The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) laments the decision by Drakenstein Mayor, Stephan Korabie, to block the party’s motion requesting that the Municipality engage with the Cape Winelands District Municipality and the Western Cape provincial government to discuss trucks misusing the Bainskloof Pass.
According to the Mayor, the motion is inaccurate and Bainskloof falls outside Drakenstein’s jurisdiction as it is a provincial road.
In the Freedom Front Plus’s view, the response is short-sighted and incompatible with the responsibility to protect a national heritage route.
Although the Pass technically does fall outside municipal jurisdiction, nothing prevents the Municipality from engaging with the provincial government to protect this national heritage route, which forms part of UNESCO’s Cape Winelands Route.
Trucks frequently use the Bainskloof Pass as a shortcut between Wellington and Ceres, despite being prohibited from doing so.
Trucks frequently get stuck at the Pulpit, where sharp bends and an overhanging rock formation form a hazardous obstacle with no way to turn around. Between 2023 and 2025, 57 incidents have already been reported, resulting in road damage, erosion and hours of traffic congestion.
“Gawie se Water”, an important part of the heritage area, is also being increasingly jeopardised due to rituals, too many vehicles parking there, obstructing roads, and illegal fires. In 2022, an unattended fire that was not put out resulted in a much larger fire that caused significant damage.
In its motion, the Freedom Front Plus requested that the provincial and municipal authorities collaborate to prevent trucks from using the Bainskloof Pass.
The party also called for stricter enforcement at “Gawie se Water” to prevent pollution, excessive parking and fire risks, and protect the Pass’s heritage status.
The Freedom Front Plus will keep the pressure on until this route and environment are protected as they ought to be.
FF+ Manifesto on Defence: Maintaining a strong and effective defence force.
Breezy Mustang
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”
Betty Cricket
Ja, Nee – Yes, NoOften used in succession, these two words are used to express agreement or confirmation with someone or something.Example: “Ja, Nee, I’m fine thanks.”