The Management Committee
Skywings Paragliding Club
28
November 2011.
CC:
SAHPA
RAASA
FINALLY –
THE BORRETT HAND IS SHOWN
1.
I refer the message communication posted by Deon
Borrett on the Skyzone Groups on 27 November 20011, pertaining to the launch
sites and the public meeting in the Garden Route.
2.
Kindly note that this communication is submitted
with full reservation of rights and that any item not dealt with specifically
in response should not be construed as us being in agreement or dispute therewith,
it is simply not deemed as requiring of a reply in the context hereof and we
reserve our rights to respond thereto in appropriate circumstances. This is particularly pertinent to the fact
that this document is submitted in both the personal capacity of Cobus
Potgieter and that of him as co-opted member of the Interim Working Committee
pursuant to the events of 25 February 2011, and specifically the public meeting
held on that date by the Broader Garden Route Paragliding Community.
3.
Further in terms of matters of process, we
request that Skywings Paragliding Club clarify whether the communication as
published by Deon Borrett is a reflection of decisions and thus mandates of the
said Club, or not. This will obviously have a direct bearing on court and other
legal proceedings emanating from this communication
and we request that this kindly be clarified by end of business on Tuesday 29
November, failing which we shall unfortunately have no other choice than to
cite your club for the purposes of High Court
application documents, and eventually, in claim proceedings. The
application proceedings are obviously of an urgent nature, given the timelines
set by Borrett himself and the potential prejudice to the paragliding community
at large.
4.
In the interests of both general sanity and the
legal and disciplinary proceedings that will follow of necessity, we record the
following matters of fact in response to the Borrett communication:
a.
The scheduling of the public meeting was done
exactly to accommodate the event- and activity schedule of the Skywings Club,
as published by your Chairperson shortly after the election of the new
Committee and case-in-point being your social competition held on this past
Saturday, 26 November 2011. It would in fact have happened earlier and then we
re-rescheduled so as to not clash with any of your event dates. Mr Maurits
Lammers had to twice move the dates, per arrangement with the George Sports
Club. Furthermore, this coming weekend is the last weekend of 2011 wherein a
meeting such as this could feasibly be scheduled, as it was clearly put by the
other members of the broader paragliding community with whom we consulted about
this matter.
b.
Members of Skywings Paragliding Club have
participated in the other proceedings of this nature, so attending meetings,
submitting documentation and proposals. This was done in pursuit of the
objectives broadly identified in the George meeting of 25 February 2011 and as
fleshed out subsequently in various meetings and communications.
c.
A variety of other individuals, local
organisations and interests groups have also made inputs and shown interests in
collaborating with the Broader Garden Route Paragliding Community to achieve
the objectives of establishing a collective Umbrella Body for Paragliding that
will position us to gain access to capacity in terms of financials, media and
other resources, in order to for Paragliding to take its’ rightful as place as
the pre-eminent and paramount sports tourism capacity of the Garden Route. This includes SANPARKS, local authorities,
tourism authorities and various media groups, not to mention possible national
sponsors.
d.
Landowners or controlling persons/organisations
of current and possible new launch/landing sites have been constructive about
participation in the public meeting processes and some will be attending the
proceeding of this coming Saturday at 08h30, 3 November 2011, at the George
Sports Club. Those who are not able to attend recorded the request that the
minutes of the meeting be sent to them.
e.
The matter of Mr Claus Martin and his complaints
regarding the conduct of some pilots and also some previous office-bearers of
Skywings Paragliding Club refers and also the fact that subsequent proceedings
coordinated by writer (Cobus Potgieter), and wherein Skywings Paragliding Club
participated in and specifically in the persons of Deon Borrett and your
present chairperson, resulted in writer being mandated to negotiate with Mr
Martin. These negotiations were successful and only the formalities of signing
a Record of Understanding, the content of which we have already agreed upon,
need to be completed. Given the content of the Borrett communication, this
process could now be deemed null and void, which would conceivably result in
RAASA proceeding with the threat of closing launch sites as a result of the
sport being brought into disrepute.
