The Point and Fountains angling huts on Robberg Peninsula were built between 1948 and 1958 by the Plett Angling Club.

The huts were used continuously since then by fishermen and nature lovers alike, and have been an important source of income for the ghillie community of Plett.

In the course of 2000, the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board (“WCNCB”) took over responsibility for the upkeep and operation of the huts on Robberg from the Angling Club.

WCNCB then ceased to allow the huts to be used. WCNCB stated in 2002 that it did not “believe that there is a case for the huts being restored and that they should be removed”.

The Robberg Shacks Conservation Group (RSCG) was established after a well-attended public meeting in December 2002, and in March 2003 RSCG presented to WCNCB a comprehensive proposal that the shacks be rebuilt and continue in operation. This proposal was supported by a range of individuals and organizations in Plett including the ANC (Plett Zone), the Angling Club, the Plett Community Environment Forum, the Friends of Robberg and the Ocean Research and Conservation Africa (ORCA). A petition in support of the proposal was signed by fifty six ghillies and former ghillies from the New Horizons and Krantzhoek communities.

The RSCG volunteered to find the funding for such rebuilding. A copy of the original RSCG proposal is available on this web site under the Download section.

In response to such public resistance to the demolition of the shacks, WCNCB appointed a professional environmental assessor, Jonathan Kingwill. He prepared a “Scoping Report”, which confirmed that there were no objections to the upgrading of the huts.

Over the 2003/2004 summer the Robberg Shacks Conservation Group (RSCG) conducted a public ballot to inform the public about the controversy regarding the future of the shacks and to gauge the extent of support for the shacks being restored for use by the public. Over 700 members of the public took the trouble to respond to the ballot and of those respondents over 99% voted in favour of the shacks being restored.

This public support was announced at a public meeting held at the Angling Club in early January 2004. The meeting was well attended by concerned members of the public, by representatives of the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board (“CNC”), and by Jonathan Kingwill, the environmental consultant appointed by CNC. The meeting expressed strong support for the restoration of the shacks and their management by CNC for the public benefit. It was felt that to invite private sector participation at this stage would be controversial and time-consuming. CNC representatives at the meeting agreed that, given the support shown through the ballot and at the meeting, they would support the proposal.

CNC submitted a letter to Kingwill in the course of March 2004 setting out the basis on which CNC would support the restoration of the shacks, most of which conditions were appropriate. The key condition from CNC’s side is that RSCG find the funds for the project. The RSCG raised concerns regarding the requirement that RSCG fund not only the capital expenditure of rebuilding the shacks but also the operating expenses of the shacks. CNC is considering a counter-proposal from RSCG that a limited “reserve fund” be raised, over and above the capital costs, to act as a “buffer” to cover any losses incurred by the CNC over the first few years of operation of the shacks.

CNC has agreed that those people who provide funding for the shacks should, for the first few years of operation of the renovated shacks, have certain limited preferential booking rights.