Dear Residents,

First of all, we need to apologise for the delay in sending out this Newsletter. We are happy to report plenty of improvements throughout Kosmos over the last few months, which you will be able read all about below.

The KRRA Team

A Note from the Chair, Karin Schutte

When I summarise the many discussions and email communications I had with residents over the last couple of months, two words keep on coming up: expectation and tolerance.

What are our expectations of living or spending leisure time in Kosmos Village, and where are our tolerance levels to actually enjoy time in such a special place.

Expectation and tolerance

Kosmos Village is known for its idyllic setting and small community that is alive and active. Surely this is one of the reasons why people would want to live here. The community is not overwhelming and it is up to the residents how much they would like to get involved. Sounds ideal, doesn't it?

Kosmos used to be a place with a few houses permanently occupied and many houses used for weekends and holidays only. This has changed over the last 15 years. More people have decided to live permanently in Kosmos and the houses used only for weekends and holidays are now in the minority.

A number of previous residents have sold and moved away with new residents arriving in our village. It is great to see that the area has become attractive for families and Kosmos is getting "younger".

In such a small community where residents live their normal life in the village, and others come to escape the city, chill, relax and party, a clash in expectations is inevitable and disappointment can only be avoided when all parties exercise tolerance.

Families who live here throughout the year, have a lifestyle that includes having dogs, cycling through the village, rushing their kids to school in the morning, going for walks and entertain children's birthdays, etc.

Residents with many dogs on their premises should be just as tolerant and respect that aggressive barking from 3 and more dogs whenever a pedestrian is passing, does not add to a good neighbourhood. Walking dogs without leads and allowing dogs to roam free causing other dogs to bark, falls under the same category.

Some residents come out to sit quietly along the foreshore to fish. Their quiet time has become limited as they are sitting next to the Kosmos racing lane. Young people with and without helmets have turned Simon Bekker Street, the foreshore part and Coleman Street, with a few speed humps, into a danger zone for anyone.

The new kick is standing up straight on the bike and jumping over the speed humps. Do we need an accident as a wakeup call or can common sense kick in first? Right now it seems that common sense has to still develop amongst those riders.

A big thank you to our serious bikers who ride their bikes with moderate speed through Kosmos Village, which also keeps the noise level down.

The foreshore is not only a play ground for dogs and a recreational fishing zone. After midnight it has become a meeting point for people to smoke - what? You thought we didn't know???

During a recent weekend a picnic/party took place at the foreshore leaving the place dirty and littered. Not acceptable at all!

Kosmos is a great place and we all love to entertain and enjoy a good time with friends. The air is filled with laughter and an aroma of boerewors and lamb chops on the braai. Please keep it moderate, be considerate and let's exercise tolerance.

With the holiday season upon us, the permanent residents know that they have to get ready for the silly season. Last year's December has kept the KRRA committee extremely busy with youngsters using their parents' holiday homes for parties that ended up in hooligan style behaviour. Only through diplomatic discussions between all involved could the KRRA team prevent legal cases that would have had an impact for life on the youngsters involved.

This behaviour lacks consideration completely and stretches tolerance above the limit.

Noise we have from the party boat activities continues, and it seems that the operators have ignored every warning. The KRRA is still dealing with this matter. All committee members live permanently in Kosmos, and we do hear the noise as well as everyone else does. Please address your complaints to the SAPS & Municipality if you feel being the piece is being disturbed beyond acceptable limits.

Crime

Unfortunately, we are experiencing some disturbing crime activities again as it happens every year before the holiday season begins. However, crime in Kosmos is not increasing as some residents believe. The rumour of increasing crime has been spread on purpose by a few people, each of them with their own agenda. These rumours even made it to minutes at a recent SAPS management meeting, and are under investigation. The crime statistics speak a more detailed language.

According to Romano van der Spuy, vice chair of CPF, Kosmos Village has seen a steadily decreasing number of break-ins over the last two years. Romano confirmed what many of us assume that the crime in Kosmos is mainly organised by inside jobs.

Main targets: houses that are let out as self catering holiday homes, misleadingly called as guesthouses. Different to a guesthouse, those holiday homes are not managed. In many cases, keys are just handed over by a person who has all the knowledge of arrival and departure of guests. Fully self- catering means that no one is around to take care of even basic guesthouse requirements.

Amazing to all of us who deal with those incidents - these guests who book a holiday home for a weekend leave all their valuables open, or even in their cars, which makes the break-ins for these well informed insiders an easy self-service job. In guesthouses however, one usually finds a safe and/or a note for guests advising them that they should look after their belongings as crime is possible.

