Ballito Neighbourhood Watch

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Potjie Competition

The BNW

Potjie Competition

Ballito Neighbourhood Watch 21 Year Anniversary Potie Competition.

It is fair to say that if there is one consistency from a neighbourhood safety perspective in the Ballito area, then it is the BNW as the organisation is celebrating it’s 21st year anniversary with much fanfare.

As part of our anniversary celebrations the BNW is hosting the 2nd FUNTASTIC potjie competition in Townsend Park on 05 November from 12pm till late afternoon. A huge thanks to KDM for granting us the licence to host this day.

Bring your family, deck chairs and picnic blankets and get involved in the festivities which promises to be a fun day out for the entire family to enjoy. At a cost of R50 per person you get to choose from any 3 potjies cooked by local business owners supporting the BNW initiative on the day. Rice and pap will also be provided, from what I heard, there will be some seriously amazing pots to taste from. Free entrance to kids under 12. There will be hotdogs, candy floss, cakes and plenty other food for kids to buy.

There will be jumping castles, zorb balls, the opportunity to see a real fire truck close up and various other activities to keep the kids entertained, Radio Life and Style (88fm) will be broadcasting live from Townsend Park and the Courier will also be there on the day with local judges deciding on the winning pot. You will have the opportunity to meet and greet some of the creatures from Ndlondlo Reptile Park, the opportunity to admire some amazing vintage cars and also to get the opportunity to meet some of our local businesses and their offerings.

How can you get involved?
Compete in the potjie competition
Book a competitor’s stand for R1,000. Compete for Best Potjie; Best Stand or Best Spirit. We ask you to cook a minimum size number 3 potjie pot and be prepared to allow the public to taste from your potjie pot after the judges have completed their rounds. Coals will be provided.
Payment is required asap to secure your stand as we are on a first come first serve basis.

Donate a prize
Sponsor a prize or prizes that we can raffle or give out as spot prizes on the day.

Give Financially
Make a financial contribution directly to the Ballito Neighbourhood Watch.

A few highlights of the day

  • Our local radio station broadcasting live from the event.
  • More than 40 competitors from various business sectors in Ballito.
  • The Courier Newspaper capturing and reporting on the day.
  • Ballito TV.
  • Various demonstrations and exhibitions from Sable Creatures, SAPS and Security Companies.
  • Jumping Castles and activities for the kids.
  • Food and drinks stalls.
  • Local celebrity judges to taste and judge the potjies.

The proceeds of the day will go towards BNW community projects and expenses.

Invite your friends and challenge other companies to get involved! Join us for a fun community day at 08H00 for people who have to set up and 10H00 – 14H00 for the public.

Please contact Morne on 0846326694 or Gary on 0824170000 before 1 Oct to secure your place in the competition or make donations.

Our Aims

The Ballito Neighbourhood Watch aims to help people protect themselves and their properties, and to reduce the fear of crime by means of active, visible citizen presence, improved home security tips, greater vigilance, accurate reporting of suspicious incidents and crime, and by fostering a community spirit. All these efforts stimulate a caring community, reducing the opportunities for crime by increasing crime prevention awareness and forging excellent relationships with security partners and authorities to the likes of our local Umhlahli SAPS and KDM, the organisation has played a vital role over the years.

Back in 2001 when the BNW elected the first Committee, one of their first tasks was to set up a street patrol group that has been running successfully for quite some time. The BNW has fortunately been keeping up with technology and through a massive fundraiser sponsored by RE/MAX Dolphin we (Ballito and Salt Rock NW) were able to install ANPR (automated number plate recognition) cameras at all of the entry points into Ballito and Salt Rock giving pre- warning of vehicles listed on the SAPS database for vehicle theft, house robberies etc. These cameras has over the years been responsible for numerous stolen vehicles recovered, house break ins foiled and people arrested for various crimes. This state of the art equipment comes with an annual fee and data costs. The BNW has also introduced the street cluster groups giving members of the public free access to a reporting platform to report incidents in their roads/ homes which then gets relayed to the main BNW Cluster group that consist of BNW Committee members and security companies.

The BNW is an NGO that rely purely on memberships, donations and fund raisers. Membership is a mere R250 per year for a household with up to 3 members that gets added to the BNW street groups, Incident Report groups and Emergency groups (the Incident and Emergency groups has medical and security partners on these groups that will respond in case of an emergency. This does not replace your current security company, it is merely an extra layer of security with multiple security providers responding to an incident.

People often ask what they get for their R250 per year and what does the BNW actually do?

  • The Committee, that are all volunteers (with actual day jobs) has been in many social outreach programs to the likes of food drives to collect food not just locally but also for our immediate neighbours
  • The annual licence fees and data costs of our ANPR cameras are a huge annual expense that we hope to also cover with this event
  • Painting of house numbers on all roads in Ballito for ease of home identification in case of emergency
  • Erecting of boards aiming to ensure a safe environment for users of our beautiful parks
  • Donating much needed items to our valued SAPS Umhlahli site
  • We have a dedicated bunch of Patrollers that patrol our residential area night after night acting as the eyes and ears of the police and security companies, even advising security companies of client gates left open, who in turn will contact their clients to secure their properties. Your funding ensure that we can provide them with high visibility vests and identification magnets for their vehicles.

For more information on the BNW and the work that we do, please visit our website www.balitonw.org.za or visit our Facebook page. Here you will also find information on how to join to assist the BNW in funding of all of the projects that we embark on and also to volunteer as a Patroller (Patrols is not compulsory but think about it next time you go to bed knowing there are people out there looking out for your families safety, all we ask is for 2 hours as and when you can).