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September 2023
As we approach the end of our current financial year, which runs from November 1st 2022 to October 31st 2023, we want to give our existing members a heads-up that membership subscription fees for 2023/24 will become due at the end of October. Kindly complete the membership form available on our website where you’ll also find our banking details. Please remember to indicate how you would like any donations to be allocated.
PBRA membership is open to all property owners and the subscription is R100 per annum.
*Why join the PBRA?
The PBRA is a community and civic organisation comprising residents of Pringle Bay, led by the Executive Committee. As a paid-up member of the PBRA, you will be able to ensure that experienced and skilled residents represent you and the interests of the community at a municipal level. Your membership also ensures that the PBRA is empowered to represent the community, in order to carry out the work and communication needed for the benefit of everyone who lives and works in Pringle Bay. Thank you to those residents who have been loyal supporters of the PBRA, and the various funds. Your ongoing support and generosity are gratefully received.
The PBRA’s policy is to include all Pringle Bay residents and property owners in our communications, whether you are a paid-up member or not. We believe that this is important as you, as a community member, need to be aware of decisions, developments and events that may affect you personally or the village as a whole. We therefore continue to encourage all property owners, business owners and residents to get in touch by providing their contact information so that we can include them in important communications. We always welcome new subscribers and we appreciate all donations; however, you are not obliged to pay or to make a donation in order to be on our mailing list.
Providing your contact information is quick and easy to do via our website and the option to unsubscribe is always your prerogative.
Please note: As per our Constitution only paid-up members can do the following:
Should you have any questions around membership please don’t hesitate to get in touch: secretary@pringlebayratepayers.co.za
Queries relating to payments can be sent to: treasurer@pringlebayratepayers.co.za
(If you’re reading about this initiative for the first time and need a bit more background, visit the May 2023 Pringle Messenger, as well as subsequent Messengers, to understand the objectives and process followed to date)
We are excited to report that Phase I of the Pringle Bay Village Strategic Framework: 2050 initiative has been successfully completed with the external service providers having wrapped up their work and delivered all of the agreed products. This is a significant milestone in the life cycle of the project, achieved through many hours of meticulous effort on the part of the consultants, UrbaniQ, Visi and Liana Jansen. The PBRA would like to sincerely thank them all for the diligent and thorough way in which they executed their engagement, culminating in detailed and extensive reports. These are of immense value to us now and into the future as we turn the Strategic Framework (SF) into implementable action plans for the benefit of Pringle Bay. In addition, and for which we are sincerely grateful, the consultants delivered this work at a significantly reduced cost to accommodate our limited budget.
The project to date has been guided by a Steering Committee (SC), consisting of PBRA Committee members Vic Prins (Lead), Bertie Vorster, Elmarie Strydom, Heather Morkel, Mike Meyer and Pringle Bay (PB) community members Gert Bam and Marius Ungerer. The SC also responded to those residents/owners who offered their input on Part 1 of the documentation previously made available.
The proposed SF has been developed following a vision and principles-based approach to guide development into the future. As one example, it touches on the issue of services to PB – stormwater, streets, sewage, water and electricity and provides a proposed response of participation and community self-sufficiency. This could lead to major positive implications for the future service provision of PB, working in partnership with the public and private sector. There are many options to pursue, all aimed at being part of a team that takes care for our village.
The SF has no legal standing per se – it is a document to be used to influence future planning and other processes of the Overstrand Municipality (OM) and other stakeholders. It should provide input and be integrated into the OM’s Spatial Development Framework (SDF) for 2024/25. This SDF drives all future budgets for Overstrand and by implication for PB as well, up to 2050.
So, what happens next? Preparation for Phase II of the initiative kicks into gear as we execute the equally important public participation stage of the project where we engage with stakeholders to refine the SF and move towards implementation plans for the future.
If you have any immediate questions, comments or any other input for the Steering Committee, kindly send to chairman@pringlebayratepayers.co.za and we’ll be in touch.
In Pringle Bay we find 20 different species of snakes, quite a high number for such a small spot!
There are three groups in terms of venom type: – non venomous, mildly venomous, and you guessed it, venomous. The non venomous group can only bite, they do not spit or envenomate. The sole function of the six rows of teeth (yes six!), two on the bottom jaw and four on the top jaw, is to grab hold of prey. The teeth, around 80, function as a trap to hold onto the prey. The prey is then pulled towards the body of the snake allowing it to throw its quills around the prey and squeeze it to death.
The mildly venomous group use their fangs to inject venom into prey items while holding onto them; the venom is generally so mild that you would only be in danger if you were a frog or a lizard.
