Oudtshoorn, 19 March 2019 – Oudtshoorn Municipality is ready to host and render additional services as the 25th Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK25) starts this week, 21st till 27th March 2019.
Thousands of visitors from South Africa and abroad are expected to converge to the heart of Little Karoo, Oudtshoorn, to enjoy the variety of the events and activities the KKNK25 is offering during the arts festival.
Welcoming visitors, the Executive Mayor of the Greater Oudtshoorn, Cllr. Colan Sylvester said: “Tourism, sports, arts and culture is Oudtshoorn’s passion and being part of the 25th year of KKNK is a wonderful experience. We welcome all the visitors in our hospitable town, enjoy the festival responsibly and remember to save water.”
Joint operational and contingency plans
To ensure meticulous implementation of the numerous services that are to be rendered during and after the arts festival operational and contingency plans have already been drawn-up and are in place. “The role-players are the Municipal Protection Services, Technical Services and Community Services, KKNK, South African Police Service (SAPS), Western Cape Provincial Traffic, medical services, Garden Route District Municipality’s environmental officers, private security companies and the Department of Social Development,” said the Municipal Manager, Allen Paulse.
“A Joint Operational Centre has been established and operates at the Oudtshoorn Municipality’s new Council Building. The contingency plan makes provision for Venue Operating Centre (VOC) which is situated at the Rivierbuurt. Municipal disaster management which includes fire services has concluded conducting fire safety inspections.”
Municipal Services during the KKNK
The Municipal cleansing services unit has been bolstered with extra temporary staff for the duration of the KKNK, to ensure that the town is kept clean at all times. Refuse removal will be done daily at restaurants and hotels during the festival as opposed to three times a week during the year – public holidays and weekends included. The Municipality is also cleaning the Grobblers River which is part of the KKNK site. Mayor Colan Sylvester visited the river on Tuesday to see progress made.
This year, the Municipality in partnership with Cango Wildlife Ranch and KKNK are embarking on a recycling project. Recycling points will be clearly identified in the area of the festival where people can use different bins for different kinds of recyclable waste. Businesses are encouraged to also part-take in the recycling project; the Municipality will collect the recycled waste.
Maintenance and refurbishment of infrastructure for parks, water works, electricity, roads and storm water have been completed. Municipal sport grounds, halls are key venues for the big shows and performances during the KKNK.
Road closures
Oudtshoorn Municipal Traffic Services and the Western Cape Provincial Traffic, will jointly regulate traffic to all roadworks in Oudtshoorn. Traffic will also regulate the general flow of traffic including facilitation of parking.
Road closures have already been in effect as from last week Thursday, 16 March 2019 and will continue until 28 March 2019. The following streets and roads in the vicinity of the festival will be closed:
- Baron van Reede (portion between Voortrekker Road and St. Johns Street)
- Vrede Street (portion between Langenhoven Road and Jan Van Riebeeck Street) and;
- Langenhoven Road (portion between Voortrekker Road and Vrede Street).
Festival goers are encouraged to make use of taxis to lower volumes of traffic and they will be in Voortrekker Road in front of the CJ Langenhoven Memorial Library. Passenger busses that normally drop and pick up passengers at the Queens Mall parking will stop at Voortrekker Road in front of the same parking area. Traffic lights will be regulated by traffic officials.
Sporadic road blocks will be conducted to regulate and enforce law against motorists who would be contravening the National Road Traffic Act by particularly committing among other the following offences:
- Talking on cellphones while driving
- not wearing their safety belts
- drunken driving
- reckless and negligent driving
Water shortage Crisis
Oudtshoorn is experiencing extreme water shortages and declared a state of disaster last year August. The town’s main water resource, Koos Raubenheimer dam is 36% full. The Oudtshoorn Municipality has been running a water savings campaign for the past six months.
The campaign has so far yielded positive results, as our water consumption level has dropped from 17 to 19 Million litres per day last year before the campaign to about 9 to 11 Million litres per day. We urge both residents and visitors ensure that we continue saving water. Remember every drop counts.
Load Shedding
The Municipal communication and media office will post regular updates on its social media platforms and websites in an event that Eskom implements load shedding. The Municipality is working with the KKNK’s communications to ensure that the load shedding updates are reaching a wider audience including the visitors too.
The following online and social platforms can be visited for regular updates:
WEBSITE
http://www.oudtshoorn.gov.za/resource-category/load-shedding
Page name: Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality or visit: https://www.facebook.com/oudtmun/
Oudtshoorn Municipality’s Twitter handle is: @Oudtmun or follow this link: https://twitter.com/Oudtmun
For all municipal enquiries the following number which is available for 24hours must be dialed: 044 203 7800