The Villager 2012 • 6 Issue Seeing More-itius Birding Fair Michelle Oppenshaw goes Hip Hop The Villager focuses on Irene Farm Villages. The magazine is deliv- ered to the home of each resident on the Estate. The magazine is co-ordinated and published by Estates in Africa (Pty) Ltd on behalf 02 From the Estate Manager of the Home Owners' Association of Irene Farm Villages. The opin- ions of workers and personnel of Estates in Africa (Pty) Ltd do not 05 Protea Coin Site Manager necessarily reflect those of the HOA of Irene Farm Villages. 06 Village Talk: Karate Championships Publisher Nico Maritz 07 Birding Fair E-mail: [email protected] Estate Editor 10 The Village Greens Braam Matthee 12 Financial Statement Sales Manager & Advertising Martin Fourie - Cell: 072 835 8405 16 Seeing More-itius E-mail: [email protected] Office: 012 348 2001 Sales 20 Book Reviews Marié-Louise Kirsten - Cell: 081 2511 381 E-mail: [email protected] 22 Art: Larger than Life Layout 24 Smalls Karien van Wyk E-mail: [email protected] 25 Approved Estate Agents JOHANNESBURG OFFICE Tel: 011 327 4062 , Fax: 011 327 4094, 27 Michelle Oppenshaw goes Hip Hop Now Media Centre, 32 Fricker Road • Illovo • Johannesburg Estates in Africa (Pty) Ltd • www.eiapublishing.co.za Deadline for advertisements and editorial contributions: 29 June 2012 for Issue 7 2012. Estate Manager At van Niekerk From a very cold Highveld it is once again my privilege to chat to our Resi- dents. Weather prediction was never my strong point, but I have the feeling that this is going to be one of the longer and colder winters we have experi- enced in many years. For that reason you need to take special care of your pets and gardens. Give poor old “Snuffles” a piece of that old blanket and cover those so well-looked after plants that are more susceptible to the cold. The nice thing of the winter for me is the quality moments spent with family and friends around a bowl of hot soup and a good old golden sweet sherry. ur garden services have done a great job with Half Moon Park, Queen Park and Duke Park. OCongratulations guys! I invite our Residents to go and have a stroll along these parks. When you go out into these parks, please bear in mind that the majority of the layout was done by our garden work- ers themselves. Have a look at the way in which some of the paths were laid out and plants positioned. This is the work of our own hard-working garden- ers, who love their work, and a well managed joint garden management system in place at no additional cost to our Members. I was taken by surprise. This is a great asset to our Estate. We now need to invest in well-established trees. This team will attempt to get going at all the parks, but please keep in mind that this is our maintenance programme. All of this is done within the 2012/2013 budget that I mentioned before. Any form of capital project must come from the Members themselves. The Estate Management is also busy with a number of hard maintenance tasks. All the jungle gyms in the Estate parks have been treated with a special wood-protecting paint. At some of these apparatus Dirk and Charles replaced a number of broken poles, planks and ropes. These damages are clearly vandalism, not by our kiddies, who are enjoying these play grounds, but by other residents in our Estate. Please report any form of damage to the jungle gyms to the Estate Manager. 2 Issue 6 2012 • The Villager We are blessed to have a great number of wild life in our Estate. Yes, from the smallest mammals to the big- ger bucks. They all give us joy. The springbucks are so gracious and bring amongst us the feeling of having something special in our Estate. Nowadays even the steenbokkies are seen all over. I noticed a steenbokkie in Duke Park. It was brought to my attention that there is also a herd of blesbuck in the Estate. I have a passion to preserve that what we have in our Estate, be it a meerkat, a guinea-fowl, a rabbit or one of our many bird species. A matter close to my heart is the repa- All the repairing material, including If you want to sell or buy property, please rations that Dirk and Charles did to the a fibre glass sealant, rust-removing do contact one of our accredited estate “waterkar”. This is a story on its own. armoury, durable paint, respirator, etc agents. They are all great professionals. You Most of us have seen this tanker being were obtained. On Friday, 8th June, the will find their details on our web site and in pulled around the Estate for many repair job started, continuing on the The Villager on page 25. years, doing a noble task of giving H₂O Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. to the Estate. It was rusted on the in- Dirk and Charles persisted with this On a more serious note, I want to draw side and outside and the petrol-driven task over the weekend. On Monday your attention to the Rules and Regulations water pump at the back was working morning I had the great opportu- of the HOA. A number of members have under strain. We battled to get quota- nity to inspect the work. I have three been penalized recently for the transgres- tions to repair the tanker. It appeared comments, which I want to share with sion of the one or other HOA Rule. In most as if all craftsmen of this trade had dis- you. Firstly, the repairs were done in instances the particular Member becomes appeared. The HOA Board approved a workmanlike manner; secondly, the very offensive for being penalized. All I have R7,500 to repair the tanker. Dirk and repairs were done in the most inclem- to say, is that, it is the duty of the Estate Charles took on the challenge over ent weather conditions; and thirdly, Manager to preserve law and order, as well the weekend of the 9th & 10th June. You as pointed out to me, the manufac- as good neighbourliness amongst all our will recall that this was the first real turer was F.A. POOLE (PTY)LTD, who good residents. If you are penalized for any winter weekend, when the Boks beat manufactured this old tanker in 1971. transgression of the Estate rules, you have England in Durban. Please bear with There is still a lot to be told about the a right to make representation to the HOA me, because this story must be told. “waterkar”. Maybe for another day. Board of Directors, who will have the final say after adjudicating over a matter. From an Estate Management point of view, the forthcoming AGM is of critical impor- tance. Big decisions will have to be taken on a number of capital investments by the Members of the Estate, to take the Estate into a progressive and profitable invest- ment into the future. The office administration is currently under pressure. Deidre has left and her post is currently complemented by the temporary appointment of Mrs Tina Smith. All adminis- tration will be attended to as usual. It has come to our attention that a number of residents are finding it difficult to gain access or egress by means of the biomet- ric (finger print) system. Residents are requested to be patient, because during the cold weather the biometric system does take more time to identify the specific fin- ger print, due to the shrinkage of the finger print imprint. The Security personnel have been asked to assist. Winter wishes to all out Residents. the “waterkar” Best regards At van Niekerk The Villager • Issue 6 2012 3 Protea Coin Site Manager Marchell Galant Dear Residents trust that all of you are keeping warm during these cold days that we are experiencing. I re- call that the one morning when I came to the Estate at 03:00 in the morning the temperature I display in my vehicle showed 0.5 degrees. I think the people that have it bad are the guards who have to patrol the fence at night. I have been confronted on a few occasions by residents of the Estate who ask me what I as the Security Manager can do about the owners, tenants and visitors who speed in the Estate. This is really getting out of hand. Just the other day a resident lost a cat because of a vehicle that was speeding in the Estate. On the 12th of June, Security was phoned by a resident at the Main Gate, who brought it to our attention that a sand delivery truck was speeding in the Estate and even ignored several stop streets. This truck was stopped at the gate by Security. The end result was that the owner of the property where the building works were being carried out was fined R500. The question is: do we have to wait for a child to be killed by a vehicle that is speeding or not abiding by our traffic rules? I urge all residents to keep to the speed limit of 40km per hour in the Estate. Please advise your visitors to adhere to the rules and regulations of the Estate. We need to change our culture in the Estate. If you see a person speeding or transgressing other Estate traffic rules, please assist by taking down the registration number of the vehicle and a description of the driver and reporting it immediately to Security personnel.