• April started with a shock as the council revealed a plan to raise electricity tariffs by 15%.
The council ultimately approved a 13% electricity price hike.
The 13% tariff was, however, reduced by the National Energy Regulator in August.
The municipality had once again jumped the gun and implemented the 13% increase.
The same happened in 2024, with the municipality also implementing higher tariffs than the tariffs later approved by NERSA.
While milking residents dry, the council meanwhile approved salary increases, with back pay approved in early April, backdated to July 1, 2024.
The above was all covered in the Middelburg Observer on April 4.
• In the April 11 edition of the Middelburg Observer, residents were in for another shock when we reported that just under R1.8m was spent on last year’s Crossover New Year’s party.
The municipality had spent a total of R1 784 340 on the event, among other luxuries for Ottomans, couches and dual-seater mobile toilets for VIP guests.
• In the same edition, a nagging court case about the murder of Koos Flynn, who was beaten to death with an exhaust pipe by JB van der Merwe.
Sordid details included Van der Merwe’s testimony that he caught Flynn and Van der Merwe’s girlfriend, Sandy du Toit, naked in bed together, resulting in him swinging the exhaust pipe at Flynn, causing a serious head injury that would claim Flynn’s life a month later.
Van der Merwe was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
• On April 25, the paper reported on the Easter Weekend death toll after a total of 13 people were killed in road accidents.
It was one of the deadliest Easter Weekends ever, with seven people killed in an accident near Berg-en-Dal outside Machadodorp.
With the December holidays underway, an increase in traffic should be expected, especially around Christmas and New Year.
Expect roadblocks, too. Don’t drink and drive. Keep a safe following distance. Keep within the speed limit. And most important of all, respect other road users.
• We also reported that Middelburg is running out of burial space fast. The municipality has to look at private property in order to develop cemeteries. The Middelburg cemetery is already full, with only pre-booked and pre-paid plots available. The new Rondebosch area under development has thousands of burial plots available, but residents don’t want to use it, due to its rural setting.
