Chairperson 2018 - 2019

CHAIRMANS OVERVIEW OF FINANCIAL YEAR 2018/2019

Dear Members of the Association.

The Association has once again had a successful year in terms of the financial, administrative and operational aspects of the organisation. The board has seen changes to its membership with the resignation of Mr Rory Niven as board representative of Ward 4 and the election of Mr JP Robin in this position. The Association wishes to thank Mr Niven for his years of dedicated service and wish him well for the future.

The Association has ended the financial year on a positive note, due to tight fiscal control and implementation of changes to our budgeting, planning and accounting policies that had been recommended by our auditors. This has contributed to the Association receiving another unqualified audit.

The Association has also seen a continued increase in our operations and maintenance performance, with a calculated increase of up to 300 percent more maintenance being performed over the winter dry period. As was the case last year, the employment of local contractors, labour and plant, combined with an improved planning schedule has allowed us to improve capacity in vegetation control, minor maintenance, mud and silt removal.

The canal break which occurred in 2017 is still under repair with Phase 2 commencing in June 2019. Water supply through the canal is being carefully managed with the Association being able to increase the level of supply to the Nelson Mandela Bay at Nooitgedacht Water Treatment works without affecting supply to irrigators downstream. This year has also seen a continuation of the working agreement with the Metro and further improvements in communication.

Improvements have been made to physical security at all of the Associations premises with the installation of electric fences and cameras. IT security has also been improved with the application of secure cloud data storage and improved on site procedures and new hard drives for back-ups.

Various other projects have been undertaken over the past year with the intention of improving the performance and viability of our aging supply system with an action list being drawn up to enable the Association to prioritise and action the most serious issues first.

The Association is aware of the continuing drought situation in the Eastern Cape and we appeal to all users to continue using the water available as efficiently as possible.
Once again I wish to thank my colleagues on the Management Committee, the staff of the Association and the water users on the scheme for their continued positive input and support over the past financial year.

WP HUDSON (CHAIRPERSON)