MISTY CLIFFS VILLAGE ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER - January 2007
Editor: Tim Anderson

AFTER the purging of battered digestive systems, most people's year began with good intentions of doing better. Unavoidably there was the downhearted return to the grindstone but also the uphearted escape from ensnarement by ruthless retailers. Very belatedly (this newsletter is a month late) your diligent Misty committee wishes you a safe and healthy year, with successful evasion of bailiffs, creditors and homicidal redistributors. Let's hope that this 007 year will be as refreshingly different as the new 007 Bond.

Several issues ago we sought to grab your attention by opening with an imaginary scare story of a freeway to be built through Misty Cliffs. Well, one should not tempt the devil, as it's said, because that very thing, or something like it, might well be creeping into the pipeline already.

We are occasionally favoured with glimpses of what's going on behind the political smoke screen. For the communities of Misty Cliffs, Ocean View, Kommetjie, and Scarborough the prospect is that of stepped-up residential sprawl along the length of Kommetjie Road, with bricks-and-mortar invasions of some of the lovely fynbos covered hillsides we so treasure.

Of immediate concern is the proposed Kompanjiestuin Vineyard Residential Development which will include 253 erven for houses, a "lifestyle centre" (clubhouse, gymnasium, restaurant, pool, etc), 10 ha of vineyards and a boutique winery. The site, presently zoned "rural", is on the south side of Kommetjie Road approximately opposite Atlantic Road (RE Portion 10 of the farm Kommetjie Estates No. 948). The application process began in 2004 and the Dept of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning ("DEAD-P" to most people!) gave its conditional approval in November 2006. Four formal objections were submitted during the period allowed. You'll be hearing more about this.

And if you wonder what's going to be done about the ongoing population explosion and unemployment situation in Masiphumalele and the Redhill settlement, be assured that there's really nothing much that can be done unless a very magic wand waves and turns the Eastern Cape into an economy so boomingly attractive that it will reverse its emigration flow

Those of us who hit Kommetjie Road at or near commuting times will know about the traffic congestion, and that any one of the frequent trivial traffic incidents can stall the flow for a further half an hour or more. Widening the road and providing more traffic lights have been mooted, but lights cause bunching and aggravate the delays - a fact well-recognised overseas where roundabouts have proved much more effective. Increasing the flow along this road (M65) has been predicted to shift the bottlenecks rather than alleviate them. The four-way intersection with the M6, south to Simon's Town and north to Ou Kaapseweg, would become a major constriction, as would Ou Kaapseweg itself.

For some time now there has been much in the news about electricity shortages. Further development will further stress supply security, thereby causing more and longer outages (and traffic light failures!). Nuf said.

It's been shown also that no matter how many new pipes and pumps might be installed, there is not enough water to adequately supply our city's burgeoning development. The now widely expected climate change will progressively reduce water availability even more - perhaps drastically. No meaningful progress has been made towards large scale desalination and recycling, nor towards the costly possibility of piping water from the Far North.

This dereliction is less a matter of awareness than of Cape Town having been massively denuded of professional planning expertise. Engineering capacity is in a comparable condition. Such capacity as remains often gets diverted to deal with crises.

What will happen? At present there's not enough funding to make anything much happen, but our local councilors are working on all this which, inescapably, has a complicating political dimension. Ultimately some radical solutions will have to be enacted. Restrictions on private cars are a firm prospect. If we live long enough we might see some sort of elevated road built across the wetlands from near Ocean View to link "our" section of the M65 with Ou Kaapseweg and Chapman's Peak Drive. A fast-rail link could be a far-off project but not before the various rail authorities have caught up on decades of neglect, and established safe effective reliable services where rail infrastructure already exists.

Meanwhile, if you're contemplating building a new house make sure it has a helipad, a really big rainwater storage tank, and a generator. Maybe look around the Internet and get clued-up on small scale desalination plants which can be mounted on a trailer and towed down to the beach. There are lots of small communities around the world which are forced to do something similar. Incidentally, 50 per cent of the fresh water required by the city of Perth comes from desalinating seawater, and seemingly it's given that civic authority no terrible challenge.

Social delights

Having given you the bad news to start the year, the good news is that we've again been reminded of the excellence of our community. This was proven by the marvelous turnout for the party at Pad Mossop just before Christmas. The inclement weather earlier in the day rolled away and gave us a stupendous evening and gorgeous sunset. Lyn's very pro fish stew was a big hit and there was an abundance of salad and pud. An impromptu tribe of juniors cavorted on the beach and were successfully restrained from introduction to liquor, of which amazingly little was consumed - folk were too busy talking. It's wonderful what one discovers about people known previously only by their faceless emails. Of course some secrets came out, such as the usually-dignified lady who revealed her insalubrious upbringing by calling everyone to attention with a street whistle that rattled the seismograph in Kommetjie; the intent was to listen to our chairman's party-piece, but shattered eardrums denied some of us this pleasure. We record our warmest thanks to Lyn and her support crew, Barbara Tunbridge, Maureen Morris, Danielle Harris, and the wonderful Mihi, visiting from abroad, who voluntarily accomplished all the washing-up with naught but smiles.

Seagull's History

The tiny white blob on the right of the picture below is "Seagull's Nest" (the last house near the road on the left as you go towards Scarborough). No one seems to have a photo of the original house and the earliest we could find actually features the Le Roux house (family Kerr), believed to have been built during the early 1940s, with Seagull's Nest barely visible in the distance. If anyone can identify the chap in the photo please let us know. Sue Fish, daughter of the late Hans Blersch, kindly supplied some info about it.

The original "Seagull's Nest" consisted of two separate rondawels that were built in 1922 when the coastal road was being constructed, one building had a fireplace and was for the resident engineer; the other rondawel was for the surveyor (evidently a lesser mortal who didn't qualify for a fireplace). The remains of the convict labourers' accommodation could be seen up the slope where the recent road construction camp was sited. Water supply came from a very small reservoir built across the stream higher up. The Moore family (who owned a hardware shop in Fish Hoek) subsequently bought the property and built on the extra accommodation and joined the two rondawels.

The first contact the Blersch family had with the house was when the late Michael Blersch and his sister Eva Maclure were looking for rented holiday accommodation in the Kommetjije/Scarborough area and stayed in the house. Their enthusiasm about the property resulted in their father, Walther Blersch (senior), then Town Clerk of Stellenbosch, purchasing the property for approximately £1 750 (the purchase was decided on the toss of a penny!). In the late 1920s and early '30s Walther Blersch and his son, the late Hans, used to cycle from Kommetjie to Misty Cliffs to catch fish in front of Dr Le Roux's house (in those days galjoen were plentiful!). Over the years, the house has undergone several improvements, including replacing the steel-framed windows, upgrading the kitchen and bathroom, electrification and re-roofing, but the original character of the building has been retained.

Many a baboon has taken advantage of the family's hospitality and a cobra has crawled out from under a reclining chair in the garden, but the cheekiest of all the non-human visitors were two goats which had presumably strayed over from a farm at Red Hill and chose to make themselves at home in the garden, debarking the milkwood tree and eluding anyone trying to catch them! The grandchildren and great grandchildren of Walther Blersch continue to enjoy weekends and family holidays in what must be one of the finest locations along the peninsula seaboard.

Crime

Having just mentioned Kommetjie, our neighbouring village, we have to say that it's recently been the scene of some very ugly confrontations between crayfish poachers, residents and law officers. Brazen hauling out of large catches of crayfish day and night have been taking place, some being stashed under the seats of combi-taxis, others openly loaded onto bakkies and into cars. A Scarborough Security Services officer was forced to call for support, but he and three SAPS members were outnumbered and forced to back off. Some protesting residents have been assaulted and threatened with worse.

Together with surf-skis, at least five small boats have been used, "fed" from a larger powered boat further out. The boats are later loaded onto the bakkies. It seems that crayfish having been mostly fished-out eastwards of the Peninsula, the West side is now the obvious next target for desecration. Some of the catch is reputedly being traded for tik in Ocean View, and there is evidence of individual members of the SAPS being connected to the poachers.

Marine and Coastal Management appears to be helpless, Parks Board is keen enough but hopelessly understaffed. The SAPS Water Wing has only one unit (boat) for the entire Peninsula, both sides. Metro Police are said to be enthusiastic but require formal briefing. Towards overcoming the problem a meeting was assembled by the Dept: Environmental Affairs and Tourism, and took place on 23 January attended by the Kommetjie Residents and Ratepayers Association, 12 local councilors, Capt Mouton and Commander Farmer of the SAPS, Robin Adams of Table Mountain National Park, and several fishery control officers. With the SAPS as "lead agency" more information will be gathered and strategies worked out. We'll keep you posted. If you observe poaching in progress, try calling the SAPS Water Wing unit commander, Capt Stemmett, 0214678500/8461. Listed numbers include 021-4215213 and 021-786-1628, but don't hold your breath. It has been pointed out that not many minutes drive away from Kommetjie some multibillion rand naval vessels lie idling in Simon's Town.

At Misty Cliffs we enjoyed a quiet holiday season with no reported crimes. A beach stroller was arrested with some old copper pipes which a builder had thrown onto the beach. We doubt that he's a hardened felon (not the builder).

Working from home

Misty Cliffs is zoned "private residential" and that means that a business cannot be conducted from any of our premises. Nevertheless, we urge all owners to check exactly what is in their title deeds as a general precaution just in case you might be inadvertently contravening the zoning. By no means are all the Misty Cliffs title deeds worded the same. Some of them are quite quaintly worded, and include prohibitions against drilling for water; others expressly forbid such activities as brewing or selling liquor (a provision dating from the days when Old Camp Road served a military contingent).

Obviously a difficulty arises with defining "business". In our community we have professional writers, artists, and consultants of various stripes working from home. We also have people doing business over the Internet, and taking-in bookkeeping work. Several houses are regularly let to holiday makers, and there is no clear distinction between having a full-time tenant on a lease, and a holiday maker on a written or verbal agreement.

Common sense suggests that in residential premises a commercial activity should not cause a nuisance such as noise, smoke, extra traffic, etc. However, it is possible for a building to be designed for a commercial purpose but descriptively disguised as a residence for approval purposes. To suit its commercial purpose a building might be visually offensive, but then there are genuine residences that are no less dramatically hideous as we well know. Unfortunately, common sense and individual ideas of aesthetics do not always resonate with legal definitions.

Through a lengthy legal process it is possible to apply for a change of use, subject, among other conditions, to consultation with potentially affected neighbours. Your committee would not endorse such an application if the consequence looked likely to increase traffic congestion. On the mountain side of the M65 there is only one access point for both directions, and Old Camp Road is in parts only 3 m wide with very minimal space for parking or manoeuvring. This is why we are opposed to film shoots in residences as these seem to necessitate an extraordinarily large crew, a number of special vehicles, and numerous private cars. Along the main road this can be manageable but along Old Camp Road it is significantly obstructive.

Generators

Mentioned earlier . . . if you decide to invest in one there are a few points to consider. First, get one that's big enough. There's not a huge difference in cost between a little set that will cope only with a few lights and the frig, and a bigger one that will keep your whole house going other than your oven; something like an 8/10 kW unit is handy. Another advantage of a bigger set is that it will probably have a 4-stroke motor which is inherently quieter than a 2-stroke.

You will need an electrician to change your distribution board so that the generator cannot connect while the Eskom supply is alive, and must be interlocked to instantly disconnect when the Eskom supply is restored. He will also have to arrange connections so that when you want to heat your geyser from the generator there are no other heavy loads connected. A resettable overload device on the generator is essential.

Think twice before buying a Chinese set. If it has a genuine Honda motor then you're not likely to have a parts problem, but some sets have obscure Chinese brand motors for which you're unlikely to find anyone carrying spares and providing service. The alternator is usually a long-lived creature provided that it's not overloaded and resides under dry and dust-free conditions.

If you choose a set with electric start, make sure that you keep the start battery charged - they have a way of being forgotten about when the set isn't in use! You will need to keep a couple of 25 litre steel jerry cans (never plastic) filled with fuel and kept somewhere sensible. An extinguisher suitable for fuel and electrical fires should be handy.

Consider where you put the set. They're noisy inside a house. If it's outside it will need weather protection and ventilation. It will also need thief-proofing; ideally it should be bolted down into concrete and the bolts used should be suitable for antitheft nuts as available from car spares shops to prevent wheel stealing.

Write out and post up a set of instructions for how to start and connect everything, and practise a couple of times - it may be pitch dark when you need to do it for real.

Website

Our website has proved unexpectedly popular and successful. Its scope and accessibility are now being redesigned to include new features and services. All being well the enhanced website will be presented and described live at the MCVA AGM on 22 April. Please make a note of this (Sunday morning) date. It's your opportunity to let rip at the committee, get rid of its members, and have yourself elected as replacement so that the job gets done better. There will be free tea and coffee, and provided enough people have paid their subs there might also be biscuits.

Trash

The trash collection service seems to be working with first class reliability. The new bins are very good but their catches are less so. Most of them need the catches "modified" using a strong screwdriver and some muscle to bend the metal parts so that they engage properly, after which they work very well. There are a few people in the world who do not know by which end to hold a screwdriver, and if there are any such in our community they are welcome to phone Leon Morris (021-780-1256) who has offered to make a detour during his morning marathon training run and perform the necessary engineering work.

Our cousins

As we've explained in a previous newsletter we are included with the baboon monitoring project developed and run by Scarborough. The project went through a lean time a while ago such that there were not enough monitors to keep the baboons on the move. However, its perennially pre-carious finances appear to be stable for the coming year, and the monitors are up to full strength again.

Some very good news is that our own "Misty Cliffs Baboon Protection Fund" has had enough windfalls for us to pay our share to Scarborough for several months to come, possibly a year. We are very appreciative of generous contributions from Brian Marsh and Doug Tunbridge who donated some funds residual from shared road works carried out long before the reconstruction of Old Camp Road.

Brian set this up and contributed R3 686, Doug added R1 200, Lyn Mossop chipped in R1 000, and the Taylors generously donated R2 500 - and while we're mentioning them we welcome them to our community.

No house-owner will need it pointed out that effective herding away of baboons, and advance warning of troops on the move towards us, are indispensable services. Notwithstanding the mischief which these animals can do, they are indirectly an element in the ecology of our area (among other things they eat scorpions and copious quantities of alien bush seeds), and it is important for their rapidly dwindling numbers that they are kept on the move so as not provoke people into shooting at them.

Won't you please make (preferably regularly) a contribution to the baboon fund? Such donations are kept separate in our accounts, so please mark your cheque or net-transfer as "baboons" or something like that. Make donations payable to Misty Cliffs Village Association. Please contact Lyn Mossop for the account details of our new Nedbank account.
Note: Our previous account with ABSA has been closed.

The baboons are been giving considerable trouble lately, mainly in Scarborough. The six experienced monitors are kept busy all day trying to round up and drive the animals back to the reserve. Part of the problem is that two large males, known as Moby and William (don't ask why) are contending for sole rights to about 19 females, and savage battles recur without producing a clear winner. Another part of the problem is that one of the males is addicted to vines and fruit trees, of which there are not many in Scarborough, but enough to make him very clever at sneaking back at dawn before the monitors arrive at 6 a m. The harem follows deviously and scatters cleverly like guerrilla fighters.

Misty Cliffs is getting the spillover of this situation, but so far the animals have been more mischievous than threatening. Remember that baboons have keen eyesight and can spot a slightly open window from far away. We have proof that a baboon can easily make a vertical jump of at least 3 m and a running jump of 4 to 5 m; that ability plus amazing climbing skills make no upstairs window safe to leave open. Baboons also know how to open sliding doors, car doors, and to reach through narrow spaces and undo catches. They can and do put infant baboons through small gaps either to pass out food or to work from inside to make the gap wider. Baboons will seldom activate movement and heat detectors on alarm systems which are specifically designed to be insensitive to small children and pets moving around. Baboons are not deterred by standard electric fences, in fact they have often been observed apparently enjoying a thrill from holding onto the live wires.

Banking

If you have recorded our banking details for paying your subscriptions (R300/year) please note that we have recently advantageously moved our banking from ABSA to Nedbank, Noordhoek. Please contact Lyn Mossop for the account details of our new Nedbank account. If you pay by Internet please put your attribution as "Erf XXX subs". This is important as sometimes we have not been able to reconcile a payment to a particular erf number or recorded owner, especially when the remitting name differs from that of the entity holding the property. The same applies if you send a cheque - and note that our postal address remains unchanged: Box 22709, Scarborough, 7975. If you are paying towards the DSTV fund include "DSTV" with your attribution. DSTV contributions are posted to a separate ledger.

Inquiries

Doug Tunbridge, chairman, 083-250-3452; Lyn Mossop, treasurer, 082-557-4477; Tim Anderson, scribe, 072-128-2319.

DIARIZE ! ! !

The AGM at 10h00 on 22 April in Scarborough Community Hall. Free water; plenty of old biscuits still lying around from last year. Rock up and vote for a more generous committee.