Page 85 - Bulletin 20 2016

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Also from the side of the public, on February 4 , a longstanding proponent of the Cape Point
initiative, Mr. G. A. Leyds with the support of the ‘entire’ Rotary Club of Cape Town,
formed the Cape Point Preservation Society. (Fig. 2.43.) Its objectives were:

1. To preserve the Cape Point area for all time from spoliation.
2. To enlist and organize public support to ensure a favourable poll of citizens.
3. To ensure that whatever body assumes control of the area will appoint a properly
constituted board of trustees or management on which zoologists and botanists
will be represented (109) .

It was in fulfilling the second of these objectives that the efforts of this organization were
now intensely focused as the plebiscite to canvas public support was just over a month away.
In this remaining time the Cape Point Preservation Society, with 800 members, waged an
unrelenting campaign of support for the Cape Point initiative by producing brochures and
other printed material along with ongoing articles in the press extolling the wonders of Cape
Point and commentary on what an opportunity lost it would be were it to fall into the hands of
speculative developers. (Fig. 2.44.)

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Even General Jan Christiaan Smuts entered the fray on March 6 , when extracts from a letter
he had written to Mr. F. W. Metlerkamp, Chairman of the National Botanical Society of
South Africa, were published:

“ The purchase of the Cape Point farms, with the object of their being set aside as a
nature reserve, has my wholehearted support…..Surely it must be a sacred trust to us
today to preserve this priceless relic of the past for future generations. Let our
expanding population spread into and over the surrounding flats. But let this unique
mountain area remain unspoilt and inviolate for all time – as a link with the past, as a
place of contact with nature and refreshment of the spirit, and a source of aesthetic
enjoyment to the dwellers of our cities” (110) .

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Finally, the impending plebiscite was held on March 8 1939 at which over 4,000 votes were
cast with 3663 in support and 644 against. But even with a vote giving a six to one margin in
favour of the Cape Point initiative this total number of voters represented only 6.5 % of the
more than 66,500 enrolled voters of Cape Town. So it was that when this matter came before
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the City Council on March 30 , it was easy for the dissenting Councillors to slap it away as
they might an irritating gadfly. Not receiving the two-thirds majority vote required, the

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