Never before have we had we heard of so many tablets, laptops and smart phones being stolen out of cars. Nowhere in the world is it recommended to be so relaxed.

Other targets seem to be houses with high electronic equipment which again is only known to people who have access or inside knowledge in some way. These houses seem to be under observation and get targeted when the house is not occupied even it if is only for a few hours or a day. The pattern seems to be clear.

The KRRA

I would strongly request that when Residents & Members choose to engage with the KRRA Committee, they do so in a professional and courteous manner. There are a small minority of individuals who approach us in a very aggressive and destructive way and who speculate, not based on facts, but on misperceptions.

This is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated by this association. It is demotivating for our volunteering committee and we prefer not to deal with residents who attack through name calling and wild accusations.

Thank you to all residents who actively support us with calls and mails, making us aware of things that need to be fixed, for financial support and so many friendly words and the encouraging attitude.

We still have a few projects to complete before year end, which we are confident will bring a very happy end to the year.

In the meantime, as we approach the holiday season, we ask that residents remain vigilant and do not keep their belongings in their vehicles and we ask that the Guest Houses advise their visitors of the same.

A Note from the Vice Chair and Treasurer, Jonathan Strode

In my second year as Treasurer, we have now moved on from the consolidation period to build financial resources to now investing these funds into key projects during 2014.

The two key initiatives that have utilised a significant portion of our cash reserves are, legal fees for the re-location of Orange Farm, and the security gate upgrade, approved at the last AGM.

I'm pleased to say that the gate upgrades should be fully operational by end of this year, and that our efforts to secure a High Court Order to relocate the illegal OF settlement, has now been realised.

Whilst the number of residents paying for the gate levies of R433/month has increased significantly, the above investments have clearly depleted our resources, and as previously communicated in the last News Flash, we are asking again for donations to ensure we have enough funds to cover legal fees moving forward.

We need to maintain our supervision on the council, and enforce the High Court Order should it be required. Please do your part to help protect our community by paying the monthly levy and helping us re-build our legal "war-chest".

Our intention is to set up a separate bank account for all donations so we can manage this more effectively, and our sincere thanks to those generous residents who have already donated.

Other key updates include:

Changing our bookkeeping service to a far more proactive and sophisticated financial management solution, which for the first time in the KRRA history, will give us accurate management accounts, balance sheets, income statements, cash flow & age analysis, etc.

We have also appointed an auditor, so we'll have a full set of signed-off accounts end of this financial year.

Our Bank Details are as follows:

Absa Bank

Branch code: 632005

Account no: 38029710811

Please use the donation reference OF Donation & Surname.

Access cards

We have spent the last few weeks issuing employees of Kosmos Village with access cards. These cards are linked to the access system in which we will be able to monitor when employees are inside Kosmos and when they exit. We ask that all residents please emphasise to your employees the importance of displaying their cards at all times when they are inside Kosmos Village. It is the only way to identify if they have entered legally or not, by our patrolling guards. If your employee has not yet received an access card, please let us know so this can be arranged.

We have now started printing and issuing resident access cards which are allocated to the owners and residents of the property, and they will replace your round tag. There is no cost if you return the round tag when you collect your new cards.This was a necessary step as we had no way to quantify how many round tags are in circulation, who uses them etc.

After the issuing of the cards to residents our access system will go live, so please note that if you do not complete the Questionnaire, the round tag that you are using today will stop working. Please note, you need only complete the parts that you are comfortable to share with us.

Intercom System

Our intercom system is live and fully operational. So when visitors or contractors arrive, residents are called on either their cell phone or on their land line, depending on the information we have received from the Questionnaires. If you have not submitted yours please do so this week to avoid delays at the gate. 

Please click on the link below to download the Questionnaire

Questionnaire 

Please be patient with the Guards as they are still getting used to the new system. 

How does the intercom work?

• Please save the Intercom Number on your phone as "Gate Intercom" "0815354506"
• Make sure your contact details are on the intercom by submitting your Questionnaire. The system allows for up to 3 numbers to be loaded eg. You, your wife and one of your children (please do not ask us to give this access to your domestic, gardener etc.)  
• For security reasons, your information is not saved at the gate but in a cyber cloud. 
• Only the first 3 letters of your first name are visible when the gate personnel contact you 
• The only person who has access to your details is the person who loaded the information who signed a confidentiality agreement.
• Your information will never be sold or given to anyone unless it is required by law.
• Please forward a mail to  info@krra.co.za urgently with 3 contact names & cell numbers that you would like to be used on the intercom.