Accordingly we send copies to both SAHPA and RAASA of this
communication, for their comment and action, and specifically because the
impact of your Committee member’s communication would be that there is no
mandate for writer to play any part in the Martin processes.
f.
Both the people who seem to be the focus of the
Deon Borrett and Skywings Paragliding Club attack, so Mr Maurits Lammers and
writer, have on numerous occasions recorded their willingness to follow the
decisions of the broader collective, and specifically also if this means that
any particular current structure – such as Skywings Paragliding Club, for
instance – would be formatted as the preferred vehicle for the stated
objectives, and thus be shown to be in good standing as far as financial
affairs, constitution and the like are concerned and so as to be able to be the
vehicle for the pursuit of the development objectives, as recorded earlier. The
Borrett communication on behalf of your Club seems to have taken this off the
table as an option, and we shall accordingly make the adjustments in our
process documents for the meeting of 3 December 2011, where required.
5.
We deem this communication of ours, specifically
as response to the communication by Borrett and in view of its’ far- reaching
impact and potential prejudice to the interests of the broader Garden Route
Paragliding Community, other tourism product owners and tourism promotion
agencies, to be in the public interest and will deal with it as such, in terms
of a distribution list. In order to put matters in clearer perspective for
people and organizations, we place the flowing on record as terms of reference
and we do so after consulting with a number of prominent people in the local
paragliding community:
a.
During the previous 15 to 18 years of
paragliding club activity in the Garden Route
no initiative aimed at creating mainstream tourism and sport event
activity and prominence for the sport of paragliding, as the current one, have
been attempted. The sport and its’ local structures in the Garden Route have
become known for fractious relationships, continuous conflict between
commercial operators and also conflict between the interests of some commercial
operators and the recreational pilots.
b.
A number of statements regarding the capacity of
the Skywings Paragliding Club that have been attributed to and in fact recorded
on paper by Deon Borrett have been proven to be incorrect, as is now confirmed
by his latest statement and the subject of this communication of ours. We point to the earlier averments about
Skywings Paragliding Club being in charge of 34 sites in the Garden Route and
having in excess of 100 members, compared to the current statement by Borrett
that effectively 4 sites and show 40-odd members. By basic and necessary deduction, the Borrett
statement that the proceedings of Saturday, thus the public meeting, will only
involve 10 % to 20 % of the local paragliding community is a blatant
misrepresentation.
c.
This is a recurring trend and is clear from
documents referred to in earlier stages of the current processes and some of
which have been filed as part of earlier disciplinary proceedings. An example of the previous employment of this
strategy and where great damage was caused to the interests of the broader
Garden Route Paragliding Community and tourism in the Garden Route in general,
would be where Gericke’s Point launch site was closed for non-Skywings members
and thus for commercial operators other than Borrett and direct associates
himself. This led to future international tour groups being jeopardised or
actually not happening, inland pilots not wanting to visit the Garden Route,
etc. Another recurring part of the
strategy is to cause conflict by randomly doing personal attacks on other
members of the local paragliding community, so as to divert attention, as can
be attested to by many local members and of which the current attacks on Mr
Lammers and writer are good examples.
d.
The current Borrett proposal regarding launch
sites and the financial arrangements would recreate an earlier set of events in
terms of more than just the usurping of control of launch sites by Borrett and
the causing of conflict to avoid the merits of a situation being objectively scrutinized
by the public at large or the controlling bodies of the sport. A substantial
amount of money is still unaccounted for and which was collected for ostensibly
the same purposes as those now being presented. It is also a known fact that
the pertinent financial details have not been made available in any form or
manner, and the pertinent financial statements for Skywings Paragliding Club
would be the only legitimate and acceptable record of that and the proposal
will be tabled that this be formally requested, during the meeting of Saturday,
3 November 2011.
6.
We look forward to your response, and
particularly in respect of the Borrett communication being mandated by Skywings
Paragliding Club or not.
Signed – Cobus Potgieter
