Finding the right land to build fire stations is one of the hold-ups in plans for satellite operations in Riebeeck East and Alicedale.
Finding the right land to build fire stations is one of the hold-ups in plans for satellite operations in Riebeeck East and Alicedale.
Riebeeck East relies entirely on Makana Municipality's Grahamstown-based fire service, which must travel 39km to reach an emergency.
A man died in the rural town when his home was gutted in a fire on 3 June. Fire services manager William Welkom said while there is no fire station in Alicedale or Riebeeck East, there is an interim arrangement in Alicedale.
"We do have a vehicle in Alicedale and people working there," he told Grocott's Mail on Wednesday. In a municipal public safety and community services portfolio committee meeting in June, Director Mandisi Planga said Makana had approached Cacadu District Municipality for in establishing satellite fire stations in Riebeeck East and Alicedale.
Both towns fall within the Makana municipal boundary. Welkom said plans to establish the satellite stations would kick in once the municipality manages to raise funds to build them. The matter was raised again in a public safety portfolio meeting on 6 August.
According to documents it has been extremely difficult to identify land to build the satellite fire stations in both areas. In both cases the municipality has identified two existing municipal building which could house the stations.
In Alicedale a building was identified in Kwanonzwakazi, and in Riebeeck East they identified the Mooimeisiesfontein school. An amount of R300 000 was budgeted for the construction of a building in Alicedale during the 2013/14 financial year, according to the report; however, it was established that the outbuilding had been owned by an NGO for 10 years and they could move only once they had found alternative land.
The building identified in Riebeeck East is not occupied, but is in a bad state due to vandalism. An amount of R400 000 was budgeted to construct a building in the area in the 2011/12 financial year.
A service provider was hired to build a double garage next to the identified wing of the building; however, residents of Riebeeck East indicated that they had occupied part of Mooimeisiesfontein for their chicken project.
