houtbay.org.za

The Residents' Association of Hout Bay (RAHB) is a member of the Greater Cape Town Civic Alliance (GCTCA)

Home

Hout Bay Information and Links

Supplement to Hout & About

Fires in Imizamo Yethu

About Hout Bay

RAHB Vision and Mission

Rates

Signage

RAHB Newsletters

RAHB ExCo Portfolios

RAHB Membership Form

RAHB Contact Details

Submit a message online

Chapman's Peak Drive: Protest march against proposed Toll Plaza

Follow this link for a short video from Eye Witness News (EWN): 'Hout Bay Civil Rights Action Group furious over reports about Chapman’s Peak'

Salient points regarding the proposed construction of Toll Plaza and Office Block for Entilini:

1. Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) was declared a National Park under the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (NEM:PAA). It is also a declared World Heritage Site.
2. The NEM:PAA provides protection of the highest order and only certain activities may take place within National Parks.
3. Neither toll plazas nor office blocks of the type planned by the PGWC and Entilini are envisaged by the NEM:PAA.
4. Chapman’s Peak Drive is a provincial road (within a 25m wide road reserve being 12,5m either side of a defined centre line) proclaimed, apparently, in 1922.
5. The road reserve falls within TMNP on land owned by South African National Parks (SANParks).
6. The PGWC has altered the road reserve to further encroach into TMNP. PGWC appears to have done so in order to accommodate the office block component of the toll plaza whilst avoiding the constraints embodied in the NEM:PAA.
7. Such alteration of the road reserve does not serve the intended purpose as SANParks are prevented by the NEM:PAA from both allowing such activity within TMNP and the exclusion of any part of TMNP. To exclude any part of the TMNP would require a resolution of the National Assembly.
8. The building of the proposed Toll Plaza & Double Storey Office Block would therefore be unlawful
9. TMNP has been proclaimed one of the seven Natural Wonders in the World
10. TMNP is a World Heritage site – an office block on this land is preposterous
11. Chappies is Public Open Space open for all the Public to enjoy the unfettered use
12. The completed Toll Plaza will see the end of the Free Day Pass currently enjoyed by the public
13. The area around the proposed Toll Plaza & Office Block is proclaimed a “Quiet Zone”in terms of the TMNP management plan
14. The cost of R53 million for the proposed construction, can sensibly be used elsewhere
15. Even at their maximum, traffic volumes over Chappies and the tolling infrastructure required are of a scale likened to a small shopping centre
16. The scale of the present tolling structure is adequate as it has operated in that form for 8 years.
17. The planned construction will not go out to public tender. It has been agreed that it will be a contract negotiated with the private toll operator, Entilini.
18. The construction of the Double Storey HQ Office block is pure aggrandisement for Entilini who will stay there rent free
19. Empty office, storage and workshop space abound in Hout Bay and rental of these offices feed directly into the Hout Bay economy.
20. The second Toll Plaza in Noordhoek is not ‘off the cards’ as stated by PGWC.

Recent articles in the press:

The articles below are in PDF format. Left click on an article to open in a new browser tab or window, or right click to save to your computer.

• Chappies cartoon and letters in "Opinion", Cape Times, 18 Jan 2012
• No toll for ambulances in crisis, Cape Times, 18 Jan 2012
• Rescue vehicles must pay Chappies toll & letter re day pass, Cape Times, 17 Jan 2012
• Letters in "Opinion", Cape Times, 16 Jan 2012
• Public vow to stop Chappies office block, Sunday Argus, 15 Jan 2012
• Optog teen onwettige tol by Chapmanspiek, Rapport, 15 Jan 2012
• MEC is disregarding the law in his stance on Chappies, Cape Times, 13 Jan 2012
• Further letters in “Opinion”, Cape Times, 13 Jan 2012
• Editorial and two letters in “Opinion”, Cape Times, 12 Jan 2012
• SANParks to hand over Chappies land, Carlisle's sharp about-turn on Chapman's Peak, Cape Times, 12 Jan 2012
• Letters in “Opinion”, Cape Times, 11 Jan 2012
• The truth about Chappies toll plaza (MEC responds), Cape Times, 11 Jan 2012
• Outrage at plans for office block on Chappies, Cape Times, 10 Jan 2012
• Toll road company to build luxury office blok, Free day pass to Chappies sites to be scrapped, Cape Times, 9 Jan 2012
• Chapman's Peak must be saved from toll plaza eyesore (letter), Cape Argus, 31 Dec 2011
• Drive To Fight Chappies Toll Plaza In Court, Cape Argus, 29 Dec 2011

Statement by the Greater Cape Town Civic Alliance (GCTCA):

The Cape Times article entitled “Toll Road Company to build R54m luxury office block on Chapman’s Peak Drive” on 9 January 2012, and the interview John Maytham of Cape Talk had with MEC Robin Carlisle on the same issue on the same day, refer.

