After the devastating fires in Simon's Town in November, our community is still coming to terms with what happened.  Unfortunately, the fire season seems to be only just beginning, with many small fires popping up everywhere, which means we need to be ever vigilant.

ARE YOU PREPARED?
You all have heard stories of, and many of us will have seen, how quickly a fire can overwhelm a property; how little time you have to evacuate.  So, although this article in no way claims to be a go to plan, it may get you thinking about an evacuation plan for your family and how to prepare your property! 

Have you ever thought about what you would do and/or take if you had 5 or less minutes to leave your home?

A lot of this information can be found on the internet, especially on website in Australia and the United States.  Here are a couple of suggestion, tips and hints you might like to think about and perhaps instigate in your home.

PREPARE YOUR EVACUATION KIT
Embers from a fire can cause fires to ignite far ahead of the actual fire.  So, even if a fire is far away, you may still need to be prepared to leave your property.  Here are few things you might like to think about!

• Your pets and any other animals require proper care and attentions during fires.  So consider food, medication, transportation and sleep arrangements for your animals should you need to leave your home.
• Prepare an Evacuation Kit and make sure that every member of your family knows where it is.  You might like to have the following in your Kit:
  • Protective clothing for your whole family (long sleeved cotton shirts and trousers, i.e. jeans, sturdy boots or shoes)
  • Battery operated with spare batteries or wind-up radio
  • Safety goggles, protective gloves and a wide brimmed leather hat
  • Combination pocket knife
  • Mobile phone and a battery charger
  • Waterproof torch with spare batteries
  • Candles with waterproof matches
  • A box with your family's medication, toiletries and sanitary supplies
  • Your wallet or purse and money/ATM cards
  • Your valuables:  ID books, passports, photographs, legal papers such as wills, marriage certificate and/or divorce papers, insurance papers, jewellery
  • A medical aid kit and a list of contact information
  • Water (3 litres of water per person per day and don't forget to include water for your pets)

Sit down with your family and discuss who will do what in case you do need to evacuate your home.  Then write your plan down as it will take the pressure of you and everyone else when there is a list to work from.

PREPARE YOUR PROPERTY
If you are an urban resident there is a responsibility to manage the risk of a fire on your property, and the risk of it impacting on neighbouring properties.  It is always a good idea to prepare your property by doing the following:  

• Replace any missing or damaged roof tiles
• Keep lawns short and gardens well maintained
• Cut back trees and shrubs overhanging buildings
• Clean up dry and fallen leaves, twigs and debris around your property
• Have hoses long enough to reach round your house
• Check that your insurance is up to date and adequate
• Prepare gutter plugs (socks filled with soil/s)
• Fit seals around doors and windows to eliminate gaps
• Repair or cover gaps in external walls and fences

 
BE INFORMED
On hot, dry, windy days you should pay extra attention to the fire risk in your area. There are actions you can do to save time in case a fire does start:

• Contain pets so they can be easily found
• If you have livestock, move to fully grazed areas
• If you have water pumps and generators, check they are working
• Review your Wildfire Evacuation Plan with your family and have your Emergency Survival Kit and protective clothing ready
• Listen to the media and any Neighbourhood WhatsApp Groups for updates and information
• Talk to your neighbours, family and friends

 
PREPARE YOUR PETS AND LIVESTOCK
A fire will be a traumatic and stressful experience for your pets and livestock. During a wildfire your animals will need water, shade and a safe place. You should always contain your animals in a well cleared fenced-in area. Never turn animals out on the road to run free. This is dangerous not only for them but also for firefighters and other people on the road.

