Recommendation is NO Approval

by Damon Leff

The George Executive Mayoral Committee has recommended an inappropriate application to amend the Knysna-Wilderness- Plettenberg Bay Sub-Regional Structure Plan submitted on behalf of the proposed Lakes Eco & Golf Reserve (Hoogekraal 182/1) by Southnet Projects. In response to criticism against the Mayoral Committee's decision, Deputy Mayor Flip de Swart defended the decision by appealing to the need to redress poverty and promote job creation, rejecting any prescription on how to conserve the
environment.

Social and environmental lobbies opposed to the Golf Reserve welcome Premier Ebrahim Rasool's endorsement of the recently published Provincial Spatial Development Framework and Guidelines for Golf and Polo Estates. In her address, Provincial Minister Tasneem Essop noted that whilst Golf Estates may " contribute to economic growth, job creation, rehabilitation of environmentally degraded areas, or the upgrading of infrastructure", developments such as that proposed, "deplete water resources, consume agricultural land, spoil landscapes and heritage resources, displace and divide especially rural communities, impact on access to resources such as the coast, contribute towards sprawl, perpetuate divisive patterns of spatial development through the segregation created by security measures and counter social integration and integrated sustainable public service delivery."

Accordingly the endorsed Guidelines determines that "The economic argument must not be misused through ignoring of the totality principle of the economic picture. Arguments of job creation and local economic development should not be forwarded to justify the approval of golf and polo estates outside of urban edges as the total economic picture."

Concerned interested and affected parties currently await a final verdict by the Western Cape MEC for Environmental Affairs and Development Planning on whether to allow developers to transform 1010 hectares of prime agricultural land into an exclusive millionaires golf and polo estate. The proposed estate is to be located on the northern shores of Swartvlei adjacent the Wilderness National Park and two Ramsar protected Lakes.

Information on the proposed Lakes Eco & Golf Reserve can be obtained from Hilland Associates at
(www.hilland.co.za/eiadownloads.htm)