St Thomas Anglican Church

Stanford’s historical St Thomas Anglican church will be celebrating its 150^th year of existence during the weekend 19 & 20 July.  The main feature will be a celebration concert on Saturday the 20^th from 6 – 8 pm.  This will be a black tie event, with the inspiring A Volonté Trio from Hermanus (who between them play the piano, violin, cello, clarinet, saxophone, accordion and the organ) providing an outstanding programme of classical music.  Guest artist will be local soprano Bea Whittaker, performing, amongst others, Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, a magnificent piece of chamber music for voice, clarinet and piano.  There will also be a short organ piece on the church’s reed organ, which is being restored at the moment and will hopefully be ready by 20 July.

The concert is a fund-raising event to enable the church to fix the thatch roof of the adjacent hall – the original ‘oulap’ school in Stanford.   Tickets are therefore sold at R175p/p, which includes a pre-concert glass of sherry and a post-concert mingle with local wine, soup and canapés prepared by Alex and Tabby from Graze, and sweets prepared by the congregation. Well worth the expense!

Only 100 seats are available, and the event will be publicised far and wide, as well as to everyone who got married in the church the last 5 years!  Tickets are available from Bea Whittaker [(028) 341-0430 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ] or from the Tourism Bureau.

Royd Frith, chair of Stanford’s Conservation Trust in front of the Willem Appel Dam, part of a new Wetlands project he is driving.

Royd Frith arrived in Stanford after Arniston, where he had a weekend house and loved dearly, lost its allure because of beach access restrictions.  Royd and Lindsay started looking for somewhere else and Stanford offered tranquillity, charm, diversity in nature, conservation, history… and, most important… birds!

They bought a plot eight years ago and moved into the house designed by Maureen Wolters two years later.  The landscaping was designed by Sean Privett, who is also part of the team at Grootbos Private Nature Reserve (read more).  “We recreated Eden here,” says Royd and it is one of the warmest and most-welcoming houses I’ve ever visited.  The exceptionally-deep veranda encloses two sides of the house and is my new veranda benchmark.

They sold their very successful labour broking company – which they had run together – to Dimension Data and arrived with enthusiasm about what could be done in Stanford.

Royd’s first civil society position was as deputy MD of Stanplan, a section 21 company established to right some of the wrongs in the community.  It exposed him to some of the problems that existed in the town at the time and Stanplan failed to achieve expectations.  This really is a pity because it was the perfect vehicle to drive change in the village.

Then he threw his energies into the Stanford Bird Club and the Stanford Bird Fair where he became chairman.  These have prospered and the Stanford Bird Fair is today arguably one of the notable events on the South African birding calendar.

When he first became chair of the Stanford Conservation Trust and Stanford Heritage Committee, there was rancour in the village over David Abbott’s proposal for a golf estate on the outskirts of the town.  When the committee was invited on a site visit to see what was proposed, he was the only member to go.  “There is no logic, common sense and vision in Stanford and that still exists today,” he says.

“All the civil society organisations were just going through the motions,” he says, “doing what needs to be done, with no real achievements and no real goals.  Tourism is a mess and there are undercurrents in the town – it is completely lacking in vision and empathy.  This shows in the tourism and ratepayers’ organisations.”

He accepted that some this this was his fault and, after a breakdown, Martin Ranger took over as chair of the Stanford Conservation Trust.  Royd took the decision to change his heavy-drinking lifestyle and gave up alcohol without counselling or assistance.  He started to refocus, exploring how the ethos of the village can be maintained and nurtured.

In October 2012 he stepped down as chair of the Stanford Bird Fair and asked new-blood, former advertising executive, Peter Hochfelden to take over, mentoring him for a changeover period.  “This has been an unmitigated success!” he says.  The involvement of William Stevens (who put Madikwe Reserve in Northwest province together) and sponsorship from his De Hoop Collection is seeing the 2013 Bird Fair reach heights nobody would have thought possible.

Another initiative the Frith’s have started is “Eagle Eyes” — fund-raising to enable the Stanford Bird Club to launch its Bird Life education initiative.  The first course has focused on bird identification for disadvantaged primary school learners, which required the acquisition of a number of binoculars.

As Ward 11 Councillor – and still a member of the Stanford Conservation Trust – Royd also tackled the development of the Stanford Wetlands that wind through the village to the Klein River.  “Bea Whittaker wrote the motivation for why the wetland should be recognised and it is the finest piece of journalism and motivation I’ve ever seen,” he recalls.

He goes on, saying “And I want this included… Bea is impulsive… but she has done some of the finest conservation work this village has ever seen.  She is doing lots to establish a vision for Stanford.”

Selective clearing of reeds has started and the Friths have donated a huge ‘Wendy House’ in the garden of a house he’s just purchased to Overstrand Municipality for use as a bird hide.  It’s so large that it’s being converted in four bird hides – two for the Willem Appel Dam in Stanford and two for Gansbaai — at least one of which will be wheelchair friendly!

The redevelopment of the Wetlands offers one element in joining Stanford and Stanford South, the affluent and poorer areas.

With his re-election as chair of Stanford Conservation Trust in April, it’s not “business as usual.”  He takes over from Martin Ranger, saying “you won’t find a more solid committee man than he.”  But there’s a new team and everything is being run by focused sub-committees.

“Basil Whittaker has been looking after the Wandelpad (path) along the river and it’s never looked better.  Guy Whittle is looking at the meent (common or Market Square) and what should be done there.  Bernie Oberholzer’s proposals for the Wetlands and to integrate Stanford and Stanford South are being pursued, along with a more attractive entrance to the village.  Overstrand Municipality has won the Greenest Town award and funding from this is being sought to green, integrate and grow Stanford’s two communities.”

