/ 8 March 2002

Holiday squatters dig in heels

Campers stand in the way of the establishment of a national park

Lyn Klemp

Groenriviersmond is a jewel in the crown of the Namaqualand coastline. It is noted for its stark white beaches, crayfish catches and dream waves for surfers who brave the cold water and rocky ledges.

The government would like to create a national park here, stretching 30km from the coast. There is just one problem: white holidaymakers who have erected more than 40 informal housing structures refuse to move. So reluctant are they to dismantle their shacks that negotiations have lasted about seven years and they’re now going to court.

More than 30 years ago the government proclaimed an “outspan” at Groenriviersmond. This allowed for camping only, at the river mouth in the north and near the beach in the south, during the Christmas holidays. The divisional council levelled the area and carted in water every December.

Over the years campers erected structures more permanent than tents. The campsite is now distinguished by old, rusting caravans, portable port-holed igloos and an array of wooden huts.

Last month Northern Cape MEC for Environmental Affairs Dawid Rooi said: “Negotiations were started in 1995 to persuade these people to remove their shacks. Negotiations ended when Adriaan [Nieuwoudt] and the committee decided to take the legal route and stopped talking to us.”

Nieuwoudt is the holidaymakers’ representative and is known for his involvement in the “kubus milk culture” pyramid scheme in the 1980s.

“We have never claimed ownership of Groensriviersmond. We only want the right to continue using the area as our community has done for generations,” Nieuwoudt said.

He contested a claim that he and the committee had turned down an offer of a chalet site within the park. “Parks Board did offer to purchase and set aside five hectares adjoining Groenriviersmond for our use. We were agreeable. However, other participants in the decision the local community representatives from Rietpoort and Spoegrivier voted against the proposal.”

The holiday squatters base their right to settlement on an old premise under Roman-Dutch law, whereby persons whose occupancy of land has occurred uninterrupted for many years may claim ownership or continued utilisation.

Nieuwoudt said they will continue to fight for a specific campsite to be used by the local farming community during the holiday periods.

“We are totally in favour of a national park and would adhere to all the rules, but we want a separate area from those used by others in the park to continue camping, without restricted access, as we have done since our forefathers’ time,” he said.

“There are no facilities for the farming community in this area no golf course, no theatres. There is only Groenrivier. That is where we gather to relax and tell stories in the tradition of Jan Spies and Tolla van der Merwe. We spend the Christmas holidays at Groenrivier. All the farm labourers are on leave and it is close enough for us to drive backwards and forwards to see to water for our sheep.”

As far back as the mid-1980s the Department of Environmental Affairs, in conjunction with what was then the National Parks Board (now the South African National Parks, or SANParks), proposed the establishment of a national park along the Namaqualand coast. An estimated R2-million has been spent on impact studies and plans for chalets, but the proclamation of the park has not been finalised.

In 1998 the Heath special investigations unit investigated the occupation of the Groenriviersmond campsite. Judgement handed down in May that year declared the occupation to be illegal and the claimants were given 90 days to remove their structures and vacate the area. The claimants appealed.

Rooi thought the appeal had lapsed, but Advocate Gerrit Visagie, speaking on behalf of the Heath commission, confirmed that the judgement is still the subject of an appeal. Visagie said a date has not been set for the appeal, but it should come before the Cape High Court within the next few months.

Early in February Rooi and Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs Rejoice Mabudhafasi visited Groenriviersmond. “I wish the owners were here, then I would tell them what I think,” Mabudhafasi said. “The land belongs to the government, to the Department of Public Works.”

She questioned why there should be further negotiation. “The land must now be transferred to [SAN]Parks. A specific date must be set when the occupants of the various structures must vacate the property. If they refuse, then the structures will have to be flattened.”

However, it’s not just the squatters that are blocking the establishment of the park. The land they are occupying is only one of three areas for the proposed park and, according to provincial parks director Johann van der Merwe, the park could go ahead without that area if it had to.

The province has submitted requests to the Department of Public Works, via the Ministry of Environmental Affairs, to have the other two areas proclaimed. Approval has already been obtained from the Northern Cape Department of Public Works. “However, despite numerous letters to the national Department of Public Works, there has been no response,” said Van der Merwe.