The next group consists of the 5 venomous snakes and they are the Cape cobra(Naja nivea) , Puff adder(Bitis arietans) , Berg adder(Bitis atropos), Rinkhals (Heamecatus heamacatus) and the Boomslang (Dyspholydus typus).
Cape cobras are extremely secretive animals, in the last 5 years Francois** could count the number of Cape cobras he caught in the area on his two hands. After the development boom in Pringle Bay these snakes have been so exposed due to habitat destruction that they are seen all over. They have to adapt to new living conditions and are needlessly killed.
Cape cobras are the most venomous cobras in all of Africa, the venom is a potent neurotoxin, similar to Black Mamba. In some regions Cape cobra bites present mild necrosis indicating some populations have a cytotoxic component. The venom has rapid action due to the small size of the proteins, these can enter at capillary level and thus reach target sites a lot faster, as opposed to other venom types that generally travel through the lymphatic system and then into circulation.
Cape cobras cannot spit their venom, their primary defence is to spread a hood and intimidate; snakes bite as a last resort.
Next up we have the Puff adder, this is a fat and lazy snake. They rely on their sedentary nature and camouflage to keep them safe and concealed. Unfortunately, this is why they are one of the most featured snakes in snake bites; 80% of envenomation in southern Africa is due to Puffies. The venom is a cytotoxic and a heamotoxin, the cytotoxic components cause local pain and swelling , this often leads to necrosis, dying of tissues. The heamotoxin causes a bleeding syndrome, this may present as blood in the urine, echimosis, free bleeding from the bite site and even bleeding on the brain causing stroke and death.
Puffies hold a world record for the snake that produces the highest number of offspring, up to 156 neonates have been recorded!
Pringle Bay is an amazing place to grow and learn about the natural world, let’s preserve what’s left of it for our future generations.
If you’re interested in a workshop on snake identification and snake bite treatment, visit our August Pringle Messenger for contact information.
More about our resident snakes in Part II, to be included in the October Messenger.
(**We are most grateful to Francois van Zyl for providing this interesting and educational snake information. He is a is a zoologist/ botanist, with a keen focus on snakes and other reptiles, observing and catching snakes in Pringle Bay for the last 23 years. He remembers when he would go out at night to find snakes crossing the road, and go home with more than 20 snakes; nowadays he’s lucky to see a single snake on an outing. Which is sad.)
Our 2023 PBRA Annual General Meeting will take place on Tuesday December 19th in the afternoon. We look forward to seeing as many of our residents and ratepayers there as possible.
As we do every year, our Annual Report, Annual Financial Statement, Meeting Agenda/Details and Exec Committee Nomination Forms will be shared with the community 2 weeks prior.
Pencil in the date in the meantime!
Overstrand Municipality (OM) has created a dedicated email address for contacting them on all things relating to plot clearing.
plotclearing@overstrand.gov.za
Please use this address for complaints, for questions, to make an appointment, or perhaps you received a warning letter from OM and want a follow up discussion.
“Congratulations on the new format. Works so well – and I love the links to the Website with initiatives etc. This is a really good issue.”
“Thank you for the latest Pringle Messenger which I always enjoy.”
“Thank you for The Pringle Messenger. Very informative.”
Our June 2023 Pringle Post was once again a sell-out! We trust that you enjoyed the interesting articles as much as we did. Thank you to the writers for the creativity and knowledge that went into compiling your contributions.
The next edition of this popular community magazine will be on the shelves in December 2023. Let this be the edition that sees you writing your own article about something uplifting, educational or informative for sharing with fellow Pringle Bayers and with our visitors.
The closing date for submissions is 7th November 2023. Please submit your articles to the editor, James Burns, at editor@pringlebayratepayers.co.za. You can also contact him for any questions or assistance.
The team is looking forward to those articles!
Pringle Bay is privileged to enjoy the services of a dedicated group of trained volunteers who act as first responders for medical emergencies in the village. These individuals have regular job commitments and are not able to provide a 24 X 7 service, much as they would like to.
They are primarily available to assist on week nights and over weekends. Please make a note of their on-call hours:
Monday to Friday 6:00pm to 6:00am
Weekends and Public Holidays: 24 hours
Emergency response is not an easy task; it can be emotionally and physically draining. However, the team does what it does out of a desire to be of service to the community and to be able to provide some interim relief and support where they can while the patient waits for the ambulance and medical professionals to arrive. We are very grateful to the team members for their selfless work.
To find out more about what types of emergencies this group can assist with, visit Medics.
Members of our Pringle Bay Volunteer Community Fire Fighters team (PBVCFF) will soon be offering their time to local restaurant and eatery staff and management, providing some basic guidelines on how to deal with choking situations, as well as covering basic fire safety for their environment.
As the village starts to become busier with the warmer weather finally arriving and as we head towards the end of year tourist season, this is a great investment of time and energy which just might become invaluable in a future emergency situation.