“Conservation needs credibility.  The Stanford Bird Fair needs to become one of the great bird shows of the world.  Our ratepayers’ Association is dormant.  Tourism doesn’t exist and is our biggest single embarrassment.

“We need a Stanford Partnership where everybody buys into a Vision for Stanford and everybody helps drive it forward.”

Jurgen & Susanne Schneider — compelling dining

Jennifer Weber set the scene: “Jurgen opened a restaurant in Eastern Germany and it received its Michelin star after only 10 months. Berliners drove 160km over gravel roads to dine there. He knows what he’s doing. He’s had a Michelin star continuously for 18 years.”

“It wasn’t easy,” says Jurgen, “because there was nothing there when we started but… we have experience in adventures!  We lived in a mobile home.”  Today, Googling Gutshaus Stolpe shows a different story.  They are a couple that revel in big challenges and hard work.

They met while Susanne trained under Jurgen and discovered they shared the same passions.  In Germany, they have trained over 60 people under the German apprentice system and they want to do the same in Stanford.

Jurgen’s style of cooking is creative — he’s a forager… you’ll find him out on his mountain bike looking for mushrooms or edible plants.  “There’s so much you can do with seaweed, for example,” he says, “in Europe you pay more than €20/kg for it!”

Less concerned “with the optics”, he concentrates on tastes, textures and aromatics: “you can get three or four different tastes from one product.”  He tries to find interesting combinations.

A dinner — in the building site of the to-be-restaurant, was held for a German TV crew that filmed their departure from Germany, their arrival in SA and the town they have made their new home.  The menu was written on the wall; produce was mainly foraged from around the farm… and the result was a dining experience that all agreed was unsurpassed anywhere!

They’ve already planted their vegetable garden and orchard, and most days that’s where one finds Susanne while Jurgen oversees the renovation of the old building that’s being converted in the restaurant.

When the restaurant opens in October, Jurgen promises a menu that will change daily, be close to nature and very seasonal.  Apart from the fine dining area, “there will be a Winemaker’s Table — a long table where guests can come together and interact – we will also serve a very affordable set menu as well as small dishes , like salads and cheeseplatters etc.   We think that Stanfordians will want to visit us in the evening just to have a glass of wine,” says Susanne.  It will be a very “social” restaurant.

They have lots of ideas, “but we’ll see what works,” Jurgen says.

Expect a new and very compelling reason to visit Stanford from October.

Looking across the vines at Springfontein Wine Estate towards the lagoon and Hermanus

Jennifer & Johst Weber

Johst Weber always had the aim that by the time he was forty he would start a venture of his own, something he could be truly passionate about.

A second generation mining engineer in Germany’s Ruhr Valley, he was an executive at the Thyssen Group, responsible for facility management.  After Thyssen he started an energy contracting business which provides cost-effective energy solutions, and operates in Germany and the USA.

With his passion for wine, acquiring a wine estate was an obvious choice.  Farms in the more established areas were too pricey and then he heard about a farm that might be for sale outside Stanford — not a known wine-growing area of any note although estates in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley nearby were already very highly regarded.

Visiting the farm, he found it was occupied by a few cows and goats, and a solitary old man.  The rest was wilderness, but there was a productive spring and a limestone ridge ran through the property which made it ideal for vines.

So, in 1995, he bought Springfontein with a group of friends, retaining the majority share.  The first vines were planted in 1998 and the last blocks completed in 2002.  The first vintage was in 2005.

Vines cover 25ha of the 500ha property.  The vineyards are made up of 80% red varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Shiraz, Pinotage and Merlot, and 20% white varietals such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay. The two flagship wines of the winery are two typical South African varieties namely the Jil’s Dune Chenin blanc and the Jonathan’s Ridge Pinotage.

Jennifer, Johst’s second wife, has brought a new focus and energy to the estate.  From the USA, she grew up in farming communities and trained in France and Germany on biodynamic farms.  Her first business was landscaping in California which she ran for six years.  When her marriage ended, she needed to earn more money and started consulting as a systems advisor and business coach, working for HP, BMW, Mercedes-AMG and Audi in Germany.  Her last projects as sales and technical trainer finished in 2011.

Together they bring the determination and competence to make Springfontein a winning destination in its own right.  The appointment Tariro Masayiti as winemaker last year started a new and very exciting chapter in the wines from the estate.  The arrival of Jurgen & Susanne Schneider from Germany this year to open a restaurant on the estate later in the year will make Springfontein one of the most compelling destinations in the area.  Farm accommodation in the Milkwood forest will follow later.

And it’s not just about the estate and how they treat staff there, they are also committed to making a difference in the wider community.  They are exploring the possibility of opening a culinary academy in the town where students will get their practical experience at the estate’s restaurant.

They may have just been known for their wines up to now, but Springfontein is about to become far more than that in the coming months…

Bea Whittaker — few have worked harder for the village

Bea Whittaker has boundless energy and is another stalwart of the various civil society organisations in the town.  Today she is the independent member of the ward committee, which means she can’t serve on the committee of any organisation.

But that doesn’t stop her getting involved in anything that will benefit Stanford.

Bea and Basil Whittaker came to Stanford in 1994.  “Basil had a plot at De Kelders and we stopped at Stanford en route, admiring the vista to the mountains.  I was working at Parliamentary Services in Cape Town and we were thinking about a home for retirement.  We took photographs and came back on holiday, and bought our first house on the Market Square.”

Then Marlene (Marlene’s Properties and another stalwart) told Bea that Stanford House was looking for a couple to manage the hotel.  Impulsively they resigned from their demanding jobs — and the holiday home became a permanent home.  In 1995 she joined Marlene and Mariana Esterhuizen on Stanford’s tourism committee, as they wanted to put Stanford on the map.  “It was much more informal then.  Things just got done… it was much easier before the establishment of the cumbersome Overstrand Municipality.  Now, municipalities are ruled and regulated to inertia,” she says.