BEFORE THE FIRE IMPACTS... YOU NEED TO BE ACTIVELY DEFENDING YOUR PROPERTY

• Ensure you drink plenty of water so you do not dehydrate.
• Block your down pipes, (a sock full of sand/soil will help) and fill your gutters with water.
• Move flammable items such as outdoor furniture, doormats, hanging baskets away from the house.
• Gas cylinders should have the valve facing away from the house.
• Do not stand on your roof with your hose. In wildfires, often more people are injured by falling from roofs than suffering burns.
• Patrol the outside of your home, putting out any embers and spot fires that may start.  An ember or spark can reach your home hours before the fire front arrives.
• Just before the fire arrives, wet down timber decks and gardens close to the house.
• Move any firefighting equipment to a place that it will not get burnt.

 
As said earlier in this article, the tips and hints are only suggestions on what you can do to be safe in the event a wildfire happens in your area.  Please do join your Neighbourhood Watch, because forming a community makes communities strong.

IDENTITY THEFT

DEFINITION 
Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person’s identifying information, like their name, identity number or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.

The unfortunate truth about identity theft is that it’s not all that hard to pull off. Many of us seem to be under the impression that it’s only the reckless, the uninformed, the naïve or the trusting that fall victim to the cunning traps of identity thieves.  However, anybody can become a victim!   

Identity theft in South Africa is hard to determine. It is estimated that it costs the economy around R1 billion each year with new techniques and scams popping up weekly. As technology evolves, so do the opportunities for thieves to get hold of your personal information and with more people transacting electronically one needs to be ever vigilant. 

Via the internet - the most common forms of identity theft today is ‘phishing’ - this is an attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, often for malicious reasons, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

While in the past identity thieves were mostly interested in stealing credit cards, maxing them out and discarding them – today’s identity thieves are far more ambitious, often using stolen identities to obtain cell phones on contract, rented cars, store credit and even personal and home loans. What’s worse is that most of the time you will not realize that your identity has been used to ring up a string of credit until you are declined from opening an account or are contacted for defaulting on a payment. The end result is an utterly destroyed credit record which may take months or even years to rectify.

There are many types of identity theft that can be prevented. 

TIPS TO AVOID BECOMING A VICTIM of ID THEFT and ID FRAUD

1. Shred all documents that contain your personal information and do not throw anything away that someone else could use to impersonate you.   Do not throw anything away into your garbage bin!  ‘Bin pickers’ are known to go through your rubbish looking for items with your name, your address, ID numbers, bank account numbers, etc., anything they can use to steal your identity from you!
   
2. Be attentive at ATM’s and ensure that no-one is attempting to gain access to your pin number.
   
3. Strong passwords - Make sure that the passwords for allyour accounts are not easy to decipher; use online services such as LastPass.com or Passcreator.com to generate passwords for you.
   
4. Never respond to an e-mail or sms that asks you to insert or update your personal and banking information by clicking on a website link provided in the content of the message.
   Rather copy and paste the link into your internet browser, as this will enable you to determine whether you are accessing an authentic website, or not.
   
5. If you receive a call from an unknown individual who requests personal information, rather offer to call them back to verify that the number they have given you in fact belongs to the correct company.
   Also, ask them to give you the personal information that they need to confirm, instead of providing the details yourself.
   
6. Social media sites - make use of privacy settings. Be very selective with the type of information that you share.
   
7. Identification documentation such as your passport or identity book - only carry when it’s absolutely necessary and keep these documents safely locked away when not in use.
   
8. Do not get taken in by scammers who send messages telling you that you have won a prize, or inherited money.

    
IF YOU SUSPECT IDENTITY THEFT  

• Contact the Police
  Unfortunately, arrests in purse-snatchings are rare, unless a thief tries to use one of your cards in a local store. But you may need the police report to avoid being held liable for fraudulent charges.
  
• Alert Your Bank
  If your purse or wallet contained your ATM card or cheque book, you need to contact your bank right away to cancel your accounts.
  
• Notify the Motor Licencing Department
  You will need to get your driver's license replaced
  Find out what you need to do to ensure that you won't pay the consequences if someone else gets pulled over with your stolen license.
  
• Cancel any Debit or Credit Cards
  Report the incident before the card is used. This will relieve you of responsibility for any unauthorized transfers.
  
