Category Archives: City of Cape Town

Open Letter to the Camps Bay CID Steering Committee.

Yesterday I attended the first meeting of the proposed Camps Bay CID. It is to have three legs: Crime prevention, Homelessness prevention, and Environment/Cleanliness.

The Steering Committee is heavily dominated by males who are not on Social Media. The presentation focused on it only costing R1000 pm more per household, in addition to our Rates & Taxes. The main reason for having a CID is that Camps Bay cannot rely on the work of Volunteers, as they go on holiday, move to other areas, die, lose interest, run out of money…. Etc. I was seething, a Proud Volunteer.

They had not contacted me about Camps Bay Clean, and only featured a year old photograph of one of our beach clean ups, without recognition of Camps Bay Clean.

Today I decided to address the Steering Committee, to inform them of what I do, and to invite them to our Beach Clean on Sunday.
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Open Letter to the Camps Bay CID:

‘Dear Spencer and CID Steering Committee

Thank you for the opportunity to meet you yesterday and for the punt for funding of CAMPS BAY CLEAN for the next 10 months and hopefully beyond 1 July 2024.

I was sad that you have so little information about CAMPS BAY CLEAN and the work that I have done in the past 4 years, on a volunteer basis. I’m proudly working as a volunteer in keeping Camps Bay Clean, and I have no intention of losing interest, in moving house (I’ve lived in Camps Bay for 33 years) again, or in dying anytime soon!

As a keen walker I started noticing litter in the stream at the Tidal Pool on 2 nd of January 2019, and fetched refuse bags from my home, and cleaned the stream of picnic plates, plastic bottles, and KFC chicken bones in the main. Given that the stream flows into the ocean, I have taken the stream under my wings, and ‘adopted’ it.

Increasingly I have seen and read about Litter Hotspots in various parts of Camps Bay: ironically next to green bins, around vagrant structures, in parks, on walking trails, at the Camps Bay Drive viewpoint, at MyCiti Bus stops, at the Hussar Grill parking area, at the Symmonds Field, at Maidens Cove, and in lanes and steps, to name a few.

I worked with three homeless persons supplied via Ignisive initially but two of these were a disaster : one on drugs with mental problems, another was lazy and slept in his car when I wasn’t with them, and the third, a lady, wanted to be a car guard and work close to where her husband did the same. I gave up, very disappointed!

By luck I met Malawian Gift, who is a gardener by day, but could spend an afternoon a week with me to deal with litter hotspots.

Gift had other work obligations, so I found Malawian Joy, who also had a morning job, but could work with me once a week in the afternoons for a year. He is a real ….. joy to deal with, pardon the pun, smiling and loving his job. Since 1 August 2023 he has been working with me full-time, when he was retrenched by his former employer. Joy is a fantastic ambassador for Camps Bay and CAMPS BAY CLEAN. I bit the bullet in employing him full-time, and I am extremely grateful to the Camps Bay Community and businesses in providing donations and sponsorships.

We request the Community to identify Litter Hotspots on the days that Joy is available, and then we drive from hotspot to hotspot to remove the litter. We drop off the bags at the rock opposite Pick n Pay, for the City orange Truck to collect them before the end of the day, and before they can be torn open by vagrants.

Once a month we involve the community in a Beach Clean, the last Sunday of the month, for an hour, and I am delighted that so many families with their dogs and children participate. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has joined two such Beach cleans in the past two years, with record attendance.

In the past six months (1 January – 30 June 2023) Joy filled 413 bags of litter, while the community Beach clean saw a total of 183 bags filled, a combined total of 596 bags.

I have an excellent relationship with Councillor Nicola Jowell and the City Cleansing Department.

I am confused between a vague promise in the Business Plan of working with Cleansing volunteers (not sure why the CID cannot acknowledge CAMPS BAY CLEAN by name) after 1 July 2024, given the Volunteer-bashing throughout the Business Plan and in the presentation yesterday.

I am willing to guide you about Litter Cleaning in Camps Bay. There is no one else in our suburb with the experience that I have, after four years of CAMPS BAY CLEAN.

I would like to invite all the CID Steering Committee members to join us at our Community Beach Clean on Sunday 27 August, from 11h00 – 12h00, meeting opposite The 41 Restaurant. Only 3 members of the CID Steering Committee have ever participated in one of our Beach Cleans. Please see details below.