The system will work in two ways:

• When a visitor arrives at the gate, they will need to tell the security personnel where they are going. 
• All addresses have a code which the gate personnel will use to contact you with. 
• The Guards will announce that you have a visitor and at what gate they are currently standing (1 is the gate next to the guard house and 2 is the bigger one) 
• You will be required to press 1 or 2 on your cell phone to open the gate. 
• You will automatically receive a pin number by SMS which you will need to give to your visitor to enter onto the keypad on their way out which will open the gate on exit.
• If you do not wish to open for them, you can choose to press # which will cancel the call, which in this case, unless it is police, ambulance, court official or any other official who is entering to perform their duties, the visitor will be turned away.

Or

• If you are aware that you have a visitor coming to you, the visitor can be sent an SMS before they arrive. You can send the following SMS to the gate number "TAP1" and in a few seconds you will receive an SMS stating the following "The temporary pin for entry is ..... and Exit is ..... valid for 1 Entry. 
• Please note that if you have more than one visitor, then on your SMS to the gate number  you can replace the number "1" with the amount of visitors you would like to have access.
• You in turn can forward the SMS to your visitors who, on arrival at the gate, use the keypad to enter their pin to open the gate on entering and the exit pin on the keypad on the exit gate to leave Kosmos.

IMPORTANT

Visitors who come to call on any resident who is not on the intercom will be asked to contact the person they are visiting using their own phone, and you will need to physically come to the gate to let your visitors in and out using your access card. 

Commercial entities, such as Guest Houses and Estate Agents, need to contact the KRRA urgently to register to have access to the system as all visitors to this entity will be turned away unless the entity is registered with KRRA as a Commercial entity.

Security Successes 

Over the last two months, during the upgrade of our security measures, we have managed to permanently remove quite a few perpetrators who have been linked to crime within Kosmos:

• One person who was operating at the end of Simon Bekker Street. He stayed in Kosmos for years
• Two people who were operating in and around Paul Kruger Street. They stayed in Kosmos for years, 
• Two people who were operating in Karin Street. They too were staying in Kosmos for years.
• One person who was squatting in one of the empty houses in Karin Street.

We have identified some more individuals who we need to deal with. Please note as all individuals are innocent until proven guilty, the KRRA cannot publish their names or the house numbers. 

PLEASE ADVISE THE KRRA OF ANY SUSPECTED SQUATTERS OR SECURITY BREACHES ASAP SO WE CAN WORK WITH THE POLICE TO HAVE THESE INDIVIDUALS DEALT WITH.

Thanks to the increased compliance in paying security levies from the new and old members of the KRRA, we have been able to add an extra guard, so we now have two guards patrolling Kosmos during the night, and one during the day. All guards now are equipped with two way radios.

As more residents join the KRRA and pay their security levies these security enhancements will increase, so please do the right thing and join your community to combat crime, making our Village a safer place to live in.

Cameras & Turnstile

We have installed 7 cameras at the gate, covering the entry and exit points of the residents, pedestrians and contractors/visitors gates. The cameras will take pictures of the faces and the vehicle registration of anyone crossing into, and leaving Kosmos.

The Access system will record the time, date and destination of the person entering and will record the time and date of the person exiting Kosmos.

This camera footage will be available live to residents who have access to the internet, by logging into the network. 

Another 4 High Definition cameras will be installed on the light poles and  they will be linked to face recognition software and footage, which will be stored on Cloud and monitored 24/7.

Installing the Turnstile is the final step of the access system at the gate . The access cards, which have been issued to employees will link to the turnstile. Access times and days of employees will be dependent on information submitted on the Questionnaire.

Water Leaks - Reservoirs

We are happy to announce that the leaks from both reservoirs have finally been repaired by the KRRA. 

The water pressure problems that some houses experienced, due to being on the same level with the reservoir, have now been rectified and all houses at the higher levels of Kosmos should now have water pressure of between 2 and 4 bars. 

We are planning some more repairs around the reservoirs, such as installing a pressure regulator and non-return valve that will prevent new leaks from developing. This should result in no more water shortages being experienced by Kosmos Residents.

Below the reservoir, at the corner of Paul Kruger and Abraham Celliers Streets, residents can see water seeping from the ground. This is due to the saturation of running water and previously water from the leak of the reservoir. This problem will be repaired by opening channels where the water saturation occurs so the water can drain immediately.      

