Overstrand Mayor Mr Archie Klaas, Deputy Mayor Ms Elnora Gillion and MMC Infrastructure, Mr Clinton Lerm, met with HRA EXCO representatives Ken Briggs, Tobie Louw, Russel Schierhout, and Deon de Kock.

Attended by : 
Overstrand Municipality: Mayor, Mr Archie Klaas, Deputy Mayor Ms Elnora Gillion and MMC Infrastructure, Mr Clinton Lerm.
HRA EXCO representatives: Ken Briggs(KB), Tobie Louw(TL), Russel Schierhout (RS), Deon de Kock (DdD) 

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The Mayor, Mr Archie Klaas, welcomed the HRA representatives and the members of his team  .  In the introduction he emphasised the importance of the HRA and the communities it represented. The HRA Chair, Ken Briggs thanked the Mayor for the opportunity to engage and introduced the HRA EXCO members. All those HRA EXCO members present then briefly introduced themselves, highlighting their areas of interest. 

KB confirmed that the purpose of the meeting was to initiate engagement and to explore establishing a platform for further engagement on issues pertaining to the Hermanus community. The mayor responded emphasising the importance of engagement and communication. To this end the mayor agreed to the establishment of formalised regular meetings with the HRA. 

The Mayor clarified his role and approach to leading the municipality, emphasising that he aimed to provide the vison, strategic direction and guidance to the municipal team, giving the executive  scope and responsibility for implementation. He also stressed the importance of open communication and the need to listen to the community, but also to have the ability to accept criticism. He again emphasized the important role of the HRA in this process.  

He further noted the following key points:

• The importance of stimulating and supporting local economic development, that creates jobs.
• The importance of preserving our natural environment and promoting and supporting tourism.
•  The importance of safety and security, emphasising that communities and business can only thrive if they live and operate in a crime free environment.
• The need to work with role players and establish partnerships with communities and the private sector.
• The need to provide for the poor, while also importantly responding to the needs of the emerging middle class. In this context he stressed the lack of affordable housing for middle class communities.

The HRA team raised the following matters during the discussions:

• Concern that the current IDP and budget process is suboptimal, noting that the HRA had provided extensive comments and that these inputs had not yet been properly considered.  The Mayor concurred that it was important that stakeholders including the HRA were engaged earlier in the process, to ensure a more informed IDP and budget.  He also agreed with the suggestion of drawing on expertise within the ratepayer base to provide technical support in the IDP and budget preparation processes. It was agreed to forward a copy of the HRA IDP and budget comment to the Mayor.
• Acknowledgment that Local Government in South Africa is experiencing increasing budgetary challenges (High levels of urbanisation, ageing infrastructure, lack of appropriate skills), necessitate municipalities to become more efficient and focused. Reference was made to the HRA comment on the Local Government White paper and the Mayor requested a copy thereof. It was emphasised that the HRA was concerned that there was currently capacity and operational shortfalls in important areas, such as Environmental Management Services, Tourism and Local Economic Development. The Mayor acknowledged this concern and responded further in explaining the challenges with the structural and regulatory frameworks which hampers the appointment of suitable candidates. 
• Exchanged views on approaches to improving the liaison between the HRA and OM to more effectively address the concerns of ratepayers. In this regard, TL mentioned that HRA are busy benchmarking against a few peer Ratepayers Associations in Cape Town. It was agreed that it is essential for ratepayers to have an open and cooperative relationship with the leadership of the relevant local authority.

In conclusion, the HRA representatives experienced the introductory meeting as very open, useful and allowing for constructive pragmatic discussion. The meeting was closed with agreement that it had been a very useful and with a firm undertaking to meet on a regular basis. Mayor thanked the HRA for the productive engagement and insightful discussion, providing a firm base for future engagements. KB thanked the Mayor for affording the HRA the opportunity to meet and the insights gained into his vision and perspectives on critical issues facing Hermanus and the Overstrand.