In the mean time, in 1996, the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) started the Hermanus Water Conservation Project and Bea, having just started her Milkwood Communications business and having worked for the Department before moving to Stanford and a MBA behind her name, was the ideal person to appoint as project manager for the four-year project.  It achieved worldwide recognition as the first successful municipal water conservation and demand management project in the world.  She consulted on various other similar projects in South Africa.  Her project management and communications skills also took her to Ethiopia in 2000, where the World Bank asked her to draw up a communications strategy for the Addis Ababa water authority – an experience and country never to forget.

But between managing and running her own company with demanding projects, she still had (and still has!) time for Stanford.  In 1996 she joined the Stanford Conservation Trust, which was established by Peter de Villiers, David Evans and Mariana in 1991.  Stanford’s core was proclaimed a Conservation Area through the efforts of these three Stanford stalwarts.

Next she raised money from the DWA and the Department of Agriculture and more than 70ha of alien vegetation was cleared in the area around The Eye and next to the river in a four year project, employing more than 70 people.

Bea became chair of the Heritage Committee and oversaw the publishing of the Stanford Style booklet.  When Stanford turned 150, the committee arranged an entire weekend of heritage events which brought people in from far and wide.  The weekend also raised funds for the Historical Stanford on Foot brochure, another initiative of Bea and her committee. (She also helped SJ du Toit with her books on Stanford.)  In the last year of her tenure as chair she obtained R80,000 from the Roland & Leta Hill Fund for the restoration of the historic Anglican church.  With the church turning 150 this year, she is arranging another black tie event for 20 July 2013 to raise more funds – this time to fix the thatch of the church hall.

She and Basil have for years been involved with the Wandelpad, the brainchild of Mariana Esterhuizen and David Evans, alongside the river.  Twice a week the Wandelpad committee manages a job creation team funded by the Department of Environmental Affairs.  The “Green Team”, as they are fondly known, has worked wonders along the river, and is regarded as the best team in the Overstrand Municipality.  She believes that the riverfront still has to achieve its full potential.

She makes the point that any organisation is only as successful as the person steering it.  “He or she must be a lateral thinker who sees opportunities.”

“Stanford people are lovely people,” she says.  “We may sometimes fight like mad, yet when trouble brews we stick together like glue.  But there is a problem with the village.  It attracts people that are exceptionally successful in previous lives, but too gentlemanly to put up a fight with authorities.  We need more people who will stick their necks out and get involved.”

Bea wants to get the village going… “but there’s no CEO who acts and gets things done.”

She also bemoans the lack of communication.  She writes about ward committee meetings and other issues in every issue of River Talk — the local monthly magazine, which primarily reaches the more affluent residents.  But there are many committees which don’t provide any public feedback, and “people want to know what’s happening without being a member of the organisation.”  Tourism, Ratepayer and Conservation Trust could share much more.

Some might find Bea pushy or bossy, and I might have been a little intimidated by her had I not discovered that she’s Arie Burggraaf’s sister.  Then everything fell into place.  I got to know Arie in 1986 when he was appointed to chair a committee to look at opening up SA harbours for commercial development — one outcome of the 1985 Pierhead Festival I organised which regained public access to Cape Town’s docks  for the first time since 1966 and the Suez ‘crisis’.

Arie went on to become a director of the V&A Waterfront company and I worked with him until 1999.  (The Waterfront story published on CapeInfo is actually based on a paper I prepared for Arie.)  Some people found Arie pushy… but the Waterfront would never have happened without him.  He saw opportunities and ways around obstacles.  And he was tenacious.

Stanford doesn’t know how lucky it is to have someone of Bea’s calibre and commitment.

Peter & Mariana Esterhuizen in the kitchen of Marianas, which put Stanford firmly on the foodie map.

Very few people get to choose the lifestyle they want to lead and actually manage to hang on to it.  But Peter & Mariana Esterhuizen have achieved just that.

The fact that Marianas is named as one of the top country kitchens year after year has less to do with it the lifestyle Stanford affords.

“Mariana  and I were at school together,” Peter recalls, “but we actually met when we were three years old!  So it’s been a long relationship.”  They were married in Stanford in 1981, because Mariana’s parents had a holiday house at nearby De Kelders, but at that stage they had no thoughts about moving to Stanford.

Then in 1983 they had their first uninterrupted three week holiday, at De Kelders, and started thinking about moving from Cape Town to the country.  They looked at all the small towns, like Barrydale, which have become so popular with city people since then.  Their criterion was “What do you do on a Sunday afternoon when the wind blows and it’s miserable?”

The next challenge was how to make a living in a small town.  Mariana worked as a translator at Parliament and Peter was in the music industry.  Then Mariana’s father suggested to Peter he might need to learn a trade and so he learnt to be be an electrician at an adult training centre, culminating in an intensive apprenticeship at the City of Cape Town.  Stanford proved to be a good spot to ply his new-found trade.

Mariana devoted her energies to planting vegetables and before long she had a glut of produce.  And that led them to the weekly Hermanus market which at that stage only had ten stalls, eight of which sold food.  They spent twelve years at the market and it was there that they established a loyal client base that was second to none.

“The market was a party… and hard work,” says Mariana.  “We gave people what they wanted — organic vegetables, pesto, tapenade (long before it was seen anywhere else in SA), pies and breads.  When we got to the market each week, we’d find people already waiting for us and by the time we finished unpacking the van, there were nine people abreast and 15 deep.  We sold out in two hours!  After three or four years we had a cult following.  I was really proud of that market.”

Regulars like Gerrie Heynecke would arrive with a bowl to be filled for lunch back home for his guests and family.  “It was all very social.”

