Storm erupts over sand mining in Swakop River

A ‘SANDSTORM’ erupted at the Swakop River plots yesterday after more than a dozen plot owners decided to take legal action against the Swakopmund Municipality in an effort to stop newly approved sand excavation.

The excavation is taking place about five kilometres upstream of the former sand pits that were destroyed by the recent flooding of the Swakop River.The plot owners, who run a variety of businesses from tourism to farming, made an urgent appeal to Swakopmund attorney Christo van Rensburg to order the municipality to halt excavation by 08h00 today, or face a challenge in the High Court.The plot owners yesterday morning were shocked to see earthmoving machines excavating sand in what used to be an untouched part of the Swakop River bed. After making enquiries, the plot owners learned that eight excavation companies had been given the green light to excavate sand in the new area.Swakopmund CEO Eckart Demasius, told The Namibian that the Ministry of Mines and Energy had given the go-ahead to eight licensed operators to continue sand mining further upstream. ‘There’s no more building sand for construction work in Walvis Bay, Long Beach and Swakopmund because of the original sand pits being destroyed by the Swakop River. Building has basically come to a standstill, and so we needed to get things going again, and this was the best place,’ said Demasius.The problem is that the new excavation site is surrounded by vegetable farms, ostrich farms and bed-and-breakfast establishments whose business is harmed by the dust pollution and noise.The excavation area also cuts through routes used by tour operators to take tourists into the Namib-Naukluft Park’s Moon Landscape every day.’No one asked us about these plans, and no one warned us about the decisions; but we are going to be the ones who are going to suffer the most here financially,’ said Michael and Susanne Florin of Gut Richthofen, a bed-and-breakfast on the riverbank.’By the time the excavation is in full swing here, the value of our property, and the value of the environment for tourists, will be reduced to next to nothing,’ said Ralf Mathai of Swakop Ostrich Paradise.Mathai told The Namibian that the municipality is not considering the impact of the sand mining.’They told us we could do what we want here in the form of tourism or agriculture because they did not have any interests here. Now they come and destroy everything after we are doing our best to make things work for us and Swakopmund,’ Mathai stated. ‘And they are saying that the need for sand is now of greater interest than our operations.’Kathy Ellis, who has a lucrative vegetable farm in the area, added that a lot of campaigning has been done to protect the environment from unbridled off-road activity.’Now there won’t be any flora and fauna left when these guys get started here,’ she said.Van Rensburg did not wish to comment, except to say that the plot owners’ objections had been forwarded to the Municipality and that his office is handling the matter.adam@namibian.com.na