Robin Carlisle introduced his comments with the words “These are basically the comments of one Len Swimmer and his 3 committee members”.

We believe that many Capetonians are shocked at his developmenta, and would like to support the Hout Bay Community and many others to oppose this development.

In addition, MEC Carlisle:

• Denied that there will be 60 people working in the building at one time.
• Disputed the size and the cost of the building, but admitted that he did not know what it will cost.
• Told us that access to picnic spots has always been an informal arrangement, and said that he had told Entilini that he wanted this access to continue.
• He referred to the building being built in an existing quarry, and that the building will in fact improve the environmental situation there.
• He referred to much of the detail in the article as being “cr*p”

It is unfortunate that MEC Carlisle’s comments do little to address the real issues around this matter. The GCTCA:

• remains opposed to this road having been tolled in the first place. The DA is opposed to the tolling of highways, but has quite happily, and hypocritically, supported the continued tolling of Chapman’s Peak.
• is astounded that SA National Parks has agreed to this building on National Parks, and therefore public, land.
• believes that there is absolutely no need to build on the pass- the building could be in Noordhoek at the foot of the pass as is the case with many pass tolls.
• is astounded that the new contract between the Province and Entilini does not protect the rights of the public to reach the picnic spots on Chapman’s Peak pass, thus robbing citizens (especially poor citizens) of their own natural heritage.
• disputes that the building will improve the environmental situation in what is currently a quarry. This is a significant stretch of Mr Carlisle’s imagination. No building in a National Park land improves that environment, and this is especially so on a pristine mountainside as is the case here. Instead we believe that the quarry should be rehabilitated.

There will be marches on Sunday 22 January beginning at 11h00 from both ends of the pass, and they will be the indicators of the number of people opposing the toll building.

We also believe that there is no need for Robin Carlisle to swear, or to denigrate the information printed in the article as being “cr*p”. I would like to request Mr Carlisle to discontinue his crude language in public.

Alan Jackson – Secretary, Greater Cape Town Civic Alliance.

Help Save the Hout Bay Wetlands

Topics covered in the January 2012 Hout & About

• Len’s Lines – a message from the Chairman of RAHB
• Aerial photo of Chapman’s Peak Drive
• View that Entilini Luxury Offic Block will have over Hout Bay
• Notice by CRAG – Civil Rights Action Group to protest march on Chappies – 22 January
• Letters/e-mails from RAHB Members & Associates

Click here to read ...

Beach Club earthworks threaten wetlands

A number of articles regarding the Beach Club's infilling of the wetlands appeared in the Cape Argus in April. They can be read at the following links:

Dicey development irks conservationists

Filling of wetland 'biggest screw-up'

Wetland developer gets city ultimatum

Accommodation urgently required for Grade 1 Learner

There is a 7 year old little boy in at Kronendal Primary School who was sponsored to go to Valley for the past 3 years and is now in Grade 1 in Kronendal.

He has had the benefit of growing up with a really good family in Kenrock for most of his life, where his Grandmother has worked as a domestic for the past 16 years. Unfortunately, this family have now left the country and have just sold their home in Kenrock. They are therefore unable to continue to offer these two a home there any longer. They have very generously purchased a home for his Grandmother in Philippi, but if this little boy goes with her, then he will be forced into going into a township school, which will not be able to offer him the standard of education or the opportunities that he has been given to date.

Fortunately, the family that he has grown up with are completely willing to continue to cover the full cost of his education to high school, aftercare and his medical needs. In fact, there is a good chance that he will be able to go to SACS in Grade 3 as a border, but until then, he needs somewhere safe and loving to stay in Hout Bay during the week.

This little boy is lovely, polite, energetic, intelligent and very gifted on the Sports field. He has no emotional problems and is completely healthy. He speaks English fluently, and has been immersed in a good home environment his whole life.

Ideally, we would like to find him a "weekday" family in Hout Bay, and then he could go home to his Grandmother at weekends in Philippi. He needs a home that can offer him security, love, and a challenge with regards to learning, reading and writing.

