Deputy Mayor, Cllr Lindile Ntsabo, cut the ribbon at the opening of Old Mutual's newest building on 9 November 2022 in Hermanus.

Overberg Old Mutual Personal Financial Advice’s new office is located at 18 Royal Street, in the Old Standard Bank Building, Hermanus.

The day was filled with much excitement and the rain did little to dampen the spirits of the staff as they regard rain as a sign of a blessing.

Deputy Mayor Ntsabo paid a warm tribute to the town of Hermanus that has grown from a fishing village into a destination of note. “This will add significant value to our effort to attract businesses of this stature and combat unemployment in general,” he said.

He further stated that the Old Mutual’s vision statement is in line with the ‘Overstrand for All’ focus of the Overstrand Municipality.

Overstrand is exceptionally proud that five of its beaches - Grotto, Hawston, Onrus, Kleinmond and Castle - are among the 51 South African beaches that have been accredited this season (2022/23) to display the Blue Flag.

The accreditation is awarded for one season at a time and if conditions deteriorate at the beach, it can be withdrawn.

Of the 51 beaches awarded Blue Flags this week, 33 are in the Western Cape, nine in KwaZulu-Natal and nine in the Eastern Cape.

In South Africa, the Blue Flag programme is managed by WESSA (the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa) and the programme offers many benefits: Improved tourism facilities, enhanced management of coastal ecosystems, educational awareness programmes and excellent water-quality standards and facilities.

The FNB Wines2Whales mountain bike stage races came to an end on Sunday 6 November 2022.

It is the first time that all three races - Chardonnay, Pinotage and Shiraz - finished at Curro School in Sandbaai and we would like to thank the community and the school for their commitment and patience which added to the excitement and feelings of accomplishment at the finish line.

Well done to all cyclists who came from far and wide to participate in this awesome event.  It was good to see so many familiar faces along the route and on stage during the last two weeks.

Hermanus is fast becoming popular for sporting events as it provides a scenic backdrop with good routes to explore. Wines2Whales will certainly add value to sport, tourism and our Overstrand’s economy.

On Thursday, 3 November 2022, a ceremony was held in Hermanus to officially open the state-of-the-art facility for the development of South African National Space Agency (SANSA) space weather centre capability.  

This development has been a 3-year project that was successfully concluded with the launch of the capability at this prestigious function. It included infrastructure development, instrumentation deployment, product and service development, and skills capability development.

Overstrand Executive Mayor, Dr Annelie Rabie, Deputy Mayor Lindile Ntsabo and the Executive Mayor of the Overberg District Municipality, Sakkie Franken, were among the dignitaries who joined SANSA Board Chairperson, Patrick Ndlovu, SANSA CEO, Andiswa Mlisa, SANSA Managing Director for Space Science, Dr Lee-Anne McKinnell, and various officials from the Ministry and the Department of Science and Innovation.