• Contact the Credit Bureaus
  Put a "fraud alert" on your files. You will then be contacted whenever someone tries to open credit in your name.
  
• Go Beyond the Obvious
  Think about what else is in your wallet that thieves may be able to use. What about your insurance card?
  Believe it or not, some scammers try to use other people's insurance coverage - this is known as medical identity theft.
  If thieves have access to your phone number, they can run up charges on your cell phone or even open another account in your name.
  
• Monitor Your Situation
  Keep watching your credit reports. You're allowed one free report per year from credit bureaus.
  It might be worth paying the monthly fee for a credit monitoring service.
  
• One Final Tip
  Preventative measures can help you save time if this happens to you.
  Make a photocopy of all credits cards and other contents of your wallet.
  Only carry what you absolutely need.
  Never keep your ID card in your wallet. 
   
  Protect your identity - regularly check the accuracy of personal documents and promptly deal with any discrepancies.
  Your credit report is a complete record of your financial history, detailing information on your borrowing and spending habits, payment trends and contact details. It tracks every account you open, every payment you skip, every judgment taken against you and every cent you owe your creditors. Other than following the guidelines mentioned above and remaining vigilant at all times, regularly checking your credit report allows you to immediately identify if someone attempted to apply for credit in your name. You can also identify any enquiries conducted and see who accessed your credit report and when – this can be very useful in predicting and preventing possible fraud.

 
YOUR BEST SELF DEFENCE AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT IS YOUR CREDIT REPORT
To ensure that you do not fall victim to identity theft make sure that you regularly check your credit report – you can do this once a year for free.  

Check your credit report - make sure you thoroughly scrutinize every aspect.
Your credit history - lists every creditor that you have credit with.
Listed information includes
– the creditors name, date when the account was opened, the repayment frequency,  your         outstanding balance, your credit limit and whether you skipped or missed a payment.
- Also listed are details of all enquiries that were made against your name. This means you will be able to see who has looked at your credit report and when.
- Credit enquiries usually take place when you apply for credit with a credit provider determine your creditworthiness.

Very important - check that no enquiries were made that you were not aware of - this could be a sure indication that someone is trying to fraudulently apply for credit in your name! 

Public records information is also a very important.
This contains information on judgments, defaults and notices and is an indication of whether legal action has been taken against you for non-payment of credit.

If you suspect that you are a victim of identity fraud - immediately contact the credit bureau that supplied the information and lodge a dispute.

You can do this online at most established credit bureaus by filling out a form.

The National Credit Act (NCA) provides consumers with the right to dispute incorrect information on their credit report and to have this information corrected.

If you are not happy with the outcome you can contact the Credit Information Ombud. 

THE FIVE C’s OF CREDIT 
Banks and other lenders evaluate a potential borrower when making a lending decision.  

1. Character is the personal and business reputation of the borrower, referred to your Credit History.
   
2. Capacity refers to the means in which the borrower will repay the debt. 
   Business loans - the lender wants to know if the business will generate enough cash to both fund ongoing operations as well as pay back the loan. 
   Personal loans - the borrower needs to earn enough income to pay back the loan.
   
3. Capital refers to how much risk the borrower is willing to take with regard to the loan. The lender will look at how much money the borrower put into the business. 
   The lender won’t loan the money if the borrower isn’t willing to take much risk themselves. 
   
4. Collateral is the property used to secure the loan. Typically, it has a value equal to or even greater than the value of the loan.  Lenders seize collateral to repay the loan should the borrower default. 
   
5. Conditions refer to the financial conditions at the time of the loan, detailing the prevailing interest rate, principal amount and general market conditions. 

CONTACTS TO ASSIST IN AVOIDING IDENTITY THEFT:

The Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) combats fraud across the financial services industry, providing a shared database to member organisations and offering the South African public a means of protecting themselves against impersonation and identity theft.

