Knysna-Plett Herald

8 000-plus say no to taxi holding next to estuary

- Blake Linder

A petition against a temporary taxi rank that is planned by Knysna Municipali­ty on an environmen­tally sensitive property adjacent to the lagoon has garnered significan­t support online, reaching nearly 7 000 signatures within its first five days.

Knysna's estuary plays an integral role in the ecosystems that make up the environmen­tal beauty and natural serenity that lie in and around Knysna, and as the town grows, the lagoon and all of the ecosystems constantly come under more threat. One of the latest threats to the stability of the estuary's ecosystem, the petition states, comes in the form of a temporary taxi rank/holding that the municipali­ty is planning to build at the end of Auction Mart Avenue to house taxis until June 2020.

'Not a permanent solution'

According to the municipali­ty's director of community services, Eben Phillips, the emphasis needs to be placed on the fact that the holding will be temporary and not a permanent solution. "It will not be a fully fledged taxi rank but a holding facility while the upgrades to New Street are under way," Phillips said. The project to upgrade New Street – which includes tarring of the facility, provision of decent ablution facilities and parking – is, according to Phillips, only expected to conclude in June next year, meaning taxis could occupy the piece of land for up to seven months during the project.

This is a prospect that does not sit well with Knysna residents Andre Kruger and Ilse de Beer, who have since started a petition on the online platform Change.org to try and stop the municipali­ty from going ahead with its plans. The petition lists a variety of reasons why they feel the property is not a suitable solution for a temporary taxi holding, with the majority reasons centred around concern that the holding will severely impact the wellbeing of the estuary.

Important for conservati­on

According to the municipali­ty's website, the estuary "boasts considerab­le conservati­on importance with it ranking third of South Africa’s estuaries in terms of botanical importance, eighth in terms of importance for conserving fish, 19th in terms of water and bird conservati­on, and first in terms of overall conservati­on importance". While the entirety of the estuary might not be immediatel­y threatened by the potential taxi holding, De Beer is concerned about the immediate impact it could have on birdlife. With no freshwater for the birds to drink from close by, Kruger took matters into his own hands by building a freshwater pond in the area in contention.

When looking at the Western Cape Government's mapping software CapeFarmMa­pper, the petitioner­s' concerns seem well warranted given the fact that a portion of the property on which they have demarcated parking bays, falls within the boundary of protected areas set out by the Western Cape Biodiversi­ty Spatial Plan (WCBSP).

Despite this, the municipali­ty insists it would never build in an environmen­tally sensitive area. "KM would not proceed with establishi­ng facilities that are posing risks to the environmen­t," said municipal spokespers­on Dibandlela Nkume. He added that ablution facilities would be made available at the waste transfer station.

38 parking bays already prepared

An inspection at the site revealed that the area has already been cleared and prepared for the taxis, with 38 parking bays marked out, while the freshwater pond has been filled with soil and rocks too.

Nkume pointed out that the pond

"was illegally constructe­d" and that "the municipali­ty has no record of any form of approval for it to be there". In response to this, Kruger said while they may say it was illegally constructe­d, all he did was dig a hole and provide freshwater to the birds. "It should matter more about the birdlife and environmen­t than anything else," he added.

The petition began on Thursday 7 November and immediatel­y caught the eye of Knysna's eco-warriors, with the document receiving 1 000 signatures on the first day. By the time of going to print the petition stood at just over 8 100 signatures.

Despite rumours this week that the taxi holding had been moved, the municipali­ty denied this, saying, "The status quo remains."

 ??  ?? A truck extracts water from the dam that Andre Kruger built for the local birdlife, prior to the filling of the pond with rocks and soil.
A truck extracts water from the dam that Andre Kruger built for the local birdlife, prior to the filling of the pond with rocks and soil.
 ?? Photo: Blake Linder ?? A dam which was built for the birds was removed by the municipali­ty.
Photo: Blake Linder A dam which was built for the birds was removed by the municipali­ty.

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