New blood and ideas infusion for Parra

The Port Alfred Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association (Parra) has been around for many years but there is no doubt that our town has grown and changed and therefore we would like to familiarise those who may not know who we are about our association and involvement in town.

The last few months have been very exciting, with an infusion of new blood and ideas which has led to the introduction of a new webpage (https://parra.org.za/), a new-look Facebook page (PARRA – Port Alfred Ratepayers’ & Residents’ Association) and logo.

We use these platforms to keep our members up-to-date on issues such as the levels of our water sources (which we constantly monitor and regularly post about), municipal issues and so forth.

There is a revitalised effort to continue to build on our relationship with Ndlambe Municipality, while ensuring we create an atmosphere of accountability and transparency for our ratepayers and residents.

Parra works closely with Sunshine Coast Tourism and the Port Alfred Business Forum and helps with promoting Port Alfred as the coastal town of choice.

Parra keeps strict oversight on budgets, the awarding of tenders and wasteful expenditure. An example is that numerous households do not pay their utility bills as they do not receive them from the municipality.

This needs to be audited and corrected.

Another example is that in the Auditor General’s report for the financial year ending June 30 2019, Ndlambe was reported to have lost 53% of the water it produces, to the value of R27.1m. These water losses are attributed to leaks, lack of water meters and incorrect readings.

That same year, unauthorised expenditure amounted to R58.8m.

Parra continues to work towards tightening up on the wasteful and unnecessary expenditure on expenses such as catering, casual workers and overtime.

Parra acknowledges there is a serious lack of representation from the various communities which fall within its geographical area of focus and are continually looking to have the diversified interests of the Port Alfred community represented at an exco level.

We encourage all residents and ratepayers to join Parra and help us hold the municipality accountable where it not performing and to commend it where it is performing.

We also have many community projects we would like to attend to but need funding and resources to make these a reality.

Membership forms can be found on our website. The joining process has been made simple with an online payment system.