If you would consider giving this little boy a "weekly" home, or know someone that might be able to, then please call me, Sally, on 072 111 3310 to discuss it in further detail.

Many thanks

Sally

sally@dizzydots.co.za

When taking the high ground can be a hazard

by Erik Shaug of Afrikom Strategic Communications (published in the Cape Times on Monday 5 October 2009)

The recent rainy season in the Cape led to the flooding of low-lying informal settlements. It seems that informal settlements, or any low-cost housing projects, should be built anywhere but in low-lying areas. Areas which are level, or nearly level, and slightly elevated, are preferable.

Building them on a sloping site can cause even more serious difficulties. After all, if you build houses up on stilts, as they do in many places in the East, seasonal flooding does not cause too much of a problem in low-lying areas.

The Residents' Association of Hout Bay thinks that the problems of Imizamo Yetu in Hout Bay - built on a slope - are so serious that it is planning to bring court action because no proper sewerage system is planned for the development. The consequence is an extreme health hazard to residents as well as the surrounding community.

In the Cape Peninsula, much of the most expensive housing is built on sloping sites, because of the splendid views you get from them. Only the rich can afford such sites, not only because they are sought after by other rich people, but because the cost of building is significantly higher.

If you want to build a house on a sloping site you have to level the ground, which means expensive retaining walls or banks. Road access has to take the slope into account, which could mean zig-zagging the road so that it doesn't get too steep. This is expensive, as it uses up more space and, like the sites, involves retaining walls or banks.

Water supply might need a reservoir at a high point, with a pump to get the water up to it.

Sewers also have their difficulties on sloping sites: sewer pipes only operate successfully if they are at an acceptable angle, not too shallow and not too steep.

These technical problems significantly increase the cost of housing for the poor on sloping sites, which means that fewer poor people can get housing.

Every so often Imizamo Yethu (IY) finds itself in the news. The problem is ongoing slow-motion environmental disasters. And the primary physical cause behind them is the steeply sloping mountainside that IY is built upon.

The council's latest development scheme for the lower slopes of Imizamo Yethu includes 1 100 two- and three-storey flats. The geotechnical survey for the area revealed that there was a lot of unstable detritus to a depth of 3m, and a lot of clay - this is in addition to the problems of sloping ground.

This means that the foundations will have to be special: expensive piles would need to be driven, and structural ground beams constructed, as well as the retaining walls or banks for the necessary levelling.

Professional estimates of the cost of building these flats make for startling reading. Each flat would be only 40m2, and its construction would be very basic: cement blocks, vinyl floors, steel windows. The cost of each, taking into account the cost of site preparation, would be in the order of R250 000.

That's why only the rich can afford to build on sloping sites. One might argue that the poor should not be discriminated against, but there is a finite amount of money available for their housing.

Spending a quarter of a million rands on each dwelling for the poor on a sloping site means that the poor elsewhere will not get houses until much later.

This is contrary to the principle of "the greatest good for the greatest number".

At the highest point of Imizamo Yethu is a large cluster of about 1 100 shacks, known as Dontse Yakhe.

A few years ago it was discovered that some residents had been pouring their sewage into what they thought was a sewer; only it turned out to be a stormwater drain.

Others in Dontse Yakhe had forgone this procedure, and used a nearby tract of the mountainside as a huge public toilet. Whenever it rained heavily, this sewage poured down through peoples' properties - including other residents of IY - en route to the Disa River, where the stormwater drain also discharged.

The consequences were dire. In 2006 Dr Justin O'Riain, together with Stellenbosch University epidemiologist Dr Jo Barnes, tested a sample of water from the river . The safe maximum E coli count per 100cc is 300; anything over this figure is considered dangerous. The analysis revealed a staggering 9 billion. Subsequent samples taken each year since then show that very high levels persist.

Because Dontse Yakhe is so high up, there is not enough water pressure available to provide proper toilets, so ward councillor Marga Haywood arranged for 1 100 chemical cartridge toilets to be delivered to the residents free of charge.

Each household would receive a toilet plus two cartridges; every two weeks council workers would collect the full cartridge and replace it with a new one.

After about a month the council workers reported that only about 50 cartridges had been exchanged. It turned out that most of the residents of Dontse Yakhe are Ovambos, and they said that using toilets, chemical or waterborne, was against their culture and traditions, and that they would therefore continue to use the nearby mountainside for their ablutions.

In the latest proposal for the development of Imizamo Yethu, the council has come up with a scheme to deal with this. A detention pond would be constructed on the lower slopes, near the Hout Bay Main Road.

