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John Webber 0714806453
John Webb 0797785359 
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MARLOTH PARK HONARARY RANGERS                       

Minutes of meeting 23 July 2015

 

Item

 

                           Agenda

person responsible

1 Welcome

The meeting was opened in prayer.

Peter

2 Present

Derrick,Oubaas,  Linda,  Lynette,  Pieter,Dev, Errol , Peter J,  Andrew,  Genie,Joce,  John Webb,  Graeme,  Denise,  Penelope,  Frik,  Anri,  Mike,Yula,  Jim,  Nellie,  Abel,   John Webber,  Jenny,

 

3 Apologies

Johan Veldsman(Tom and Anna -Marie)

 

4New Members

Tom and Anna-Marie Esterhuizen were to have been accepted as new members, but were indisposed.

Abel Coetzee attended the meeting for the first time and expressed his desire to assist with Bee Hive removal.

Retiring Member: Andre Engelbrecht has retired from the Honorary Rangers. It was decided that he should be made an honorary life member of the Honorary Rangers to show appreciation for the work he had done. 

 

 

 

 

 

John Webber

5 Points raised

A lame zebra had been observed. This was reported to the Municipal rangers who would monitor to see if it recovered.

Had there been more culling of warthog?

The municipality was planning a game count prior to further culling of Warthog.

The bush was opening up.

Dev

 

Peter

Joce

6 Winter fair

The winter fair had kept the rangers busy for the whole month so there had been no other activities. A very big thanks to ALL the rangers who worked VERY hard to make this fair the huge success it was. It was one of the best.

Profits                              ------2014--- R33 356,64

                                          ------2015     R53 039,92

Gross income                 ------2015     R84 776,50

 In planning for 2016, look at the profits from each stall.

                Gate          R11700+

     Cool Drinks          R3000

                Food          R7000

               Genie         R5000

                  Anri         R1200

Komati Spar donation       R5000

Auction:   larger items are needed but getting donations is difficult.

There was an error in the printing expenses for the fair as the municipal sign refurbishment had been included. But this has been rectified.

 

An estimated 2000 people went through the gate.

Stall holders.  Mampoer stall had not done as well as he had hoped.

Knife stall. He had sold a knife for R750 to a 10 year old boy after the father had disallowed his son from doing this. However, the father retuned the knife and was refunded his money.

 

Alta from Pam Golding had given R550 as donation from the profits she made in her sale of chili sauce.

The children selling cupcakes had donated their profits.

Otherwise all the stall holders were happy with their stalls.

There was no parking for disabled people; this will be rectified next year.

The Honorary Ranger display did not draw enough attention. It should be placed alongside the activity boma. Any items of interest would be appreciated and could be given to Joce. It would not be necessary to man this as the information is self-explanatory.

Stuart made a 3 panel display board for HR.

There will be a “Get -together “at the river at 3:30 0n Friday for a fair review.

John Webber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nellie

 

 

 

 

Dev

 

Nellie

 

 

 

John Webber

 

Century 21 has taken down their board at gate 2. They have protested that other new agencies are displaying boards along Olifants Rd.

The display board at the Municipality reception needs to be spruced up.

 

Joce will do this.

8 NIG meeting

NIG(Nkomazi Interest Group) meeting for July. Focus on Rhino poaching update.

This will take place this afternoon at Berg-en- Dal in KNP.

Attended by Derrick

Stuart

John

9 Forum meeting

Review Ralf Kalwa report.

He will update the residential footprint which is now out of date with the 2006 Ben Orbanreport. It is difficult to close the waterholes as most homes have one.

i---Remove animals as this will improve the bush, When rehabilitated new herds will be introduced.

ii--- Remove Sickle-Bush.  Bush encroachment must be tackled.

The next step will be to present this report to the Municipality.  As the repot was commissioned by MMPAO, they will be driving it.KNP closed many waterholes. This lead to a reduction from 8% to 4% in thecalving rate in elephants.

There are many challenges in implementing the report.

Game reduction as at 22 July.

                                                  Proposed                           Taken

            giraffe                                20                                        0

            kudu                                   30                                     16

            zebra                                  25                                     29

            warthog                           150                                   210

            wildebeest                         25                                     25

            impala                              550                                   380

The management of the game capture has been disastrous.

 

Rangers

&

Conservancy

&

MMPOA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John

10 Animal mortalities

Mortalities have not been received from Winnie as these are not available from Vally.

 

11 Ranger Activities

Work parties for bush encroachment have been postponed due to the fair. This activity will focus on removal of sickle-bush in Marloth Park. Grass seeds should be planted and protected with sickle-bush. Both Rangers and Conservancy will sell seeds. The correct combination will be secured from Pretoria.

 

 

 

Joce

12 Alien Plant Brochure

Work is in progress. Money is now available

 

Joce

13 Flora

5 teams of WFW are in Marloth and Lionspruit.  Basil checked yesterday. One team did not have a complete 1st Aid box so work was suspended.

They remove Queen- of- the- knight, chop it in pieces and throw it in the road.  Prickly Pear is sprayed and Lantana is chopped off and the stump sprayed.

 

14 Lionspruit

June report. The lions are well. The female is still playful although she has scars.

Are they still dumping intestines from Morrisdale?

Joce

John to inquire.

15Website/ Face book

The minutes are available on the website.

While John Web was away there was a lull in Facebook. Questions were posed but these should be referred to the assigned ranger to give an “expert” answer. Then it is not a personal opinion

Andrew

16 Bush Talks

These will be suspended as Andre Engelbrecht is no longer available.

 

17 Bird walk

1 August.  70 birds were seen on the last walk.

 

18 Rates insert

This did not go out last month.  “Managing your stand”  will be included in August as this is appropriate timing

Joce

19 Snake Removal

None.  A call was received but not responded to.

John Webb

20Fire fighting

Last week the team tested the hydrants.  Jim’s sector was all well. In Errol’s sector none were working, Sam to check this as they are rusted.

The working ones will be marked on the map so that the fire fighters will be able to reach them quickly.

 

21 Finances

Previous balance                              R 16 686

fair                                                       R 53 039

Balance                                               R 69 735

 

   Nellie

22  General

News on vulture poisoning. Onderstepoort has not yet responded. There is nothing forthcoming from Andre Botha as there appears to be some irregularities.

An HR needs to be appointed to deal with the public. This will be discussed at the Committee meeting.

Bird course should be ready for September.

There was an offer of grass from a Highveld farmer but was rejected because it contains alien plants and the grass is of poor quality—thatching grass.

Honey Bees. A request was made to bring bee hives into the park. He is registered with the SA bee Keeping Association.

Graeme is going on an extended holiday. Have a great time

 

Derrick

 

 

Joce

Genie

 

John Webber.

Abel

Coetzee.

Next meeting

27 August                  Conservancy  10 August

 

 Chairperson: John Webber                                                                  Minutes prepared by Yula Bezuidenhout

Our vision

hrOur vision is to support and assist the Nkomazi Municipality Conservation Department within Marloth Park with their management strategies and objectives while being an effective volunteer group. 
Read a brief  History of Honorary Rangers and the Conservancy

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