She names Hennie & Jennie van der Bijl with their fresh asparagus and home-made butter,  oom Boetie Arendts who sold fresh vegetables and cooked soup for lunch on a Primus stove and Kathleen Barendse , a third-generation veteran who had started at the Old Harbour market, as the mainstays.

“There was camaraderie and good products,” she says.  Peter was the chair of the traders’ association.  Then the municipality, due to pressure from prospective traders, created more stalls and the squabbling started.  It became more of a fleamarket and when they left after 12 years there were 280 stalls with only two selling food.  “They wanted to preserve history but they killed the heritage.”

Either Peter or Mariana walking the dogs is a frequent sight in Stanford.

Life in Stanford itself was also rather special.  “In small towns one gets involved in community activities.”  Stanford had its own municipality with a mayor and five councillors.  It was controlled by the Nationalist Party, who played hardball and dirty during elections but were magnanimous in victory.  Things got done in the town quickly and pragmatism was the rule of the day.  It was a happy town pre-1994 and the new era of super-municipalities.

If municipal politics in the ‘old days’ was a religion for some, for others it was an anti-establishment sport with a social conscience.  Mariana and a few others stood as independents.  For the first democratic elections, when they realised they needed a logo, a symbol of a tree was hastily scribbled… and they became known as the “Boom Party” and “were trashed by the Nats,” she recalls .

When the Stanford Transitional Council was being established in 1992, the challenge of bringing diverse groups together met a snag.  Peter, Mariana and Gavin Carstens, with an interpreter, headed off to De Kop (the Black squatter camp) to find a solution, and asked to speak to someone in charge.  Back in town, at the following meeting, they were accused by the late Jan Stander of creating both the ANC Women’s League and the ANC Youth League!

After almost 30 years in the village, between them Mariana and Peter have served on virtually every committee that addresses village affairs.  Listening to the stories is like a roll call of people who influenced the village — Dick Metcalfe, Mike van Rijn, Brigadier Laurie van Vuuren, Jan Stander, Henry Gibson, Willem Appel, Naas Bojé, Gavin Carstens and Hermie Lategan.  Village issues were fiercely fought and sometimes ended in the Supreme Court, with bon vivant Advocate Allie Blommaert taking on one of the cases.

When author SJ du Toit (two volumes of Stanford Stories) won an award and was invited to Johannesburg to receive it.  She was extremely excited, but could not afford the expense of travelling to Johannesburg.  That evening Peter and Mariana went to the local pub and put R100 on the counter and asked others to join in.  SJ’s ticket was covered and property agent Jill Smith found a place for SJ to stay.   Stanford is a village that looks after its own.

And what about Marianas, the restaurant?  The change 13 years ago from the deli in Owl’s Barn — selling lettuces and quiches, with a few deli goods, and catering for the odd table — to a restaurant took a fortnight.   It has been voted the top country kitchen in SA and Rossouw’s Guide rates it highly for consistency.

Eat Out describes it:
Food:
There’s a lovable quirkiness to the menu at this Stanford institution, yet the dishes that flow from Mariana Esterhuizen’s small kitchen are as homely as could be. Ingredients are sourced locally or straight from her own herb and vegetable garden. Tuck into slow-roasted ‘skaap and dinges’, tender ‘oink neck’, a wonderfully light gruyere soufflé, or her justifiably famous chicken pie made from the most liberated of free-range birds. Delightful country cooking where nothing will disappoint.

Wine:
A small yet carefully selected list of estates, both local and from further afield, with a handful available by the glass.

Service:
While Mariana cooks up a storm, her husband Peter welcomes guests and explains the day’s dishes. There’s a warm, personal touch that’s missing from so many eateries.

Ambience:
A quaint home-style restaurant with a few flourishes. By and large it’s a relaxed setting crying out for languid lunches.

And…:
Reservations are essential, especially during holiday periods. (RH, October 2011)

Marianas is only open from Thursdays to Sundays between noon and 4pm.  Wednesdays are preparation days in Mariana’s kitchen at home — across the vegetable garden from the restaurant.  And Mondays and Tuesdays are Peter and Mariana’s weekend.

At the end of a very long interview, and much wine, Mariana spoke about the glue that holds everything together — Peter’s amazing ability to welcome guests and put them at ease in a signature way that few people ever achieve.  “Peter is… my saving grace…”

Of course, one picks up the inevitable grumbles in Stanford as one does in any town.  But there’s no denying — which is evident to anyone driving through the area — that few municipal areas are as well-maintained.  Basic service delivery here is of a very high standard but then there’s little excuse for getting that wrong.  What is more difficult is having a shared vision of where everything is headed.

Stanford’s lifeblood is tourism which is derived from its status a heritage village.  Destroy its architectural fabric and it will lose all appeal.

A visit to the local municipal office is where my rosy-eyed optimism started going very awry.  Writing this became a challenge and it’s ended up being a very different story to what was envisaged at the outset.  But all one can do is “tell it as it is…”

The meeting with the municipality’s area manager for Stanford was bizarre beyond the extreme.  It’s the stuff that would be worthy of a ludicrous satire.  A delightful person and probably a capable manager of basic service delivery, the very personal opinions expressed belonged to the dark ages of municipal management.  When someone acknowledges having no love of historical buildings and no vision for Stanford in 20 years’ time, yearning rather for the boeredorp (farm village) it once was, one is filled with a sense of hopelessness.

So that’s one interview that won’t be published!  For which the Municipality is very grateful!

Nicolette Botha-Guthrie, Overstrand mayor

I met the mayor — Nicolette Botha-Guthrie — for the first time at a StanfordInfo function.  I was impressed.  I was less impressed by the mayoral committee member responsible for finance & economic development (which includes tourism), Ben Solomon.  The three of us were standing around a table when I commented that their marketing department’s strategy to get the 90,000 day-visitors to Gansbaai to spend more time in the area was unbelievably poor.  Ben responded gruffly that I should never have received the strategy because it’s a work-in-progress.  “How can you have a work-in-progress for 10 years, because that’s how long day-trippers have been visiting Gansbaai?” I asked.  “Somebody isn’t doing their job.”  With a dismissive wave, he indicated he was not prepared to discuss this further.  So how’s that for accountability?

