Ongoing tensions between Drakenstein Farm Watch (DFW), a voluntary emergency-response group in the valley with its own fire and rescue service, and Drakenstein Municipality (DM) over the legitimacy of emergency responses intensified last week with DFW’s suspension of all free fire emergency services in informal settlements and on municipal land.
These had been provided voluntarily by DFW in collaboration with the municipality.
For now on the group will provide fire-emergency services only to paying clients. This move came after “legal threats and a hostile stance from the DM”, according to a public statement by the DFW.
According to Daan van Leeuwen Boomkamp, DFW commander, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) established between the organisation and the DM two years ago and was due to expire in October, outlined the terms under which the volunteer fire service could assist the municipality in both structural and vegetation fires.
But this has been set aside by DFW’s decision to suspend its services. This decision came after the DM allegedly described the volunteer fire service as “irrelevant, non-compliant and potentially subject to legal action,” according to a statement issued by the DFW.
This stance from the municipality may have been influenced by a recent move by the City of Cape Town (CoCT), imposing a similar embargo on Fidelity SecureFire, a private firefighting service, on the grounds that fire services fall within government jurisdiction and should not be outsourced.
This dispute, according to Van Leeuwen Boomkamp, reached a tipping point in a meeting between the DFW and the DM in July, when no “formal stance, acknowledgement of DFW’s historic contribution or plan [the one agreed to between the DFW and DM] for moving forward [in combined firefighting efforts].”
He said the decision to suspend the DFW’s services stemmed from frustration and disappointment, as the DM chose not to reach an agreement with the voluntary firefighting service regarding collaboration and resource sharing to combat fires, a service which the DFW provided.
According to Riana Geldenhuys, Chief Communications Officer for the DM, the municipality’s relationship with the DFW is still “under review.” No further comment was provided.