Camps Bay Community Litter Clean on Sunday 27 August 🌴🐠🐳🐬🦤🐡🐟🌴

Please join our Community Beach Clean on Sunday 27 August, from 11h00 – 12h00. We meet opposite The 41 Restaurant. Please bring members of your family and friends and colleagues, wearing gloves. We will provide bags. The 41 Restaurant offers complimentary Fitch & Leedes beverages for each participant. It also offers a prize of two Burgers for the person collecting the most litter.

We welcome learners in joining us for their Community projects. We welcome donations, having appointed Joy full-time on weekdays from 1 August.

We are grateful for the sponsorship of NOX, Camps Bay Ratepayers Association, and Harcourts Atlantic, and donations from our residents. 🙏

LETS KEEP CAMPS BAY CLEAN, TOGETHER 🌴💚
Chris von Ulmenstein 🌴Camps Bay Clean💚 Camps Bay Ratepayers Association 0825511323

Thank you

Chris von Ulmenstein
CAMPS BAY CLEAN
Camps Bay Ratepayers Association Environment Portfolio
0825511323’

SA Butler Academy apologises to 2019 student Lin Yang, and to refund her costs by court order!

In 2019 I met Lin Yang, a Singaporean who studied at the South African Butler Academy at what it claimed to be a world class institution, given the marketing promises made on its website. She was expelled from the course on the third day of her studies, allegedly due to being late for her classes. She was not refunded her course fees , and headed to our High Court on a three year journey to obtain her fees and costs back.

After her experience with the SA Butler Academy she embarked on extensive research about the training institution, evaluating its website in the English and Chinese webpages, its brochure, and any other communication about the institution on Google. She interacted with close to 90 other students of the institution, receiving input from them, finding that there were a large number of similar experiences.

In doing so, she found my 2013 Blogpost about the SA Butler Academy and its misleading marketing, which I had discovered by analysing its website, after I had a bad experience with a student of the institution as a short-lived guest house employee.

The SA Butler Academy grossly misleads its students and hospitality industry clients!

My 2013 Blogpost visibility arose from the number of students who have found it on the first page of Google when one searches ‘SA Butler Academy’, despite intensive attempts by the institution to fill its space with links and videos as to push my Blogpost further down onto page 2 or even lower. My Blogpost doggedly remains on on page one of Google, even ten years later!

Miss Lin and I met, and since then we have remained in touch. She refers SA Butler Academy students who have problems with the institution to my SA Butler Academy Blogposts, including the 2013 one. In the past three years Miss Lin has been determined to find any avenue to evaluate the truthfulness or not of the SA Butler Academy claims made on its website. She found, for example, that :

*. SA Butler Academy owner Newton Cross had not been the Butler of the late President Mandela, as claimed. Miss Lin reported this to the Mandela Foundation, which pressurised the institution to remove his name from its website.

*. Miss Lin was shocked that a photograph of her and a classmate was used on the Academy website for publicity purposes, despite only attending two days of the course and being a litigant against the Academy.

*. She discovered that the SA Butler Academy could not provide proof for the following claims made by the institution on its website:

#. That its courses are accredited

#. That it has proof of its claim of ‘No. 1 Butler School in the World’

#. That SA Butler Academy owner Newton Cross holds a claimed qualification from the ’Buckingham Palace Butler School’

#. Newton Cross’ claim that he worked as a Butler on the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship, when he in fact was merely a waiter.

#. That Newton Cross has worked as a Butler, as claimed, for Former President Bill Clinton, Former President Bush Senior, Former President Mbeki, the late President Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, golfer Tiger Woods, and a number of other celebrities.

#. The partner businesses SA Butler Academy and Guild Recruitment jointly misled students: the SA Butler Academy promised students that they would receive jobs via its Guild Recruitment. Guild Recruitment would advertise Butler jobs, encouraging prospective applicants to do the SA Butler Academy course if they were not already a student or graduate of the institution.

Miss Lin also lodged complaints with the following authorities :

*. The City of Cape Town, for a building accommodating the SA Butler Academy students whilst on the course (students were forced to use the overcrowded accommodation and were charged an additional fee), in violation of a City by-law to use private accommodation for commercial purposes.

*. The Equality Court, which became a directional hearing, and advised that it was not the correct forum for her to claim the funds owed.

*. The National Consumer Commission, where she and 22 other past students of the SA Butler Academy have a class action against the institution.

*. As her residential address and photograph were published on the SA Butler Academy website, Miss Lin approached the POPI (Protection of Personal Information) Regulator to lodge a complaint.

