The Free State and Northern Cape (FSNC) branch of SAGI had its third annual general meeting on 7 March 2008 at the Occidental Bar in Kimberley. There was a good attendance and a successful meeting took place. The president of SAGI, Gavin Lloyd, attended the meeting and delivered his report. A few non-members were invited to the AGM with the intention of getting them to join the branch.
Due to ongoing uncertainty regarding the exact way of framing mining application plans, it was decided to hold a workshop at a future date and discuss the various requirements.
Members of the Cadastral Commission of the FSNC branch are currently involved in a legal action against the municipality of Sol Plaatje regarding the matter of reserving planning work only for registered planners. The same problem is now also being said to occur at the Nelson Mandela Metropole. This situation requires more involvement from SAGI and it was decided there would be a more consolidated effort from SAGI and its members to resolve this matter.
The FSNC branch has also in the past year put forward a proposal to assist the provincial government with the revision of their guidelines covering the approval of applications of leisure residential developments. After meeting with delegates of the branch and undertaking to investigate the proposal, the relevant department informed the branch at the end of October 2007 that none of the proposals would be included in the department’s new guideline set.
Contact Michael van Niekerk, SAGI, 057 352-5126, mvn@lsbgroup.co.za