Page 151 - Bulletin 21

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Mr. J H Orpen were delegated to investigate and report back. Nothing seems to have come of

this and in May 1920 the Union took transfer of the two erven with buildings owned by Dora
Cohn at a cost of £2357 10s. The Trustees were Nicholas Menigo, Harry Turpin, Alexander

Downes and Thomas Fernandez.

In 1928 Council were laying out and kerbing Barton Road when they claimed an

encroachment by part of the lower Union building. (Fig. 4.35.) The then Trustees F Eccles,

Isaac Gordon, Hadji C Salie and Dirk Poggenpoel mounted an excellent defence. They
provided depositions signed by Isaac Gordon, Abdol Joseph, Carel Lindholm and Andrew

Poggenpoel all of whom said they had lived in Kalk Bay for many years. More to the point,
they all said the building in question had been on the same site for 30 years or more. In the

face of this Council backed down.

It’s well recorded that Cape Town grappled with overcrowding and associated health issues
for many years. It is no surprise to find that in 1925 the Medical Officer of Health reported on

‘dilapidated and insanitary poultry sheds and other structures at cottages at Sandblocks area

Kalk Bay’. Seven Fishermen’s Union houses were included on the list and of interest to the
history of the area are the names of occupants:

1 Mrs Katerina Jacobs 2 Andrew Erispe 3 Mrs Annie Fisher 4 Mrs de Bruins

5 Isaac Gordon 6 George Davids 7 Stephen Alberseer

By 1936 Council were vacillating between re-housing options on site and removing the

fishing community from Die Land altogether. Somewhat bizarrely six of the 10 Fishermen’s
Union cottages were declared slums. In all cases a hearing was held and despite the

arguments advanced by the Union’s representative cottages 6, 7, 8 and 9 were declared
slums. (Fig. 4.36.) What the 34 people living there were supposed to do for housing was not

addressed. Given that the final decision to build the Flats was some time in the future one can

imagine the fear and uncertainty this caused here and all over Die Land as the process of
slum declaration continued. A typical cottage with a floor area of 39 sq m housed 10 people –

though some had more. There was no bathroom. (Fig. 4.37.) Eventually all 10 cottages were
demolished in terms of the Slums Act. The settlement agreement and figure has not been

found.