For those who have chosen to call the area around Gansbaai and the Overstrand home, it is more than just a place to live, it is a sanctuary. The looming threat of the new Khoisan Bay development in the cherished Nationally Endangered Overberg Dune Strandveld bordering De Kelders, has left us deeply disturbed. 

The Walker Bay Nature Reserve bordering the development, is also a haven for rare and endangered species and continued irresponsible developments like Khoisan Bay will threaten our environment, causing permanent and irreversible damage to the heritage of the area. 

The local environment is a source of beauty with its pre-historic history, rugged coastline and unique fynbos vegetation. It provides us, the local residents of the Gansbaai area, as well as visitors, with peaceful environments that we have appreciated for years.

1.     We face the devastating possibility of the obliteration of natural      habitats, threatening the biodiversity that has thrived in this area. For the Black Harrier, South Africa’s rarest and most threatened indigenous raptor, this piece of the Strandveld is its home. There are only 800 breeding adults still alive and this piece of land is a prolific nesting site for the Black Harrier.  It is so crucially endangered that the organisation Birds of South Africa has just succeeded to declare the Black Harrier as ‘bird of the year”, because of its critical status.

It is also the home of the near threatened Southern Adder, Cape Dwarf Chameleon and botanical species like Babiana nana. Several other species are listed as “near threatened” and “vulnerable” in the Botanical and Faunal  Impact Assessments of the area where the development is proposed.

2.     Years of construction of the new infrastructure, residential and business areas in future, would bring unwarranted noise, light pollution and demolish current roads not built for the construction machinery, affecting not only the residents but also the wildlife relying on the serenity and darkness of the reserve and its surrounds.

3.     These sites hold monumental cultural and historical value which deserves our utmost respect and preservation and ought to be celebrated, not demolished.  

4.   The realities of currently poor infrastructure, shortages of water, and many other factors of urban life, will not be sustainable with the influx of, at the very least, 472 new dwellings, a shopping centre, a school and a taxi rank 350 meters from the Walker Bay Nature Reserve.

5      Public Participation is of the utmost importance and has since inception not enjoyed the attention it deserves. Public Participation opportunities were in 2007 and in 2012.  There are currently many more current residents that need to have the chance to participate.

6.     Several of the specialist impact assessments are riddled with errors and are outdated, stretching as far back as 2007.  The demographics have changed substantially since then.

7.     Our efforts to have meaningful and transparent engagement with the Overstrand Municipality Manager, the Ministry of Local Government, Environmental Affairs, and Development Planning, the Overstrand Speaker, Town planner and the Overstrand Mayor has been for naught. 

8.     We urge local government and relevant authorities to reconsider the development plans and at the very least move the site to available land that is already environmentally severely degraded.

Never again will the Walker Bay Nature reserve enjoy the silence and sounds of nature.  With the development and shopping centre almost at its front gates, and with sound travelling far, this haven will be infiltrated by firstly bulldozers and noise for at least 5-10 years, and after that....people, cars, music, shopping centre lights.  Whales and dolphins, and the many animals that live peacefully in the nature reserve like leopards, buck, Serval cats and many more, will be affected for ever and ever.  With the constant noise, no human or animal will find solace in this environment anymore.  

Please stand with us to defend the National Heritage of the Walkerbay Complex in general, and the sanctity of the Walker Bay Nature Reserve within in the greater Gansbaai area and the Overstrand. This area is known as an International Natural Adventure Destination with prolific whale activity, pristine beaches, hiking trails and rare/threatened fauna and flora. 

Add your voice to ours by signing this petition and together let us strive to preserve the natural beauty and cultural significance of our beloved Overstrand, for current and future generation to come.

We are supported by The Overberg Renosterveld Trust and the Coastal Rewilding Organisation.