A prominent winelands property developer says he will have to erect a R7m fence across the mountainside overlooking Stellenbosch unless the municipality agrees to a land swap.
Werner Roux says the fence would encircle his company’s property on the slopes of Botmaskop, where he is building the upmarket Botmaskop residential estate. But it would prevent hikers and mountain bikers from crossing the top of his land and accessing the mountain range and valley beyond. It would also prevent municipal workers from using service roads, as they have been doing for years.
In a proposal served before the local council late last year, Roux outlined an alternative plan: swap the top piece of his land for a similar piece of land near the bottom, adjoining the area he is developing. “We propose to swap the two portions of 4,69ha each in size ... to secure the long-term access [to] and free flow between the various pockets of land, in support of the larger Stellenbosch community,” Roux said in a motivation letter as part of the company’s application to the municipality.
In effect, the swap would replace an existing “land-share” deal formalised six years ago in an encroachment agreement between the municipality and the previous owner of Roux’s mountainside property. The agreement enabled the municipality to freely access service roads criss-crossing the top part of the vacant property, which is covered in plantation and natural vegetation. It also allowed the previous owner access to municipal land adjoining the footprint of the planned residential development.
Roux said the encroachment agreement, which served its purpose at the time, would not work in the context of a multimillion-rand development that received environmental authorisation in 2021, shortly before his company purchased the land for R200m.
Roux has already erected a fence in the encroached-upon area close to the development footprint, and now intends putting it up around the entire property, but is reluctant to do so because of the tenuous nature of the encroachment agreement, which has a three-month cancellation clause. “We now must erect the security fence around the new Botmaskop Estate and need comfort in knowing we have long-term tenure and security in place. The cost of the fence is approximately R7m and cannot be easily removed and relocated once constructed,” reads his letter.
Without a land swap, the developers would also have to fence off the top portion of their land used by mountain bikers and hikers to reach surrounding trails, Roux’s letter says. “The access to these western land portions ... is of importance to the municipality, for the eradication and fight[ing] of fire, and for the pure reason of being able to access the remainder of your land. The accessibility is also of great importance to the larger Stellenbosch hiking and mountain biking community. Closure of this access road on the Botmaskop property, by means of the erection of a new security fence by the developers, will hinder any future access and ability to cross from Stellenbosch town towards the Banhoek Valley and surrounding trails, and will most certainly negatively impact on the ability to host hiking, running and mountain-biking events in the Banhoek Valley.”
The proposed swap is supported by the Stellenbosch Trail Fund, which maintains popular routes on the slopes of Botmaskop. “Access to three of the most important trails on Botmaskop — Goddess, Corkscrew and the traverse trail to Banhoek — will be destroyed,” the fund said in a submission to council.
Critics of the land swap claim Roux is effectively using the threat of prohibited mountain access to “strong-arm” the council into giving him land more suitable for development. They question whether the proposal is motivated purely by the desire to enable public and municipal access to the mountainous area.
A written objection submitted last week to the municipality by the Stellenbosch Interest Group (SIG) claims the land swap would be both unlawful and undesirable. The group is also calling for a probe into the legality of the development rights attached to Roux’s property, obtained by the previous landowner.
As an alternative to the proposed land swap, the SIG calls for an immediate moratorium on further development of the Botmaskop Estate pending an investigation into the controversy [over] the alleged development rights [in respect] of this property
— Stellenbosch Interest Group
Some feel the steep terrain is unsuited to residential development, despite the project having received environmental authorisation. “As an alternative to the proposed land swap, the SIG calls for an immediate moratorium on further development of the Botmaskop Estate pending an investigation into the controversy [over] the alleged development rights [in respect] of this property,” the group's acting chair, Ronnie Donaldson, said in the objection.
The group says the encroachment agreement never gave the private landowner the right to build or erect structures on municipal land. Turning the “usage” agreement into an ownership swap would effectively give the developers more valuable land. “The developers have unlawfully ... commenced with the development on the encroached area,” he said.
The issue has become political ahead of the elections, with the GOOD party laying a formal complaint with the provincial government. GOOD Stellenbosch councillor Marius van Stade claims the proposed land swap would benefit the developer at the expense of the broader community. “It must be noted that the developer’s property is located in a ditch with a much lower land value. The executive mayor and her mayoral committee supported the land swap of municipal land to the private developer, while the same municipal land was promised to build subsidised and affordable houses for residents of Idas Valley in Stellenbosch,” said Van Stade.
Roux this week said his actions were in everybody’s best interests and referred to his previous Longlands development closer to town that included social housing for 144 families “earmarked as a landmark social housing project in Stellenbosch and the Western Cape”.
“Once again, I am attempting to do the right thing for the larger Stellenbosch community,” he said of the land swap.
Municipal spokesperson Stuart Grobbelaar said council had yet to decide on the land swap. “An application was received but has not been approved by council, as the matter has been put out for an open and comprehensive public participation process.”
He said development rights for the property were obtained “long before the current administration’s tenure”.
Roux has a string of big developments to his name, including Lagoon Bay in the southern Cape. He is also a co-director with golfer Retief Goosen in a wine venture.
The planned Botmaskop residential development comprises 73 residential erven across 35ha of mountainside.
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