Cape Town - Beach vendor Ashley Ling saunters over with his cooler box and sunglasses, and without missing a beat, launches into his sales pitch. “What about a lolly for your dolly under the brolly,” he grins. “A sucker to keep you wakker?”
Ling, from Belhar, has been working on Clifton 4th Beach over summer for four years selling cooldrinks and ice creams.
He learnt the rhymes from his colleagues – some of whom have been roving traders for decades – and says he enjoys entertaining the beachgoers.
Clifton’s sandy beaches along Millionaires’ Mile are world famous. Earlier this year, Cape Town was ranked by National Geographic as the world’s second-best beach city in its Top 10 list, with the Clifton beaches receiving a special mention.
The magazine noted that the four beaches were known for the “posh homes that overlook them”
. The Atlantic Seaboard is among the most sought-after area in the country, with people paying an average of R10-million for a home in suburbs like Clifton, Bantry Bay and Camps Bay.
One of the many drawcards of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th beaches, which are separated by granite boulders, is that they are sheltered from the south-easterly wind which pumps in summer.
The beaches also have great views of Lion’s Head and the Twelve Apostles.
Fourth Beach also has Blue Flag status, which is an international award given to beaches that meet strict criteria of excellence for safety, amenities, cleanliness and environmental standards.
One of those keeping it safe is Patrick Julius, who has been a lifeguard at Clifton for five years.
The designer clad jetsetters and yachts often anchored close to shore off Clifton are a far cry from his modest home in Khayelitsha, but Julius says he loves being on the beach and hanging out in the lifesaver’s clubhouse .
Lifeguard duties will only start officially from December 1, and Julius can’t wait for the beachgoers to arrive.
“It’s boring in winter when it’s cold and rainy,” he says. Further down the strip is Camps Bay, also a Blue Flag beach and popular with its long sandy beach, palm trees and array of restaurants, nightclubs and bars.
The water looks deceptively safe but it is quite dangerous to swim there.
Brian Sturman, the chairman of Lifesaving Western Province, said the water currents at Camps Bay could be treacherous and there had been a number of drownings in recent years.
A great surfing spot is Glen Beach next to Camps Bay, while Maiden’s Cove, a family beach nearby, is under threat from developers.
Despite overwhelming opposition, the city council has what it calls a “design vision” for the land between the Clifton bungalows and Camps Bay, which includes Maiden’s Cove, the Glen Country Club, sports oval and the existing parking facility.
The proposal includes the construction of 34 bungalows, retail facilities and a double storey underground parking garage with about 700 spaces under the bowling green.
The tender is currently being written.
Chris Willemse, the chairman of the Camps Bay Residents and Ratepayers Association, said it had taken less than a year for the city to sell off one of the biggest assets in Cape Town.
He described the city’s public participation process as a “total joke”, and said the decision was so flawed that it would no doubt be challenged in court.
Last week, a group of volunteers from the Bishop Lavis police station who were picnicking at the site, said they were against the development. Priscilla Anthony said there were not many places like Maiden’s Cove left and she hoped it would still be there for her children to enjoy.
Although Maiden’s Cove was one of the beaches along the Atlantic open to people of colour during apartheid, many others were off-limits.
“My children can’t believe it when I tell them there were places we couldn’t go to.
“And I’d like them to be able to come here for many years to come,” Anthony said.
Police captain Marie Louw, who was accompanying the volunteers, agreed, saying few places along the coast offered the type of facilities next to the sea like Maiden’s Cove did.
In a letter about the proposed development published in September, retired Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs wrote: “I have no doubt that if the voices of the people of Cape Town are properly canvassed and listened to, the overwhelming majority would say no to this development.
“It would make a few developers very rich, very quickly, and destroy a scenic and recreational environment of special meaning to the less well-off.”
Helen Bamford, Cape Argus