis Bay SRA. These changes are necessary to ensure that, in future, the SRA will operate in accordance with legal requirements and will be managed on the principles of Inclusivity and Fairness – which is currently not the case.
As at July 2019, the CRA had 208 members, with an active Committee under the leadership of Chairperson Angela Cadman. Membership continues to increase steadily, and the CRA is funded entirely by voluntary donations from members.
To address the legal issues, the CRA initiated legal action in the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court in September 2018, and the legal processes are currently in progress. The first respondent in this action is The Kouga Municipality; the named second respondent (SFPO) and named third respondent (SFPO NPC) have elected not to respond.