We thank the PBVCFF members for this initiative and for giving their time for the benefit of the community!
Our thanks, and those of all the friends who knew and loved Delia, go to your wonderful paramedics. In particular Heather and Colleen.
Without these two incredible, professional ladies, and other residents, my husband, daughter and I would have had a very different experience, when our wonderful friend, Delia, collapsed at the start of our holiday in Pringle Bay earlier this year.
Delia was an only child, and when her beloved husband, Piet, passed away in 2020 she was devastated and due to Covid, we had not been able to visit her for nearly 4 years. She was a singular, amazing, woman. I had known her for over 40 years and been on many holidays with her and Piet, both in SA and the UK.
A talented and well-respected photographer in Johannesburg, her wonderful pictures adorned magazines and newspapers, and she was happiest behind the camera lens. Her warmth, love and immense kindness was always evident, her generosity of spirit and willingness to help others no matter who they were, never faltered.
My beautiful, talented friend was only 66 when she died, peacefully on April 30th 2023 in Johannesburg, having suffered a brain aneurysm in Pringle Bay. Due to the efforts of Heather and Colleen and other paramedics, as well as the doctors and nurses of Groote Schuur Hospital, her friends had three extra months to spend with Delia.
We hope that the donations made to the Pringle Bay Paramedics on behalf of Delia will help a little to buy much needed replacement equipment, thus helping to save other lives.
We are very grateful to Suzanne, and Delia’s friends, who celebrated her life by donating generously to the Pringle Bay Medics.
Climate change is a big buzz word at the moment. Weather (pun) you believe in the concept or not, records are showing that weather patterns have changed significantly in recent times. Records also show that the sea level is rising. And so too are the recorded temperatures.
What impact does that have on life at the edge of the ocean?
In a study intended to determine just that, Dept Forestry Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has begun a formal research programme to log daily sea temperatures and measure the effect it has on plants (mostly algae) and animals (mostly barnacles, limpets, mussels etc) in the littoral zone.
To be of strict scientific use, the sea temperature needs to be measured at regular periods throughout the day and, significantly, needs to be measured at the same spot too!
With the constantly changing environment created by the tides and the potential roughness of the sea, this is a challenge.
DFFE has solved this by creating an automated temperature logger that researchers can access from time to time and download the required data.
So why has DFFE chosen Pringle Bay for this study. It is not only because the Village is such a nice place, nor the fact that you can get the best coffee in the Overstrand here. It has everything to do with two DFFE employees living in Pringle Bay – Dr Tanya Haupt and Darrell Anders. Their interest in their home environment motivated their proposal to the structures within DFFE to secure the necessary permissions and resources to do a comprehensive science based study.
This study will take place in a number of locations from the Buffels River around the point to Masbaai. Once the information has been collected, analysed and processed, we will have access to their findings.
Some (musical?) notes on recent developments
Hotline number 069 1515 962
Overstrand Municipality (OM) have created a hotline for the reporting of matters related to baboons. The hotline is either an information providing call, or a call for aid to OM for urgent assistance. The number for Pringle Bay Village is 069 1515 962.
Of significance is that this Hotline is – by their own definition – for their information. This implies that OM will be keeping accurate records to measure what is going on – rather than relying on memory or anecdotal information. The potential weakness in this system is that if no calls are made, no information is recorded by OM.
So we should call them when :
If Pringle Bay Villagers do this frequently, then OM will get a better overall picture as to the baboon activity and will also be in a better position to manage the baboons more effectively and more efficiently.
Early Warning System
OM have implemented an early warning system in the Pringle Bay Village – Vuvuzelas. This system relies on the monitors blowing the Vuvuzela as they (and the baboons) move along so residents get some form of warning of the presence of baboons.
Whilst low tech, it does seem to have some benefits over the other electronic platforms. At the moment the monitors are blowing the Vuvuzelas more consistently than residents are reporting the baboons on the electronic services. Then it also works equally well in times of loadshedding.
Removal of “Blue tag”.
OM made the decision to remove “Blue Tag” and made this known in a Press release on 25th August 2023. A local group reportedly interfered with the removal of Blue Tag, claiming their actions as a conservation success. OM have responded that this group is interfering with their Baboon Management process and have taken umbrage at accusations aimed at OM.
When it comes to decisions such as the removal of “Blue Tag”, OM operates under the direction of Cape Nature, which is the official guardian of wildlife in the Western Cape. Opposing views appear to come from self-appointed experts. The result is that you have two groups opposing one another in public which can fuel conflict rather than foster understanding. Information from Cape Nature to explain their science based position supporting such decisions could go a long way toward educating Pringle Bay villagers.
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