Who are we?
The Kei Watch Action Group (KWAG) is a non-profit community safety organisation, and an established Community Police Forum, having adopted the CPF constitution under Kei Mouth South African Police Services (SAPS), known as Sector1- Kei Mouth. KWAG sees its overriding role as the safety and security of all who live , work and visit the Kei Mouth area. It has an oversight role in trying to ensure that SAPS play their part in a coordinated way to achieve this aim.
The KWAG CPF mainly encompasses the town and residential areas of Kei Mouth, inclusive of the local businesses, caravan park, Whispering Waves holiday resort and the Kei Mouth Country Club areas.
Being a non-profit community safety organisation, run by volunteers, we rely on our members and donations to continue to cover our operation costs of close to R 6 000 monthly.
Membership / Donations:
Monthly Donations
We greatly appreciate the R 100 commitment of a monthly donation to KWAG. These donations ensure that we are able to cover most of our monthly operating costs.
What members get:
- Monthly newsletter emailed to you
- Added to the Kei Watch WhatsApp group to be kept up date with crime and safety related information
Ad Hoc donations
We welcome once-off donations from donors.
Donations are used to:
- Fund crime prevention projects
- Assist with covering monthly operational expenses.
- Fire Fighting Project
All donors are acknowledged in our newsletters
Banking details:
All donations can be made to our bank account:
KWAG
FNB, Beacon Bay
Branch code: 250655
Account number: 62793217285
Please use your name and surname as a reference, and the code for donations to specific projects, such as Fire Project.
Contact one of our sector heads for more info.
What do we do?
Partnerships
Establish and maintain a partnership between community and police
Communication
Promote communication between the community and police
Co-operation
Promote co-operation between community and police to fulfill policing needs of the community
Services
Improve rendering of police services to the community at a local level
Transparency
Improve transparency in the service and accountability of the police to the community
Problem solving
Promote joint problem identification and solving by the police and the community
Monitoring
Monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of the police
Evaluate policing
Evaluate the provision of visible policing in the station area,
Community projects
Initiate and implement community-based crime prevention projects
How does it work?
Kei Mouth residential area has been divided into eight (8) sub-sections as seen on the attached map. Each section has an appointed Sector Head and an alternate Section Head who serve on the Kei Watch Action Group Committee. They co-ordinate, render functions and manage the responsibilities assigned to them for their respective areas and liaise with the other stakeholders.
| Sector A: Sector Head: Graham Forword Contact no: 082 200 6090 | Sector B: Sector Head: Eckhardt Haber Contact no: 082 416 7605 | Sector C: Sector Head: Marius Beneke Contact no: 082 773 3067 | Sector D: Sector Head: Jacques Malan Contact no: 082 598 1665 |
| Sector E: Sector Head: Johan Prinsloo Contact no: 082 554 3387 | Sector F: Sector Head: Clint Gower Contact no: 082 771 9206 | Sector G: Sector Head: Pieter Korff Contact no: 082 323 0491 | Sector H: Sector Head: Alex Wallace Contact no: 082 902 6137 |
Partnerships:
The KWAG has developed partnerships with various stakeholders in the community, these include:
Kei Mouth Ratepayers & Residents Association
Whispering Waves Holiday Resort
Initiatives & Crime Prevention Projects
Two-way radio communication and response system
This system, in partnership with MH Communications as our service provider, was implemented in 2019.
Some figures
Active members
16 radios with committee members, 21 with public
Radio checks
Between 1 January and 30 November 2020
Monthly lease cost
KWAG remain responsible for the lease costs
Individual radio cost
KWAG members responsible for purchase of own radios
Donation request
To maintain operations of radio communications
Camera Surveillance Systems
The implementation of up-to-date camera surveillance systems still remain one of our priority projects. The camera systems are equipped with wi-fi (Border Internet), remote monitoring (Cell phone viewing) as well as battery power supply back-up. The system is also linked to the Kei Mouth SAPS office and the newly established JOC office using the wi-fi system to enable SAPS and KWAG to monitor and review the surveillance cameras.
Both our main camera stations, known as: K-WAG 1 at the Fire Station, and K-WAG 2 at Whispering Waves are fully operational and have been hugely successful in several incidents and in monitoring various suspicious activities.
The KWAG Committee would like to express a special thank you to the Kei Revival Project Group who donated a portable “Bush cam” to KWAG for deployment at strategically identified points in our area. To this extent, the camera was deployed at one of the main entrance roads into the Kei residential area as well as at the path leading to the Cross on the dune. A total of 308 photos were captured and transmitted, via cell phone data, to one of our member’s cell phone for monitoring purposes.
Joint Operations Centre (JOC)
In order to strengthen our co-operation and relationship with other stakeholders, a Joint Operations Centre (JOC) has been established at the Kei Mouth SAPS Station, which is now fully operational. The JOC has been equipped with Wi-fi, land lines a computer and monitor. Area maps for both the Kei Mouth and Morgan Bay areas are available at the JOC for ease of reference for reported incidents and for conducting strategic planning for future roll-out of crime prevention projects.
The JOC will also act as a DISASTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE – the main base of operations in the event of an emergency/incident that needs to be monitored and actioned from one central point with access to all departments, SAPS, FIRE STATION and NSRI, currently setting up station 47.
Fire Station Support:
The members of the KMRRA and KWAG have joined forces to address the fire and general safety concerns of the residents. The Kei Mouth Fire Team has subsequently been created to address the concerns of property owners and residents.
The Kei Mouth Fire Team is made up of a group or volunteer residents working to supplement the Amathola Firefighting services in Kei Mouth. The purpose of this team is to assist the Amathola Firefighting services when needed.
The fire team have consulted with the Amathola firefighting services and have established a two-fold plan to assist Amathola firefighting services in Kei Mouth:
Fire hydrants:
- Carry out an inspection of all fire hydrants in the Kei Mouth area
- Map and share the location of the fire hydrants with the community
- Establish which hydrants need upgrading
- Raise funds to mark and upgrade fire hydrants to assist with improving reaction time in a fire emergency
Fire fighting trailer:
- Raise funds to build 2 firefighting trailers to be on standby to assist the Fire Department when necessary.
- Each trailer will have the capacity for a team of 3 trained people
- Each team will be equipped with the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment needed in a fire emergency.
- Each team member will be trained in fire fighting skills and the use of the fire trailer
Fire Fighting trailer info:
This trailer is the smaller of the two trailers. This trailer is complete and fully operational to react to fire emergencies. The launch and display was held on the 29th of May and was a great success.
It is equipped with the following:
- A water tank with a 500l carrying capacity.
- A water pump with a petrol motor
- A hose reel with 30m of hose
- Fire Extinguishers
- A rucksack sprayers, among other smaller pieces of equipment
A larger, second trailer is in the production phase, and is estimated to be fully functional by the end of July 2021. The cost of this trailer to date has been R18,979.00. Most of the cost of the two trailers have been through generous donations from the public and local business.