We would like to say a special thank you to Andrew Georghiou & Stuart Dennis who were instrumental in fixing the leaks.

Madibeng Municipality will send the road repair team as soon as the KRRA informs them that the road is dry and ready to be repaired. 

Below are some pictures showing before and after.

Tampering at the Reservoir

On Thursday 20 November, our attention was brought to the water running down from the east reservoir. It seems someone tampered with the valve and turned it on, resulting in a continuous flow of water down Abraham Celliers Street. The valve was turned off by KRRA.

On Friday 21 November, the valve was once again tampered with and turned on. It has been turned off but it will take a few days for the water to dry up.

We have confirmed that it was not any staff from Madibeng. We ask that residents refrain from interfering with the valves and if anyone has a water problem that you contact the KRRA to handle this and report it.

Guard House & Garden

In keeping with the upgrades, the guard house has been upgraded too. It has been tiled and repainted and kerbing has been placed around the lights. 

The garden around the gate is also getting a makeover, which will continue over the next few weeks.

A special thank you to Lorna & Terry Bishop for supplying all the kerbings and to Amelia van der Walt and her mother Noeline for taking up the task of re-doing our gardens at the gate.

Jonathan Strode

He is the Vice Chairman of the KRRA Committee for the first year running, and Treasurer for the second year.

He has lived in Kosmos for over 10 years, married and has 2 children. He has more than 20 years experience in Sales and marketing for Mutli-national companies.

He has chosen Kosmos as his home as it is a beautiful village nestled within the mountains. 

Jonathan's goals as Treasurer and Vice chairman are as follows:

• To increase the number of residents who are contributing towards the gate.
• To complete the investments regarding the upgrade of the gate
• To provide funding for additional upgrades to the gate and security.
• To complete the first Audit of the KRRA finances.

We thank Jonathan for all his hard work and dedication during the year! 

Andrew Georghiou

We will now introduce Andrew Georghiou, a co-opted member of the KRRA who has spearheaded our security upgrades during 2014.

Andrew has lived in Kosmos for just over  a year. He is married to Michele and has grown up children from a previous marriage.

Andrew has a very interesting background which includes importing specialised products from the US and manufacturing industrial and automative chemicals for Sasol, Total, Midas and Supergroup. Andrew also specialises in Financial Investigations and is currently a registered student at UNISA for LLB.

The reason that Andrew has chosen Kosmos as his home is the village lifestyle is the friendly environment where everyone greets each other, and because our Village has the potential to be the best village to live in.

 Andrew has a hands-on, positive attitude when serving the community of Kosmos. 

Andrew's goals for the remainder of 2014 are as follows:

• To ensure that all gate upgrades are completed and go live.
• To ensure that the deal with Orange Farm and the Municipality reaches fruition. 

We thank Andrew for all his hard work and dedication this year as we have already started seeing the fruits of his hard work. 

Karin Schutte

And last, but by no means least, we introduce the Chairwoman of the KRRA, Karin Schutte.

Karin and Chris have been living in Kosmos for 16 years. It was love at first sight when they saw Kosmos, so much so that they even got married in the Garden Chapel!

Karin is a travel designer, specialising mostly in Southern and East Africa and her office is home based.

Karin was first voted into the committee about 4 years ago, during a very tumultuous time when security was of great concern. This caused a sharp split in the Kosmos community, which was also fired up by our local press.

In these difficult times during her first few months on the committee, resignation from the committee had occurred to Karin, but once she realised the awesome potential of our Village, through all our residents working together as a community, Karin refused to give up and has never looked back.

This is Karin's second term as Chairwoman of the committee, and although there have been great improvements, her goals for the remainder of her term this year are as follows:

• The completion of the security upgrade.
• The continual upgrade of the infrastructure of the Village.
• To garner the Community Hall under the management of the KRRA.
• To facilitate the repair of the Community Hall.

Karin's hope for Kosmos Village is that we all live here with a spirit of pride in our Village, and that all residents care for one another and work together, as a community, towards one, united goal.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Karin for her dedication, long hours - sometimes throughout the night, and continual hard work to make our Village the best it can possibly be.

The Kosmos Christian Church (KCC) is an interdenominational fellowship of folk who meet in the beautiful garden chapel in the heart of Kosmos. The chapel is part of the Kosmos heritage and is open to all Kosmos residents. Sunday services are at 9h00 and residents are warmly invited to share in this.

Please note the contact details for the KRRA team.

Emails can be addressed to either karin@krra.co.za or info@krra.co.za.