Nicolette said I should come and see her so I made an appointment for some weeks later.  Public opinion in the area rates her very highly, and I think that Overstrand and the towns are very lucky to have an executive mayor as committed to her job, and the area.

Nicolette’s parking bay at the municipal offices is always one the first to be occupied and one of the last to be vacated — she works very hard!  She says she never turns down an opportunity to speak at public functions and she meets with everybody, all the time.  She is a passionate, accessible communicator.

She is a mayor for all citizens, she states clearly, not only the DA voters who made her mayor.  “We learnt from when the ANC was in power and shut us out of all decisions.  We make sure that everybody is involved,” she says.

When I mentioned my concern that started about 10 years ago about the municipality’s corporate culture she jumped up and said, “We have a vision!” fetching a large report.  She plonked down the Integrated Development Plan down — “her bible” — and said, “Our vision is to be a centre of excellence!”

Then I asked about an Urban Design Framework to guide development, especially in sensitive areas like Stanford.  “We’ve got that too,” she said, “it’s our Growth Management Framework by Urban Dynamics.”

Well… a Growth Management Framework (GMP) is not an Urban Design Framework and, looking at their website, Urban Dynamics doesn’t appear to have any professional urban designers on their professional team (although they offer it as a service).  Portion of  the report was prepared by ACG Architects but all I got back from a query asking if they have any professionally-qualified urban designers on their team was a read receipt.

The GMP’s chapter on Stanford cannot be described as a vision – it is a glorified zoning plan. It appears that nobody in the community was consulted.  Not the Ratepayers, the Conservation Trust, tourism, nor business leaders or any of the local expertise. It therefore does not have any credibility, and is so broad in scope that its usefulness is extremely dubious. The Stanford community have been asking for a local Spatial Framework Plan to guide development only to be told that there are no funds. It would be interesting to know what the GMP cost.

Why’s this important?  Urban Design is very complex and critically important.  It is a visionary skill and talent and that’s not something a planner — with no design skills –  can tackle.  Few architects have the capability either.

What is even more serious, says one professional, is that there is no comprehensive environmental management plan for the Overstrand.  Houses continue to be approved in floodplains, fire prone mountain slopes, wetlands, sensitive coastal zones, rock-fall hazard areas, etc. putting people’s lives at risk, stretching emergency services, disrupting ecosystems and threatening water catchments – something the GMP did not think it was necessary to address.

Before I left Nicolette, she asked if I would note all my points in an email so they could be attended to.  She and Fanie Krige, the communications manager, received that the following morning.  A day later Fanie told me it had been forwarded to the relevant managers and he hoped to let me have written replies within a few days.  Not a single written reply was received in the ensuing two weeks… Then, after receiving the draft of this story, he wrote to say he had received written responses and forwarded them to me.  The relevant points have been added here.

My next meeting was with John Simson,Manager: Building Control Services, to find out about why property owners who want to preserve and enhance Stanford’s traditional streetscapes – its biggest asset – are penalised.

Many property owners want to do the right thing – respecting the street architecture in Stanford by building closer to the street than the arbitrary building line permitted – but face a problem. The local Heritage Committee may whole-heartedly endorsed the plan, and Heritage Western Cape will approve it in one day, but Municipality’s Planning Department required an additional R1400 application fee and eight months to approve the plan – to approve something that should have been the norm in the first place!

The problem lies with the new Integrated Zoning Scheme, which standardised all the individual zoning schemes that existed for each town and village, as if they are all uniformly the same, regardless of the unique environmental and cultural heritage conditions of each settlement. It is a result of the same inane thinking used by paid outside consultants who know little of the area.  It was a retrogressive step, now requiring overlay zoning schemes to accommodate the specific requirements of each town, and with which there has been no visible progress.  It’s blundering bureaucracy!

Before the Stanford Zoning scheme was proclaimed in 2004, the historical building line was regarded as the norm.  One still had to write to ask that Land Use Planning Ordinance’s general building rules be waived, but it was a letter-process rather than a formal application with costs involved.  The decision was then made by the Stanford council.

John was very helpful but felt my question needed to be directed to the planning department rather, because this would be addressed — in part — by the new zoning plan, due between April and June this year.  But… he said the special zoning overlay Stanford has been asking for since 2003 hasn’t been prepared and, when it is, won’t resolve the issue I raise.

The next two interviews were the least productive, and seemed to take place with an irritated reception and an almost aggressive/defensive atmosphere.

First was Riaan Kuchar, Senior Manager: Town Planning and Property Administration.  He confirmed what John had told me and said that several overlay zones will have to be prepared.  This could drag on for years.

Yes, legislation is a straitjacket but there must be smarter ways of doing things.  I think back to the V&A Waterfront’s Package of Plans approach that I helped with.  And I remembered that when Helen Zille became Western Cape Education MEC many years ago, she asked for a lawyer in her office – not to enforce laws but to find ways of doing things faster and better within the law.  Is it any wonder that she is admired so?

Riaan made the point that he can’t think of another municipality that has done as much to address environmental issues of every kind for its diverse natural and built environments.  He used the example of their appointment of a heritage architect.  I corrected him, saying they appointed a heritage planner, which he conceded to.  One doesn’t expect this kind of muddled thinking from someone in his position.

He is a planner by profession, having studied at Potchefstroom University (now University of Northwest).  He agreed when I said that what’s taught up there is very different to the planning taught at locally.  (I experienced the archaic, rule-book approach of Transvaal planners from the Department of Community Development when I worked at the Mitchells Plain Planning Unit in the 1970s.)