Detention ponds normally serve to retain the large amount of water which accumulates in an area whenever there's a lot of rain. It is then gradually discharged into the stormwater disposal system.

But this would be a detention pond with a difference: on the drawings it is identified as a "dual purpose detention pond (stormwater cleansing)".

What is meant by this is that it would also deal with the informal sewage problem of Imizamo Yethu. During the first heavy rains of winter, when summer's accumulation of human faeces washes down from the upper slopes, it would be collected in the pond as a "first flush", and discharged into the sewage system. Subsequent "flushes", bearing a reduced amount of faeces, would be discharged into the Disa River.

The idea of retention ponds being used for the disposal of human faeces is not only disquieting, it is against building regulations. The National Building Regulations (Part P3: Control of Objectionable Discharge) states:

1. No person shall on any site cause or permit any sewage to enter -
1. any street, stormwater drain, stormwater sewer or excavated or constructed watercourse; or
2. subject to the Water Act, 1956 (Act No 54 of 1956), any river, stream or natural watercourse whether ordinarily dry or otherwise.
2. No person shall cause or permit stormwater to enter any drainage installation on any site.

So the idea of collecting the "first flush" of faeces-laden stormwater of the rainy season in a detention pond and then discharging it into the sewer system would be a contravention of the regulations.

The subsequent collection of stormwater from the same source later in the rainy season and discharging it into the stormwater system (which discharges into the Disa River) would also be a contravention, as those who habitually use the open mountainside as a public toilet are not going to stop doing so after the first rains.

This might raise an interesting legal issue. The squatters who occupy Dontse Yakhe are doing so illegally. If the council were to go ahead with their plan to accommodate the traditions and culture of Ovambos in contravention of the National Building Regulations, it might be argued that they were giving tacit permission to stay - and continue using the slopes of the mountain as a mega public toilet.

The slope of the land in IY, combined with gravity, hydraulics and unacceptable human behaviour, is causing an environmental disaster. It should be stopped.

Which is what the Hout Bay Residents' Association intends to do. Chairman Len Swimmer states that the residents of Dontse Yakhe are there illegally, as the area they occupy is outside the demarcated area of Imizamo Yethu.

In a letter sent to the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Administration of the Western Cape the association says: "We contend that this land is not intended to be used as an informal settlement, and as owners of the unlawfully occupied land, we urgently request you to comply with the zoning scheme of the Land Use Planning Ordinance and remove the informal settlers off your land."

Swimmer attributes the lack of progress so far to "inaction by senior city officials and their consultants who appear to have been either hamstrung by lack of political will or unwillingness in themselves to act firmly".

Goodman Ngwangwa, chairman of the Sinethemba Civic Association in Imizamo Yethu, expresses the plight of those who live below Dontse Yakhe:

"The sewerage and drain water from Donste Yakhe pours down our streets and makes us sick. "We agreed that we would not have any new informal settlements, but Donste Yakhe is exactly like a new informal settlement. Nothing is being done about the difficulties caused by so many people living without services that affect us and people living in Hughenden and in Penzance."

He goes on to say: "We want and need progress in Imizamo Yethu badly. We do not want to hold up the development, but the behaviour of the officials - their neglect of us, the way they ignore our councillor and ward committee and the way they always find reasons for not doing something instead of using their skills for which they were employed to solve problems - makes us distrustful".

If the council and the province don't respond satisfactorily, the residents' association intends to take the matter to the high court, alleging contravention of the National Environment Management Act and of the Land Use Planning Ordinance.

Land Use Complaint Form

Here you can download a very useful form for residents to complain about illegal land use and nuisance caused. Please ensure your complaint is copied to Anita.Fabe@capetown.gov.za

Right click on the link of the desired version and select "Save Target as..." in the drop down menu.

MS Word version which can be completed elctronically

PDF version which can be printed out and completed by hand

REPORT TO THE JUNE 2009 CBRRA AGM ON THE POSSIBLE REDEVELOPMENT OF THE WIEHAHN OUDEKRAAL PROPERTIES

This report was filched from the excellent Camps Bay Ratepayers Association's website: http://campsbayratepayers.blogspot.com/

BACKGROUND

“The Oudekraal property on the western slopes of Table Mountain is one of the top handful of undeveloped urban land parcels anywhere in the world and its future is a matter of international and not just local concern”. So stated the Argus newspaper on 5 June 2009 after a recent meeting held by a possible Developer with important conservationalists and stakeholders.

