Retired municipal senior administrator of over 20 years, Tokkie Saayman is ending his long tenure on the North Coast to relocate to the Cape to be closer to his family.
Currently living in Tinley Manor, Saayman is excited for the move, but reflective on his many years spent living and working here.
One of Saayman’s main roles at the municipality was rural development, with his first big project for Ballito municipality being the settlement of Groutville in 1983.
“Groutville became one of our headaches – it was a free-for-all with no services whatsoever,” said Saayman.
According to Saayman, issues of poverty and crime plagued the settlement and his experience in Groutville later extended into Nkobongo where social development was also desperately needed.
“There were no roads, there was no water – absolutely nothing. So we worked 12 hours a day and seven days a week.”
One of the biggest problems, said Saayman, was that in order to build the roads they had to remove some of the shacks and were left with the issue of where to put them. With 700 families living five people to one shack in Nkobongo at the time, the plan was to build 1 200 new units for residents of the township, but the demand for housing was somewhat underestimated by the municipality.
“The problem was that even 2 000 units would have been too few,” said Saayman, as many more people than initially anticipated flocked from surrounding areas to secure a new home for themselves.
Saayman then secured R150 000 to build a water pipeline from Shaka’s Head to Nkobongo as residents of both townships had no access to clean water.
“The people would collect their drinking water from puddles on the tar roads, so we just had to provide them with running water.”
In addition to these projects, he secured a R1.5m investment from Bruce Hullett over a cup of coffee to develop 28 hectares of land next to the existing Shaka’s Head township. Such a feat came to characterise Saayman’s friendly but firm ‘no-nonsense’ approach to town planning and township development as defined by his uncanny ability to secure funds from a reluctant provincial government.
As an individual who has not only witnessed the North Coast’s growth over the last two decades, but as someone who has participated in it, Saayman said Ballito’s continuing expansion is a good thing, but must be done with care.
“Economic development must always have an objective, it must ensure that the environment is not abused and must also accommodate as many employment opportunities as possible”.
Affectionately known as ‘Mr Municipality’, Saayman went on to say that in 1986 there were only two small stores in Ballito and he has enjoyed playing a role in its growth.
“The key to success is to build and strengthen relationships between all people, both rich and poor and as long as the municipality commits to this, Ballito could have a very bright future.”
http://northcoastcourier.co.za/38541/mr-municipality-leaves-a-legacy/
Regardless of what some of the people on here think of Mike's rugby picks, I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that this is a very impressive list of achievements, someone who's always put his community and others ahead. Well done, Mike. Good luck on the move.