I get an ongoing sense that Overstrand does things by the book… with little initiative, innovation and transparency.  It’s a route that costs ratepayers dearly in consultant’s fees.

Stanford does not have a parking problem – it has too few feet and too few cars to support the few businesses in town.

My biggest concern is the way that parking is being handled in Stanford.  Some years after someone opened a collectibles shop operating out of a garage alongside the house where they let out one room, they received the demand to provide six on-site parking bays!

This is more than a little absurd when; firstly, the municipality has no parking plan for the municipal area.  And secondly, the municipal parking area was sold to a developer who was erecting a commercial building!  The municipal offices do not comply with their own parking requirements, not the least being the provision of disabled parking.  Riaan conceded this.

The parking area referred to should never have been sold as it was a golden opportunity to create a paved village square – a ‘heart’ right in the centre of Stanford.  It was a bungled opportunity because of the lack of a vision and an urban design plan for Stanford.  I’ve been told that this sale is being investigated by the Public Protector.

Stanford does not have a parking problem – it has too few feet and too few cars to support the few businesses in town. If you look down the main street during a week day, you can usually count the number of cars on one hand. It is ridiculous to apply parking standards used in Cape Town or Hermanus to a small country town – another example of the standardised zoning scheme that implies one-size-fits-all, and a mindless bureaucracy that imposes it.

The municipality’s current policy will destroy all hope for a strong and environmentally-attractive retail core in Stanford, and flies against all sensible urban design practices.  Compare what Overstrand Municipality wants for Stanford to what happens in Franschhoek, which thrives!

Some years ago, local architect Guy Whittle and a few others approached the municipality with a proposal for parking around Market Square, which is within easy walking distance of the whole village.  What had happened to this, I asked?

A proposal to upgrade Stanford’s Market Square with parking in the two roads on either side.

One of the comments received after the draft story was sent to the Municipality was from Schalk van der Merwe, Municipal Town Planner for Gansbaai and Stanford:“The redevelopment of Market Square is contentious as the residents are not in agreement about what must happen. There is no plan on the table at the moment as all previous plans were rejected by the community. The idea to develop parking around Market Square, however, is supported by the municipality.”  Any change is contentious and it takes leadership and vision to drive change.  V&A Waterfront or St George’s Mall would never have happened without leadership.  Does Overstrand have inspired municipal leadership?

Back to Riaan: It will still go ahead at some or other stage, but the parking there will be for municipal use and not to alleviate the obligations of businesses.  The municipality does allow businesses to purchase parking spaces remote from their premises but, Riaan commented rather smugly, “I can’t see any Stanford businesses paying what it will cost.”

I found his attitude unhelpful and unlikely to ever realise positive and practical outcomes for Stanford.  The last straw was when he said, “So go and tell your buddies back in Stanford…” which I found completely unprofessional.  Maybe it’s a cultural thing.

Then it was Solomzi (Solly) Madikane, Director: Economic Development.  He was just leaving the office when I arrived at the appointed time, and would have missed him had I not been accompanied by Fanie Krige.  Unfortunately, this was the only meeting that Fanie did not sit in on.

To get things rolling, I asked him what the main focus areas were for Overstrand’s local economic development.  “Why do you want to know?” he asked.  “I’m not answering that.  It wasn’t in the list of points you raised with the mayor.”  I wondered if this was going to be a five-minute interview.  Surely that’s a perfectly normal scene-setting question to someone in his position?

So I moved on to criticisms of any evidence of the Overstrand DMO’s marketing plan.  “I agree with them,” he said, “there is no plan.”  How can a marketing department that has been in existence for ±3 years with a person in charge for ±18 months not have a marketing plan?  When will there be a marketing plan?  “We’ve asked for funding in the next budget so we’ll have a marketing plan after June,” was the answer.

Surely the marketing plan is the first thing one tackles and, surely, that’s where all one’s budget goes when you start?  I wonder what Alan Winde (provincial minister of Finance and Economic Development) will have to say to this.

Given that there is no marketing plan for tourism businesses in the Overstrand, I thought this was the right time to raise the issue of the business property tax that accommodation establishments attract in the Overstrand.  This is not the norm in the Western Cape!

In the written replies received after the municipality the draft story, Ben Solomon stated “This approach to B&B’s and guesthouses is not unique to Overstrand Municipality and you will find it almost at all other municipalities.”  So I wrote back to ask “which municipalities?” and received the following:  “We do not have so much interaction with other local municipalities to answer the question fully, but a quick scan of other municipalities’ websites indicated that similar policies are followed at least at Mossel Bay, Saldanha Bay and Oudtshoorn.”

So how can he make that statement if he can’t back it up with facts?  We’re checking this out (and compiling a comparative list of rates and service charges by municipalities) and I think we’ll find that his “almost all” is hopelessly incorrect.  What we have learnt is that guest houses in Mossel Bay have formed a trust and are taking their municipality to court on this issue.  And it seems that Afriforum will be taking up the battle at a national level.

Overstrand’s rating policy for accommodation establishments was introduced when a standalone Destination Marketing Organisation was established in 2007, as a way to pay for it.  The DMO was subsequently abolished and the marketing function taken over by the municipality.

My question to Solly was, “Does the business rating of accommodation properties benefit job creation and investment?”  He was unambiguous in his answer that it does not, and went on to say that the business rating for accommodation establishments had been phased out.  “No, it hasn’t,” I replied.  “Then why has nobody complained to me,” he answered, and undertook to make enquiries.

So, Overstrand property owners who provide accommodation services, the municipal property rates policy is due to be reviewed very soon.  I suggest you write to the mayor, your ward councillor, your newspaper and anybody else you can think of to appeal against being treated differently to most other property owners in the Western Cape.  And send This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. too so he knows your views!

