Civic groups join forces to oppose plan
The combined membership of four Kenton-on-Sea and Boesmansriviermond civic organisations has joined forces to stave off what they warn will be an irreversible environmental disaster. The Kenton-on-Sea Ratepayers Association, Boesmansrivier Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRAG), Kenton and Bushmans Chamber of Business and Tourism and Bushmans Kariega Estuary Care this week launched a petition to halt plans to fix in place a massive sand dune at the end of Westbourne Road. The groundswell of community protest comes after a report on the plan was approved by councillors at a full council meeting on Wednesday December 11. The Bushmans River estuary is the lifeblood and livelihood of the tourist gem and the plan, they say, would eventually result in it the river mouth closing. Moreover, the noise and disruption involved in the mechanical removal of sand would change the ethos of the seaside village; and after the three-year period that an interest group has guaranteed to pay for it, Ndlambe’s ratepayers would be left footing the bill.
The report from the municipal manager (MM) to the council is headed ‘Approval of works under the Ndlambe coastal and dune maintenance management plan (MMP)’. According to the plan approved by DEDEAT, the dune will be moved westward, reshaped and then stabilised (i.e. fixed in place) using wind nets, brushwood and new vegetation “to prevent the eastwards migration in the future”.
Ongoing annual management of sand that is expected to accumulate on the western toe of the dune is to be managed “by means of mechanical removal to Middle Beach.”
In his report, MM Rolly Dumezweni outlined the background, summarised as follows:
- August11, 2020: The province’s Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism issued environmental management approving the coastal and dune management plan. The plan authorised certain activities “where public space and infrastructure could be managed and maintained as a result of changes within the dynamic coastal environment”. Wind-borne sand accumulating at the southern end of Westbourne Road had formed a large dune and access to the parking area, public ablutions and private property was hindered.
- A private organisation called Kenton Sand Dune and Nature Association was formed “to assist with implementation and funding of intended interventions,” the report noted. [Editor’s note: the chairperson of the Kenton Sand Dune & Nature Association NPC is Robert Rose].
- The report noted that Bushmans Kariega Estuary Care, BRRAG and KOSRA had opposed the proposed implementation.
- “Several meetings have taken place between the municipality and affected parties and to date no agreement has been reached on the way forwards,” the report says, noting that no alternative plan had been proposed.
Kenton-on-Sea Ratepayers Association, Boesmansrivier Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRAG), Kenton and Bushmans Chamber of Business and Tourism and Bushmans Kariega Estuary Care together represent around 2 500 community members.
Explaining the background, the ‘Save the Bushmans Estuary Petition’ explains that for thousands of years, Dry Bones Valley was a conduit that allowed a portion of the sand that came into the estuary to bypass behind the Shelly Bay headland and continue eastwards. “To protect structures, branches were placed on the beach at the mouth of Dry Bones Valley…”. This had been done over 30 years until the 1970s.
“By the 1970s all natural movement of sand was permanently blocked by the vegetation allowed to grow… This process finally reversed when the sand started natural rolling back on itself as a sandy dune. This process is still continuing as nature reverts to its natural state.”
The petition says that no consideration has been given in the approved plan to the effect the excess sand will have on an estuary choked by the net gain of sand.
“It exposes the estuary to the ever increasing risk of becoming blocked and closing, especially if Ndlambe falls short in its service delivery.”
The four combined civic organisations instead propose the adoption of a 2015 report, also commissioned by Rose, which instead proposes the removal of vegetation to restore the natural movement of sand.
Talk of the Town interviewed Rob Rose, the chairman of the Kenton Sand Dune & Nature Association NPC, telephonically. Asked about the organisation’s membership, Rose said, “There are as many members as members want to be. It’s a voluntary organisation and our regular members are obviously from Land’s End Road. There are 20 houses in Dry Bones Valley and at the end of Westbourne and when we first started this three years ago, that’s who we invited to be members. What I said was, ‘Let’s get this project finished because then you will be so proud of it and then we will have so many members.”
KSDNA, as a non-profit company, has no members, according to its website. Its Directors are Robert Rose (Chairman), Malcolm MacKenzie and Stephen Conradie.*
Councillors last week approved the project and the environmental authorisation/ coastal and dune management plan approved by DEDEAT. They also approved Ndlambe Municipality entering into a memorandum of agreement with KSDNA to implement and fund the project on its behalf.
Would you consider collaborating with your opposers on a plan that everyone is happy with? Talk of the Town asked Rose.
“We have been collaborating with these people for five years,” Rose said. “But unfortunately they are not environmental people or sand dune people or coastal engineers so it’s very difficult.
“The questions is always, ‘Can you come up with another plan?’ The answer is, ‘We come up with the best plan’,” Rose said. “Experts come up with one plan which is the best plan. We’ve made a few adaptations to meet their requirements but the fundamentals can’t be changed because that’s what is the best solution.”
Responding to the concern about the noise and disruption of ethos that moving the sand would cause, Rose said sand would be removed from the front of the dune.
“You won’t see the dumpers. They’re not vehicles, they’re specialised dumpers. You won’t see them, you won’t hear them. They are 9-ton carrying vehicles and they don’t cause a lot of noise.”
While the opposing group said the process would run over three or four months a year, Rose said the moving of sand would only take place during two weeks every year and there would be three loads per hour. “Nobody’s going to be disturbed.”
Rose said the amount of sand to be removed depended on the weather.
“It could be more – it could be double! It all depends on the weather, the tides, the sand. Tides are getting higher every year and there’s more sand coming in. That’s the reality and we have to manage it.”
“This is a simple project that has been complicated by emotion and all the rest of it. The plan approved by the municipality is the best plan. It’s a simple plan. It will resolve the problems in the best possible way.”
The KSDNA was scheduled to meet on Wednesday December 18 at 5pm; however, Rose said this was a private meeting among Land’s End residents.
The combined civic organisations will hold an information meeting for community members at the Kenton Bowling Club on Monday December 23 at 5pm.
* It was announced in a community meetng at the Kenton Bowling Club on December 23, 2024 that MacKenzie and Conradie had resigned from KSDNA. TOTT has not yet independentlty confirmed this.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, December 19, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