*. Carte Blanche, to whom she and other fellow students reported the matter, and in November 2020 Derek Watts interviewed Miss Lin and I about the misleading marketing claims made by the SA Butler Academy on its website, followed by the broadcast in December 2020. This was a powerful step forward for Miss Lin, yet the institution persevered in not refunding her the course fees. A large number of students interacted with Miss Lin after this exposé on Carte Blanche.

https://www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog/cape-town/carte-blanche-exposes-sa-butler-academy-marketing-deception-first-exposed-on-whaletales-blog-in-2013

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100068498080492

Given the amount of pressure which Miss Lin was placing on the SA Butler Academy, the institution created a page of disparagement on its website, defaming her and claiming that she had mental issues. I too have the ‘honour’ of featuring on such a page on the institution’s website, a rage reaction about the high ranking of my 2013 Blogpost, hoping that it would diminish the credibility of my 2013 Blogpost, which obviously has impacted on the credibility of the SA Butler Academy.

Ultimately Miss Lin appointed legal firm Dunsters Attorneys, and excellent advocate Adam Brink, for legal action. A year ago she and the legal team were granted 3 August 2023 as the court date. The SA Butler Academy started an interlocutor motion, requesting R500000 security for costs, possibly to persuade Miss Lin to withdraw her case, but this motion was rejected by the judge as she is regarded an Incola.

On 3 August 2023 an Agreement between Miss Lin and the defendants South African Butler Academy cc, Butler Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Butler Training (Pty) Ltd, Guild Recruitment (Pty) Ltd, Newton Hilton Cross, and Willem Adriaan Coetzer was made a Court Order (Case number 10430/2020):

‘ 1. The Defendants will repay to the Plaintiff the fee paid by her of USD 5200, at the exchange rate on the date of payment by her to the Defendants, plus the sum of R32 947, 62, plus interest on both sums at the prescribed rate from 30 April 2019.

2. The Plaintiff abandons any claim against the Defendants for damages flowing from the defendants’ unauthorised use of the Plaintiff’s image for publicity, and the violation of her dignity.

3. The plaintiff withdraws the complaint with the National Consumer Commission and the Information Regulator against the defendants.

4. The Defendants will pay the Plaintiffs costs on a party and party scale, subject to the following:

4.1. limiting the Plaintiff’s counsel’s costs with respect to appearance at the trial to those incurred for the hearing on 3 August 2023; and

4.2. Each party to pay their own costs reserved in the order of the Honourable Justice Meer of 24 February 2021; and

5. The parties will agree to publish the joint statement annexed hereto marked ‘A’ ‘

‘ I took on the SA Butler Academy to also assist other aggrieved past students as well as future students to be protected against the misleading marketing of the institution’, she said. She is particularly concerned about protecting the rights and interests of female students, stating that not all students have other qualifications from reputable educational institutions as she has been fortunate to experience.

In the past four years of living here, waiting for the Court date and action, Ms Lin experienced the beautiful natural resources of our country, praising them, and expressed the hope that there would be better governance of them.

She thanked her legal team for their dedicated action in her case against the SA Butler Academy, her advocate being happy with the positive outcome.

She wishes her fellow 22 students well at the National Consumer Commission in their class action against the SA Butler Academy. Ms Lin is no longer part of this action.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323

Twitter:@Ulmenstein

Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide, WhaleTales Blog

Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide @whaletalesblog @campsbayclean

Sweet Service Award goes to Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis; Sour Service Award goes to SANTACO

The Sweet Service Award goes to Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis for his consistent, regular, and honest feedback at all hours of the day and night to the residents of Cape Town during the eight day Taxi Strike. At all times the stand of the City of Cape Town has been that lawlessness will not be tolerated and that the City will do its best to protect operating public transport and even trucks delivering food.

The Sour Service Award goes to SANTACO for extending the strike by another week when it rejected the terms of the City’s demands last Friday yet accepted them in the final negotiations last night, causing financial hardship to its own taxi operators and taxi commuters, the loss of lives, and affected almost every resident in Cape Town, in that food stocks were running low or out of basic items in supermarkets.

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at chrisvonulmenstein [at] gmail.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog.m

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323

Twitter:@Ulmenstein

Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide, WhaleTales Blog

Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide @campsbayclean @whaletalesblog

Western Cape Taxi Strike officially over!

An eight day strike of the SANTACO minibus taxi industry in Cape Town and the Western Cape came to an end officially at 20h30 this evening, with the following statement issued by the Taxi Association.

‘MEDIA STATEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: 10 August 2023

Time: 19h30

From the desk of Mandla Hermanus,

Chairperson of SANTACO Western Cape

Stay Away Officially Called Off with Immediate Effect

It is with profound relief that we announce the immediate cessation of the Stay Away. This comes after painstaking deliberations and immense pressure on all parties involved.

First and foremost, on behalf of SANTACO Western Cape, I convey our sincerest condolences to the families of those who tragically lost their lives during the Stay Away. We stand with you in this time of grief and offer our profound sympathies. We also extend our heartfelt sympathy to everyone who was negatively affected by the events of the past days.

It deeply saddens and disappoints us that it took this long for all parties to find a resolution. The wellbeing of our community and the public at large has always been our top priority, and it pains us to witness the unnecessary pain and suffering that transpired.

I am pleased to announce that as part of the resolution reached between the Taxi Industry and the Government, there is an agreement that the next 14 days will be utilised to work towards the release of the vehicles that were wrongly impounded. This is a significant step towards restoring trust and operations to their regular state.

In conclusion, a heartfelt thank you goes out to each and every one of you for your patience, resilience, and unwavering resolve during these challenging times. We pledge our ongoing commitment to serve our communities with integrity, ensuring such incidents do not repeat in the future.

For further media enquiries, please contact:

Issued by the South African National Taxi Council, Western Cape.

Strike is over. All return to normal tomorrow’ —————————————————

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis confirmed via video that the Strike is officially over.

The City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis subsequently posted the following media statement :

‘

▫️From the desk of▫️
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis

City welcomes Santaco’s withdrawal of strike action

The City of Cape Town is pleased that the destructive taxi strike has come to an end. We appreciate the constructive approach taken by minibus taxi association Santaco today.

“It bears noting that Santaco today accepted the same proposal that the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government originally put on the table last Friday,” said Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

“The tragic implication is that all of the violence, the deplorable loss of life, and the damage to property and to our local economy – was for naught. Last Friday, everything agreed to today was on the table, when the strike was less than 24 hours old, and could have been stopped then.”

The details of the agreement are:

  • Impoundments under the National Land Transportation Act (NLTA) will continue for vehicles driving without an operating license, or on the incorrect route, or without a driver’s license, or which are not roadworthy.
  • We have agreed that the Taxi Task Team will further define a list, within 14 days, of additional major offences in terms of which vehicles will continue to be impounded in future. This will take the form of an Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to guide enforcement staff on the exercise of the discretionary power provided for in the NLTA.
  • Our focus in the task team will be to ensure that all traffic offences which impact on commuter safety remain as major offences. Road safety for commuters and other road users is a non-negotiable, a position the City has not budged on.
  • The Task Team will similarly compile an agreed-upon list of minor offences, which do not have commuter safety implications, and which will not be impoundable. The City continues to believe it will be able to demonstrate to Santaco that we have already been following this distinction for some time.

Importantly, if Santaco believes that any of their taxis have been impounded for these minor offences, then they can produce the relevant impoundment notices and the City will then make representations to the Public Prosecutor to support the release of these vehicles.

We have also made two important improvements for the future.

  • Santaco has agreed that never again will they call a strike during the middle of a working day, and that they will always give at least 36 hours’ notice ahead of planned strike action. We should never again see a repeat of thousands of people being forced to walk home.
  • Secondly, before calling strike action, the Task Team will now have a dispute escalation and resolution clause, to escalate disputes directly to the Premier and Mayor before a strike action will be considered

The entire agreement is subject to there being no future resumption of taxi-related violence. Any resumption of taxi violence will nullify the agreement.

We hope this sends a clear message to South Africa: violence will get us nowhere. Laws can only be changed through democratic processes.

“While I deplore the impact of this entirely unnecessary strike, Cape Town has set an important precedent for South Africa’s future. By steadfastly refusing to capitulate before violence and anarchy, Cape Town has not conceded an inch on our commitment to the rule of law,” says Hill-Lewis.

“The message is clear: in Cape Town, the laws of this country apply equally to everyone and violence will not extract concessions from this government.”

“My thoughts are with our communities who bore the brunt of this and I want to assure them that we will continue to fight for the safety of them and their loved ones as they travel around our city.”

Thank YOU’

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323

Twitter:@Ulmenstein

Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide, WhaleTales Blog

Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide @campsbayclean @whaletalesblog