In the end, the meeting ran the full hour and we left on far better terms than when we started.

So, is Overstrand a centre of excellence?  Not by a long chalk.  Tourism, the area’s primary economic activity, is not being managed – it can’t be without a marketing plan.  And the vast expenditure on consultant’s reports and the awards received does not guarantee excellence.  I experienced an unusual – by 2013 standards – culture at the municipality.  It’s archly-conservative and relies on its rules more than common sense.  It’s lost the pragmatic “boer maak ’n plan”-for-the-public-good approach that characterised the small towns which were absorbed into the larger municipality.  Yes, municipal regulations are far more stringent but a metro like Cape Town shows what can be done by working with local citizens.  If Cape Town’s City Hall and maybe even the Company Gardens can be leased to the Cape Town Partnership, why can’t Stanford’s Market Square be leased to the Stanford Conservation Trust?  Why not work with citizens rather than over them?

For an area so richly endowed in natural and heritage assets, a Peer Review (as was employed at the V&A Waterfront) of the municipality’s plans and vision will help achieve excellence.

Now that’s something that would strengthen Mayor Nicolette Botha-Guthrie’s vision for the Overstrand as a centre of excellence!

***

“Sunshine is the best antiseptic” is a well-known quote from US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and refers to the benefits of openness and transparency.  The citizens of Stanford and their municipality don’t appear to be in the same book, let alone on the same page.

So let the sun shine in… please share your views; hopefully Overstrand Municipality will respond and share more of theirs… in the public domain.

Apologies to anyone who submitted comments before 9am on April 1 — a bug prevented comments being added and they were lost. This has been rectified.  If your comments were lost, please add them again.

Tariro Masayiti – creativity at Springfontein Wine Estate

Tariro Masayiti joined Springfontein Wine Estate as GM and winemaker shortly before harvest this year and nothing could have prepared him for his first challenge.  A very big fire broke out in the fynbos surrounding the farm and, with no access roads to the fire, firefighters waited at Springfontein for it to approach.  The fire was extinguished, but not before 5ha of Springfontein’s 25ha of vines was destroyed.

For Tariro there was a bigger blow.  In the turmoil, his Great Dane Vino was knocked down by a quad bike.  Someone else had to rush him to the vet while Tariro stayed to fight the fire.  Three repaired fractures later, Vino is back on the farm but faces a long recuperation.

It’s through serendipity that Tariro came to follow a career in wine.  A Zimbabwean from the small town of Marondera 72km outside Harare, he studied for a B.Sc. (chemistry and biochemistry) at the University of Zimbabwe and worked during his holidays at Mukuyu Wineries as an analyst in the lab.  It was a small estate so he was soon doing more and more outside the lab.  When the farm manager resigned, he was asked if he could ride a motorcycle and was offered the job.  He learnt from the winemaker what needed to be done.

It was from tourists to the winery that he learnt about a winemakers’ course at the University of Stellenbosch so he moved there and, after four years, made history by becoming the first black student to graduate in Viticulture and Oenology.  During his final year he was offered a job by Distell and became assistant winemaker for Fleur du Cap.  After 2½ years he was appointed senior winemaker at Nederburg, where he spent 6 years learning from Razvan Macici, the cellarmaster, and absorbing the philosophies and thinking of the legendary Gunter Brozel and his successors at this iconic estate.

What made Nederburg an invaluable learning experience was the way in which it sourced its grapes from different areas, and the tremendous expertise and resources that were available.  He was also exposed to marketing and travelled extensively in Africa.

Tariro also has a passion for marketing.  “It’s much more rewarding to get feedback when people drink your wines.  It’s all about making wines and getting the reaction.”

He started dreaming about his own small label but needed to gain red wine experience first, so he joined the KWV as red wine maker for one vintage.

And then he saw the advert for the winemaker for Springfontein.  He discussed it with his most important mentor, Dr. Rowald Hepp of Schloss Vollrads in Germany, and decided to apply.

Joining Springfontein means Tariro “can be creative in the way he does things.”

“Wine making has developed enormously outside of the traditional areas like Stellenbosch,” he says.  “Hemel-en-Aarde on the other side of Hermanus started demonstrating excellent wines quite some time ago but the potential of Stanford as a wine-making area still needs to be appreciated.  It’s time it was discovered.  It’s an area where the great SA varietals – Chenin blanc and Pinotage – thrive.  But we need to change mindsets because the Pinotage is not the typical Pinotage.   Nearby, Lomond, in the valley beyond Gansbaai, produces excellent Sauvignon blanc.

“The same thing has already happened in the Swartland over the past four years.  All the elements and personalities have come together and now they’re doing really great things.”

This is the rally call that Stanford needs and maybe Tariro is the person to lead the change, because local estates have focused on doing their own thing and haven’t really contributed to the Stanford brand as much as they should have.  Yes, Stanford estates are being promoted more collectively now but it lacks cohesion.  “It’s about getting together and complimenting each other; learning from each other,” he says.

So, at the age of 40 and with 11 harvests behind him, Tariro is ready to start having fun – while making wines that will surprise you.  There will be wines that are not mass market; there will be wines of character – the sort of thing you would expect from garagistes.  He mentions a bubbly made from chenin blanc/pinotage, natural fermentations, and fermenting in small open barrels.

And he’s enthusiastically supported by owners who set out to create an exceptional boutique wine estate which is a trendsetter.

His biggest disappointment so far has been that few Stanfordians have ever visited the estate.  So they’re doubling their efforts to make people feel welcome.  They’re open on Saturdays and Sundays and locals who phone an order through by 3pm on a Friday afternoon will have it delivered the same day.  And as part of their extensive social responsibility programme, a percentage of these sales will be donated to the local Rotary.

