News from Residents’
Association of
rahb@houtbay.org.za
www.houtbay.org.za
September 2008
Military
Road Trail
The Heritage Trust together with the RAHB have put forward a motion to Sub Council to restore the original historic Military Trail to the military fortifications put up by the Dutch in the 1700s.
The 1983
Surveyor-General’s Trig. Sheet for the Hout Bay area, shows there used to be a “Private Passageway” that took off from Military
Road (near Main Road and between Erf 1044 and Erf 5905), ran in a
straight line along behind St.
In the 1970s the Divisional Council of the
However in 1987 the Divisional Council allowed a claim for acquisition by prescription of portions of this passageway and in 1999 the High Court approved the alienation of a further section. Thus today the Passageway no longer exists beyond the North Western corner of Erf 2307.
This action destroyed an important historical asset and amenity. Trail hiking is a popular pastime, particularly if the path has an historical association. Tourists are especially keen on such routes and requests from them are increasing.
Very fortunately an opportunity has arisen
to restore this valuable piece of the
It now remains to get the City’s agreement to a 5 metre right of way in favour of the general public across the top of the erven: 2307 POS and 2291 & 2292, which are owned by the City, to link up with the original Passageway above Erf 1048 on the west and with the servitude being created on Erven 2293 – 2296 to the east. An added attraction is that the route of the proposed new passageway traverses an historic Milkwood forest at the top of these erven.
Poisoned Earth
The
following report was submitted to Councillors Haywood and
Smith on 26 August by Len Swimmer.
“This is to
advise you that even the groundwater seeping from the earth below IY is so
badly polluted with the bacteria associated with human faeces that direct
contact with the water could prove fatal.
Exco members of the Residents Association of
Hout Bay, Dr Harald Weber (health) and Dr Justin O’Riain (environment) recently collected storm water and
groundwater seepage from below IY and sent them for independent analysis by an
ISO accredited laboratory.
We knew
that the water flowing out of the storm water drain below
Sending the
samples for analysis all seemed rather academic as large quantities of faecal
matter were clearly evident in the storm water.
However it is imperative to quantify the scale of the problem if we are
to get the authorities to take notice and hopefully take action. Both of the storm water drains had E.coli counts that exceeded the maximum measurable limit of
the tests. More worryingly the two
ground water seepage sample sites exceeded the safety limit by a substantial
margin. Thus the ground water itself
that has percolated through the soil below IY is sufficiently polluted that a
child or animal with an open wound that came into contact with the water could
die from the resultant infection.
Residents
that live immediately below IY should avoid contact with these seepage zones
that appear innocuous but support a potentially lethal cocktail of
microbes. This sad state of affairs is
testimony to the dire health crisis that is engendered when civic authorities
initially fail in their mandate to prevent overcrowding and then subsequently
lack the ability to manage the knock on effects of poor infrastructure,
including adequate sanitation facilities.
Every resident of
Our Medical
practitioner, Dr Harald Weber, who has the Health
Portfolio on RAHB ExCo & had these samples tested
confirms Dr Justin O’Riain’s report above:
“The water testing done by Pathcare shows all specimens to be grossly
contaminated with coliform forming units and visible E.Coli bacteria which are pathogenic. Should this water
contaminate any drinking supply, whether animal or human, it will most
certainly cause severe GIT infection and even death in susceptible people. Even
walking barefoot in this water can cause
severe cellulitis and possibly even death in people
who have wounds on their feet, particularly if they have compromised immune
systems”.
WARD ALLOCATION FOR CAPITAL AND OPERATIONAL PROJECTS
The Council has
approved in respect of Subcouncil 16 for the 2008/9
financial year for Ward 74, the following Capital and Operational projects:
Council has also made
available an amount of R300 000 for capital projects and R200 000 for
operational projects per ward for 2009/10. The process of identifying
appropriate ward projects has started.
The RAHB will submit proposals to Subcouncil
to meet the 22 September deadline.
Mowing
and Maintenance Programme
City Parks mowing and maintenance programme
for the next twelve months has been finalised. Please
visit the RAHB website to view a copy of the schedule.
Possible Land
Grab by owner of e7903 - Coral Close
The RAHB
has been trying since 2007 to get the road reserve and public land in Coral
Close cleared. Despite directives from
the City, the situation remains unchanged.
The Association has once more asked the City to confront the owner who
continues to use the land as if it is his own, dumping more stone
boulders. A large stone clad container
is standing on public land and recently earth moving machinery has been used to
move the rocks. RAHB has requested once
more that the road, the road reserve and the public open space be cleared and
rehabilitated to an acceptable state where the Public can enjoy the area once
more.
Second
appeal for free access to
Following the response from Vaneshree Naidoo quoted in the last Hout and About the RAHB submitted
a second appeal to Murray & Roberts on the 1st of September to ensure that the community of
“The particular purpose of this letter is
to appeal to you to ensure that vehicular access to the picnic and view sites
and mountain trails on the
We wish to further point out to you, that the withdrawal of the free day pass does not take into account the people’s land use rights which are protected by the South African Constitution. The unilateral withdrawal of these land use rights, without agreement of the people, who stand to lose their customary rights to land that they have used and enjoyed for generations, is clearly unconstitutional.
We therefore, urge you not to fall into the
trap of many corporations who dress themselves up as caring entities,
pretending to have empathy and making a big noise about what they intend to do
for communities, but deliver very little. Please come to our assistance in this
matter and declare the free day pass available to the
Notices
A Special meeting of Ward Forum 74 will be
held on Tuesday 30 September 18h00 at the Hout Bay Library to discuss the
Updated Structure Plan for
City Call Centre for Complaints
The City has a centralised procedure for logging complaints. This will hopefully streamline the process and improve accountability.
All complaints should be reported to 0860 103054. A C3 reference number will be issued for the complaint.
RAHB WEBSITE
Visit our website
and stay informed about what the Residents Association of Hout Bay is doing.
www.houtbay.org.za
(R50 per couple, R30 per individual)
Forms from Chairperson
or Library. Association’s Banking Details:
FNB,
Subscriptions may be paid electronically (please use
your full name as a reference on the payment – to ensure that we correctly
credit your membership as this information appears on our Bank Statement
If you prefer, payment may also
be dropped into our wooden box at the Library (next to the Hall doors) or
posted to our Post Office Box: 27031
Chairperson,
Residents’ Assoc of
Tel:
790-0268, Email: