Forced opening of river mouth investigated
A mechanical digger being used on the beach at Elands Bay to open the Verlorenvlei estuary, allegedly illegally. A mechanical digger being used on the beach at Elands Bay to open the Verlorenvlei estuary, allegedly illegally.
Cape Town - The alleged illegal opening of the Verlorenvlei estuary at Elands Bay beach by private individuals using a mechanical digger is being investigated by the provincial environmental authorities.
The vlei is a proclaimed Ramsar Site, declared under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, and the estuary – one of only a handful of estuaries on the West Coast – is an important fish nursery area for both marine and estuarine fish species. Two initiatives to have the surrounding land area also formally protected in terms of conservation legislation are under way.
At about 6pm on Sunday, July 27, the mechanical digger was driven on to the beach and used to dig a trench to connect the closed estuary mouth with the sea. Locals say the driver must have passed two conservation signs put up to remind people that it’s illegal to drive on the beach. Several people witnessed the digger at work.
The alleged organiser is local businessman Ian Joubert. Yesterday he confirmed to the Cape Argus that he had initiated the work but then declined to comment further and referred the newspaper to his lawyer in Piketberg. The lawyer, Gerhard Kruger, said he had not been briefed by Joubert and had no comment.
The digger belongs to a Port Elizabeth company, Penny Farthing Engineering, that holds the contract to upgrade the road between Redlinghuys and Elands Bay, which includes rehabilitation of the 1955 bridge across the vlei.
This bridge has caused significant ecological problems by restricting the natural flow of the water in the vlei. A temporary bypass closer to the sea has been constructed while the rehabilitation work is under way.
Contracts manager Vic Allen confirmed it was his company’s digger and that it was being used for excavations at the bridge. However, it had been hired out to an individual whom he agreed was Joubert – “if I remember correctly”, he said.
“It is a multi-purpose machine and we didn’t have work for it at the time. He asked to hire it.”
Allen said the machine had been hired with a driver and that the company had “taken it on trust” that it would be lawfully used. They had not known it was going to be used on the beach.
“When somebody phoned us, one of our foremen went out to stop it immediately. Seawater is very detrimental to the machine and it was immediately stopped. And it’s not allowed to work on the beach.”
But the trench to the sea was completed using the digger, and at least one local resident filed a formal complaint with the environmental authorities who were also notified by the consulting engineers for the project.
This was confirmed by Rudolf van Jaarsveldt, head of communications for the provincial Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Department. He said they had had a complaint “in respect of alleged unauthorised and illegal use of a mechanical digger on the beach at Elands Bay, to open the Verlorenvlei estuary to the sea”. The case was assigned to an officer on Monday.
“No criminal charges have been laid yet as the department must conduct an inspection to determine whether there has been an environmental contravention. The department can confirm that the opening of a river mouth without environmental authorisation is illegal,” he said.
john.yeld@inl.co.za
Cape Argus