His girlfriend, Hildegard, is a horticulturist doing her Master’s thesis at Stellenbosch University on Buchu. She’ll be helping with the vegetable garden for the new restaurant at Springfontein and then there’s the untapped potential of many hectares of undeveloped fynbos on the farm.

The Springfontein adventure has just begun!

Martin Ranger – contributing to civil society

One of the advantages desirable small towns have is the quality of new residents they attract.  Energetic retirees and people who have taken early retirement, looking for a better lifestyle, is one group.  Another comprises people, looking for a better lifestyle, who either believe they can make a living in the town or can work from home generating their income elsewhere.

They bring expertise that less desirable towns just can’t attract.  They’re demand more and usually get it.  The towns get even better.

Martin Ranger took early retirement as the head of Foschini Group’s retail jewellery division, which includes American Swiss and Sterns jewellers.  He and Annie lived in Hout Bay, where he had been chair of the Hout Bay Ratepayers Bokkemanskloof Homeowners’ Association, before moving to Stanford in 2005.

They chose Stanford after looking at all the “usual places” – Greyton, Prince Albert, Riebeek Kasteel, etc.  A property developer friend told them they couldn’t go wrong buying property in Stanford since, with the new road to Cape Agulhas, values could only rise.

They bought the only plot still available in the new section of the village in 2004 and set about planning a home with a separate self-catering cottage – to give them something to do and provide for two business class air tickets to London a year.

Their move to Stanford came at the time of one the village’s boom periods.  Silliery Estate saw a lot of building and filled up with new people – baby boomers, young retirees, new people with energy.  “They were predominantly English-speaking, well-travelled and educated, and eager to make an input into civil society,” he recalls.

In 2006, Martin joined the Stanford Conservation Trust:  “I’m not a ‘greenie’ but the architectural side is one of my interests.”

In 2007 – Stanford’s 150^th anniversary – he joined the tourism organisation and became vice-chair when Eric Mair of Stanford Valley Guest Farm resigned from the position.  Jami Kastner was chairperson.

“Overstrand Municipality gave us R150,000 to spend on the celebrations, which went well, and we came out of that at a new level with new perspectives.  The anniversary gave the committee new drive, focus and energy.

Jami dropped out for three years, producing three children, and Martin became acting chair in 2008.

In 2010, there was the big change from Information Bureau to the Stanford Association of Tourism & Business, trading as StanfordInfo, which allowed them to expand their membership quite dramatically.  At present, StanfordInfo has 117 members of which 42 are accommodation establishments.

What have the challenges and achievements been?  “One of the big problems is always money because we’d like to do so much more.  We seem to spend more time fire-fighting than is ideal.

“The successes have been the raised operating levels of the office and our website is better, but not as good as it should be.  Our below-the-line advertising has been very good – and to an extent we have Rina de Wet to thank for that – but we need to leverage it more.

“Above-the-line advertising costs money which we don’t have (– the organisation’s total annual budget is between R300,000 and R400,000).  The viral revolution has its place although it’s not something I understand completely.

“Before 2007, Stanford had no branding and we came up with “A Village Green”, embracing activities like the Bird Fair and heritage activities to target a well-heeled, middle-aged, getaway market.

“This was reviewed two years ago by the new, younger committee.  The view was that we’ve got those people, now we need a younger group to fill the restaurants and pubs and who will appreciate Stanford as a safe haven for young children.  In the end we came up with “A taste of village life” and we have expanded our business.  In winter we still see the older group and summer does see a much younger crowd, with their children.”

(In the absence of any brand expertise, StanfordInfo has fallen into the same trap that many tourism organisations fall into.  They confuse branding with logos and campaigns.  “A village green” and “A taste for village life” are campaigns, not brands.  The confusion is demonstrated by the fact that  StanfordInfo (the organisation) has its own, completely separate visual identity which often wins out over the town’s visual identity.)

When it comes to Team Stanford (or Brand Stanford, if you like), Martin concedes that this is one area where they haven’t been successful at all.  “We’re nowhere nearly as united, presenting a shared sense of values, as Greyton, for example.”

Martin makes the point that another big challenge is growing awareness outside the Overberg for Stanford.  Overstrand Municipality established a Destination Marketing Organisation for the whole area in 2008, which Martin chaired for six months.  He was very keen to leverage the very strong Hermanus brand in the name (Hermanus Bay for example), but other towns wouldn’t hear of it.  In the end “Cape Whale Coast” was adopted as a compromise.

He doesn’t believe that the Overstrand Municipality’s Whale Coast DMO marketing is effective and is yet to see a marketing plan.

Conservation Trust
This is one of Stanford’s success stories.  Its membership spirals whenever there are burning issues in the village, reaching 100 or more, and drops to the current 30+ when things are more or less under control.

Its active sub-committee is the Heritage Committee.  Overstrand Municipality refers every building plan for all buildings over 60 years old to this committee for approval.

The Trust also manages and maintains the Wandelpad – the walk alongside the river that is one of the village’s greatest assets – and the village’s leiwater system.  Stanford is one of the few villages where leiwater still exists – the system of sluices that leads water to many older properties for garden purposes.

The Trust has worked very hard at building a good relationship with the municipality, and this has been to the benefit of everyone in Stanford.

Martin makes the point, though, that “there is a limited number of active participants in civil society and there is overlapping between the different organisations.”  He believes that there needs to be amalgamation where possible, perhaps between the Conservation Trust and the ratepayers association, for example.  “But senior members of society object.  They say one can’t be confrontational in one area and co-operative in another.”  Surely the aim is to get the municipality and others all reading from the same hymn sheet so confrontation is never a requirement?

Stanford is yet to establish a shared brand that lives in the hearts and minds of all who live or visit there.

After a sweltering Friday, Saturday arrived overcast and cool — perfect for the horse show.  A little rain didn’t dampen proceedings and it cleared into ideal cool weather.