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distance west of it were the Alfred and Victoria basins constructed by the Table Bay

Harbour Board. (Fig. 3.2.) The left-over stretch of public water’s edge lying between
these two government-controlled areas was disfigured by rail yards and rail lines, a power

station, coal dumps, waste tips, factories, and warehouses. (Fig. 3.3.) The town was, to a
large extent, cut off from its bay. Even where it was possible to get right to the sea, as at

Rogge Bay, the water was often polluted because, apart from the by-products from the
fishing industry, some of the city’s stormwater drains ran out there. (Fig. 3.4.) In short, by

the 1890s, Cape Town’s waterfront had become a grubby area and something needed to

be done to make it a place befitting a leading colonial capital.

In 1890 the City Council endorsed the Mayor’s suggestion to commence improvements

to the bayfront. The Mayor, David de Villiers Graaff (later father of Sir de Villiers
Graaff, United Party politician and leader of the Opposition during the 1950s – 70s),

made the following statement to his Council:

“It is, I think, worthy of your consideration to erect a pier or Sea Promenade from the
Central Jetty, which would make a fitting termination of Adderley Street. Were bathing
accommodation provided at the extreme end thereof, the revenue derivable from
admission to the promenade and concerts thereon, and from the use of the baths, would
be sufficient not only to cover interest upon the capital expended, but would likewise be
ample to redeem the amount borrowed in the usual length of time.”

Minute of the Mayor, 1891: 9.

Council allocated a sum of £20,000 in the municipal budget for its construction. Time

passed. In 1897 a Durban syndicate applied for rights to construct a 600 ft pier. The

Colonial Government favoured it but the Council doubted the syndicate’s ability to carry
it out and also believed that public opinion wanted the pier to be a municipal project.

Council subsequently added a further £25,000 to the Pier Budget making up a sum of
£45,000 sufficient to cover its costs. But nothing happened. In 1903 the Table Harbour

Board’s engineers, Methven and Hammersley-Heenan, produced harbour expansion plans
that occupied the bay virtually from Woodstock to Granger Bay and nullified any idea of

a pier extending from the Central Jetty. (Figs. 3.5 - 3.7.) This caused great public