Shelter, banner and boulevard in motion

GEORGE NEWS - Three highly emotive matters surfaced at the last council meeting last Wednesday as motions of exigency.

DA Councillor Sean Snyman wanted to submit a motion in which Council is asked to reconsider an earlier decision to lease property for a shelter for the homeless. Snyman's motion was withdrawn with a request from Council to discuss the matter as an item at a following meeting.

In September 2017, Council gave the green light for the lease of such a property to Cremhog, a local Christian-based organisation, for the purpose of building a shelter for the homeless. A portion of land in Stasie Street next to the George Railway Station was earmarked for this project. Since then Cremhog started raising funds for the building of the shelter and awaited a contract from the municipality.

Snyman briefly shared some of his concerns, such as so-called discrepancies with the original project plan. The number of homeless people that will make use of the shelter, the number of personnel working at the shelter and Cremhog's financial situation were also mentioned.

On a request for comment, general manager of Cremhog, André Olivier, said they are shocked and very disappointed that Council would even consider such a proposal without thorough consultation and feedback to Cremhog.

"Cremhog has met Council's requirements in the decision of 2017 and received no official feedback from administration or a council member about possible revocation of the decision. Cremhog has provided the guarantee and business plan to administration and received no correspondence on any shortcomings."

Read Olivier's full statement here.

ACDP Councillor Johan du Toit wants to know why a Biblical banner was removed from the Civic Centre. FF Plus Councillor Gert van Niekerk (back) fully supports Du Toit's cause.

Biblical banner and boulevard
The two other motions of exigency at the last council meeting were a motion by ACDP Councillor Johan du Toit which relates to the removal of a banner with a biblical message in front of the Civic Centre, and a motion by ANC Councillor Langa Langa on the engineering consultant Smec, which was contracted to oversee the Nelson Mandela Boulevard project.

Du Toit wanted to know why the decision was taken to remove the banner with the message "George Honours the Lord God Almighty Ps 127:1". He questioned the right of Naik to make such a decision when Council previously agreed to the idea.

Municipal Manager Trevor Botha answered, saying the banner caused a massive outcry from the community on social media and they had no choice but to remove it immediately. Botha said the wording of the banner should be changed to be all-inclusive.

The motion was withdrawn and will serve at a future council meeting as an item for discussion.

Langa's motion on Smec engineering consultants was supported by Council. He proposed that Smec must submit a comprehensive report before Council at the next meeting, explaining how it happened that in their presence the building contractors, Muravha, failed in their task to upgrade Nelson Mandela Boulevard. Their contract was cancelled by George Municipality.

Secondly Langa proposed that Smec releases the money they are holding as retention from Muravha (about R1,8-million) to pay all subcontractors that have not been paid by Muravah.

A motion of exigency by ANC Councillor Langa Langa (back), relating to the Nelson Mandela Boulevard, was accepted by Council.