Report suspected fraud.
Register your lost or stolen identity books and passports today!
Protect your business.

Safeguard your identity and register • www.safps.org.za • Tel: +27(0)11 867 2234 • Helpline: 086 010 1248 •  safps@safps.org.za 


Credit Bureaus and to apply for a free credit report:
There are many credit bureaus in South Africa. The  three most used Credit Providers, when assessing your application for credit, are: 

• Experian Credit Bureau  •  Transunion- ITC Credit Bureau  •  Compuscan Credit Bureau

Additional article references: www.investopedia.com; www.Wikipedia.org 

   

The C3 Electronic Reporting System ensures that your complaints and requests are recorded, tracked and reported and is applied to all functions of work in the City, from potholes, water leaks and power outages, to name a few.  This notification system was introduced in 2007 and enables local councillors to log into it and track issues in their wards.

To log a request or complaint on the C3 Notification system you can do one of the following

• Call 086 010 3089 - City's Call Centre
• SMS 31373 (no more than 160 characters)
• Email:  contactUS@capetown.gov.za
• Or log on directly to https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/ServiceRequests/Pages/default.aspx

You are then given a reference number, which allows you to follow up on the complaint. The notification will be closed as soon as the complaint has been dealt with. The system enables the City to measure how long it took to deal with complaints, as an indicator of service delivery success and improvement over time.

Councillor Simon Liell-Cock
Sub Council 19
Ward 61
Telephone: 021 784 2000
E-mail:  Simon.Liell-Cock@capetown.gov.za

Does giving money to vagrants or the ‘illegal’ car guards in Simon’s Town help to make their lives better?  Or do we also do it to assuage our own guilt?  And would it be better to give to a charity or NGO who helps the homeless, the vagrants.  And, donating money in this way, will we be making our community a more pleasant place to live?I started thinking about the above and asked myself whether it is true?

Always a great believer that you can find answers to most things by doing a search on Google, I went on to the Internet and typed in:  giving money to street beggars.  I wanted to find out whether giving money straight to those who need it will help them or not.  My unscientific research reveals that, quite to the contrary, giving a tip or money, however big or small, actually exacerbates the problem for those we give to and for our community too!

What it says on the Internet:Here are a few points to my research revealed:

• Begging for money, and receiving it, makes it more lucrative to continue begging and less lucrative to learn a skill or find work;
• Giving money does not guarantee that the money will be spent on what we give it for, (to buy food or something to drink)!  The money could well be spent on alcohol or drugs, even end up financing organized crime;
• You will probably end up giving money to a vagrant or car guard who has already been given money by other people, therefore you end up giving to the wrong people;
• Every rand we give to a vagrant can only be spent once by us, but could be used much better spent giving to a charity or organisation who can help with skills and social development. So, if you can't handle the guilt, think about making a donation to a local NGO who will spend your money wisely.

Local Organisations to donate toBelow is a very incomplete list of organisations in our area which would be very grateful to receive your donation:

• The Happy Valley Shelter in Simon’s Town provides accommodation and food for adults who have lost their homes due to financial pressure, personal tragedy or drug addiction.  Contact Cindy on 021 786-5087 or by e-mail at cynn@telkomsa.net
• Living Hope in Capri seeks to reach people for Christ, bringing hope and breaking the despair of poverty and disease. Contact Living Hope on 021 784 2800 – or donate via their website: http://www.livinghope.co.za/donate/
  
• Anchors Away Workshop is a protective workshop providing meaningful employment to Intellectually Disabled adults in the community.  Contact Anchors Away Workshop on 073-190-9654

Do you know of any other organisations that help adult homeless/vagrants in the Simon’s Town/Glencairn area?  Leave their contact details as a comment and I will add them to the above list.

On which side of the fence do you sit?Before I leave you, I found this interesting discussion on www.debate.com about giving money to beggars: http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-people-give-money-to-beggars.  The poll shows that 40% said we should, while 60% said we should.

