By John Yeld Environment and Science Writer
The Western Cape's first proclaimed heritage site at Baboon Point in Elands Bay cannot be developed, a tribunal appointed to hear an appeal by a would-be developer has decided.
This decision, made in June, was confirmed last week by provincial Cultural Affairs, Sport and Recreation MEC Sakkie Jenner.
The heritage site, the first of its kind in the country, is considered to be one of the most important heritage conservation areas in Africa as it contains a unique, unbroken record of more than 100 000 years of human habitation.
But part of this rocky promontory at the southern end of the West Coast fishing village is privately owned, and an application for a proposed residential development there was submitted several years ago by Midnight Storm.
Any development application with potential heritage implications must be submitted to the province's statutory heritage authority, Heritage Western Cape (HWC), for approval.
But when considering this application last year, HWC got itself into a legal tangle because its two committees - the Built Environment and Landscape Committee, or BELCom, and the Archaeology, Palaeontology and Meteorites Committee (APM) - made conflicting decisions on the development application.
The situation was rectified in February when the full council decided to refuse the application, but the developer made a formal appeal to Jenner, who appointed the three-person appeal tribunal.
It was chaired by local attorney Igshaan Higgins. The other two members were prominent Cape Town restoration architect Gawie Fagan and Wits University archaeologist Dr Amanda Esterhuysen.
A special appeal hearing was held on May 13.
In its decision, the tribunal noted that the Baboon Point area was of "the highest archaeological significance". Its landscape contained not only a large number of archaeological sites, but also a range of different kinds of sites such as caves, shelters and shell middens, which included a "fairly rare" open-air Middle Stone Age (MSA) shell midden.
The long history of human habitation there included hunter-gatherer populations from the MSA and Later Stone Age, pastoralists within the past 2 000 years, early colonial farmers during the initial expansion of the Cape frontier, and more recently activity during World War II and for uses relating to the fishing industry.
"The age and range of sites offers deep-time insight into changing social economic activities on this landscape, and provides long-term environmental data used in the modelling of past and future climate," the tribunal stated.
It agreed with the stage one heritage impact assessment that "Baboon Point is an extraordinarily significant and sensitive area due to its archaeological significance, historical significance, botanical significance, possible spiritual significance, and landmark place-making qualities of the region".
There was little or no evidence to suggest that the economic development of the site outweighed the archaeological, cultural and historical significance of the proclaimed Provincial Heritage Site.
"The tribunal, having considered the cultural significance of the heritage resource in question, the heritage conservation principles and other relevant factors, including the legal grounds for appeal... dismisses the appeal for the proposed residential development at the proclaimed Provincial Heritage Site."