This pristine property, with the exception of the Oudekraal Hotel, between the southern border of Camps Bay and the northern boundary of Llandudno, is owned by Mr. Kasper Wiehahn. He has been involved in litigation against the Cape Town City Council for many years in an attempt to enable him to develop them after his father’s applications to do so were turned down in the 1950s on technicalities and the presence of Muslim graves.

At present, Mr. Wiehahn has appealed to the Supreme Court to have judgments in previous court cases against him overturned and this case is currently still ongoing.

Recently, Mr. Wiehahn has entered into an agreement with a Developer, Property Promotions and Management (Pty) Ltd, that it be given an option to purchase all the erven, regardless of the outcome of the present court case, should it consider the properties financially viable to develop.

Whereas Mr, Wiehahn is bound by the agreement to sell, depending on the price offered being acceptable, the Developer can elect not to make an offer to purchase, should he find that the financial feasibility is not favourable or public reaction is insuperable.

To this end, the potential Developer has been given permission by Mr. Wiehahn’s company, Oudekraal Estates, to make an environmental investigation of the site and examine all the issues and characteristics thereof. It is currently appointing expert consultants over a wide range of disciplines to complete a preliminary report to enable the Developer to decide as to whether to invest a considerable mount of risk capital to convince it of its feasibility and possibility.

5 JUNE 2009 NON-PUBLIC MEETING WITH INVITED STAKEHOLDERS

To this end, Messrs. Doug Jeffery Environmental Consultants, acting for the Developer, held a meeting with important invited stakeholders and conservationalists on 4 June 2009 to brief them and to obtain an initial reaction from them. CBRRA was invited as a stakeholder.

The Consultants stressed that no development plans were on the table, that no formal statutory EIA study or application process for development had started and that over the next six months the Developer would concentrate on a range of specialist studies on issues like flora, fauna, geology, water, heritage and Muslim graves existing on the sites.

The whole area was divided into seven sub-erven, each with agricultural zoning with one single dwelling being permitted on each sub-erf.

The Wiehahns had applied for the development of the 44 hectare sub-erf (Portion 7) nearest to Camps Bay being developed into a township, which had been disallowed by the Council.

This information gathering initiative was aimed at gathering sufficient baseline material to see whether any of the total 370 hectares were suitable for possible development.

After completion of the technical report, the Developer would then take a decision on whether and how to proceed or not. The Developer had the right not to take up its option if it so decided.

The meeting cautioned the Developer that there could be massive opposition to any development on the site, even if the specialist studies did indicate that development was feasible and it was not a logical conclusion that development would automatically follow a positive environmental report.

Furthermore, the invited audience also advised the Developer that their presence at these meetings did not bind them to the support of any development, regardless of their advice as to whether the site was suitable for development or not.

THE FUTURE

The Environmental Consultants hope to have the environmental report finished before the end of this year (2009) and in due course, CBRRA hopes to bring their presentation of the report to one of our future public meetings.

This meeting, therefore will not be asked to vote on what it thinks should or should not be done on the site. This will be left to future meetings once the whole investigatory process is further down the line or is completed. A full public participation process has been promised should the Developer decide to proceed with a proposal in due course.

As the closest stakeholder to the site, CBRRA is determined to keep a careful watching brief on all stages of the present investigatory process and will keep its public fully informed every step along the way.

John Powell

CBRRA

Let's get Chappies back! Protest march Sunday 19 April 2009

For a video report of the Chapman's Peak Protest March click on the 790tv logo below.

Sibanye Township Restaurant, Imizamo Yethu

Sibanye-Restaurant hopes to create a comfortable, safe and intriguing meeting place where people can connect through their diversity, irrespective of pigment, nationality or belief.

Come and join us for a meal of tasty, traditional, African cuisine, in our authentically designed restaurant, and experience this one of a kind ...

"South African Township Experience".

For more details visit Sibanye's website at http://www.sibanye-restaurant.com/

Ethnic B&B

For a once in a life-time ethnic experience why not stay over at Veronica's B&B in the Coloured Fishing Community Village of Hout Bay. The cost is R250 per person for bed & breakfast. Dinner can also be prepared.   For bookings telephone Veronica: +27 21 790 3331 in the evening.

This website has been established by the Residents' Association of Hout Bay with the intention to serve the community of Hout Bay by providing

• a source of information, or links to information, of use and interest to residents of Hout Bay
• an index of links to non-commercial or non-profit organizations of relevance to Hout Bay
• a diary of social and cultural events in Hout Bay and surrounding areas