With the above in mind, I began thinking about how much money I would like to set aside each year to donate to others?  Is this something you would think of doing?

On Tuesday morning, 13th August 2013, Kieno Kammies, morning host on CapeTalk 567, interviewed Prof. Rudolph Zinn.  Below is what was posted on the CapeTalk website about this interview. It makes interesting reading.

Yesterday we got a call from Abigail who told us about her block of flats in Sea Point, which has a very low wall, and while she has a security gate, she never uses it. She said that she has never been affected by crime in all the years that she’s lived there. Many other callers phoned in, to tell similar stories of how they have escaped being victims of crime, living in homes that have no state of the art security systems installed, and not being targeted by crime.

So what do criminals look for when they decide where to break in? Are high walls and security fencing really a deterrent, or is it better to have an unassuming property that doesn’t attract robbers to the possible riches they perceive to be inside? Prof Rudolph Zinn wrote a book about what robbers are looking for, published in 2010. It’s called “Home Invasion: Robbers Disclose What You Should Know”.

According to Dr Zinn house robbers spend a lot of time, sometimes up to two weeks, monitoring the target’s home and the residents’ movements. 80% of the reformed house robbers interviewed by Dr Zinn used inside information sourced from domestic workers, gardeners and former employees to assist them in committing their crimes. He also says that a high wall or garden that allows for hiding increases your chance of being targeted as he/she will not be as visible from the outside road. Lastly, access points are also significant. A source of public transport about 2 blocks away is ideal.

Can you answer the above question with a resounding ‘Yes’?

Or, are you one of the many residents in the Simon’s Town/Glencairn area who are not even aware that there are Neighbourhood Watches (NHW)?

It would be so wonderful if more residents joined a NHW in their area and got involved in the safety and security of their home, their property, their street, their neighbourhood and finally their town!  Often the comment is heard, ‘I pay taxes so that the police make sure that we are secure and safe. I don’t think it’s right that we as citizens do that!’

Unfortunately, the days are past that an all-encompassing police force will ensure that we can all sleep safe in our beds at night!

Today, we are served by the South African Police Services (note, not Force) and our local police station serves us to the very best of their ability!

However, this does not mean that we don’t have a responsibility to ensure that we and our families are safe, that our property isn’t secure and that we are not aware who our neighbours are! 

We do!

Keeping Simon’s Town and Glencairn safe

So, what can we as a community do to make sure we continue to enjoy the kind of lifestyle we have here in the greater Simon’s Town area?  Because, if truth be told, you do live in an amazing part of the country, where, at the moment, we have a very low crime rate.

And it would be great if we could keep it that way!

But we can only do this if we join together to look out for each other as a community.

How do you get involved and what does it entail?

The Neighbourhood Watches (NHW) in the Simon’s Town Police Precinct are all run by volunteers who believe that ‘being the eyes and the ears’ of what happens in their community helps our local police station to serve us better.  And they encourage their members to do the same! 

At the moment the NHW do not patrol their streets or neighbourhoods, but there is a commitment to report all crime incidents, however insignificant, to the Simon’s Town Police Station on their 24/7 landline number – 021 786 8646 or 47 and to their Neighbourhood Watch coordinator.

Furthermore, members of the NHW are also asked to call the Police Station to report all suspicious incidents.  If you get a gut feeling in your stomach that something does not seem right, then we urge you to pick up the phone and call the Station.  In fact, right now, add the Station’s number to your contact list on your cell phone, so that it’s always near at hand.

So, are you convinced yet that you can do your bit to keep Simon’s Town and surrounds safe?

Why not e-mail chairpersoncpf.simonstown@gmail.com with your first and last name, your address, your landline and cellphone number and the names of any other members of your household and your name will be passed on to the NHW coordinator of your area and your e-mail will be added to a mailing list to receive information about crime incidents, which have happened in your area and beyond. 

Let’s keep Simon’s Town and beyond safe together!