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precaution of using Simon’s Bay in preference to Table Bay during the winter months. From
this, opportunities for trade naturally arose and a few enterprising free burghers were
encouraged to pursue these through grants of land. The earliest was Antoni Visser who in
1724 was awarded a special concession or ‘consideration’, known as a ‘vergunning’,
allowing him to graze his livestock “agter de Steenbergen bij de Simon’s Bay” (behind the
Steenberg Mountains beside Simon’s Bay). He was also allowed to build a house near the
shore where present day Admiralty House is located in Simon’s Town (27) .

Land Tenure at the Cape

It is important to digress for a moment and explain that there were essentially three principles
of land ownership during the years of V.O.C. rule at the Cape – Loan, Quitrent and Property
(Leening, Erfpacht and Eigendom). As former Chief Archivist at the Cape Archives, C.
Graham Botha explains:

“The first was renewable after the expiration of the time for which it was leased, that
is one year; the second expired after fifteen years when the Government had the right
to take possession of the ground; and the last gave the same rights as the property of
movables and was subject to the reservation in the grant” (28) .

Loan tenure was permission for a petitioner to graze his livestock or farm in a particular area
upon payment of a rent or tithe and was renewable annually upon payment. Although the
government reserved the right to resume ownership at the expiration of the lease each year
this was seldom exercised. Security of possession was accepted provided the lessee met the
annual rent. The size of these properties or ‘Loan Places’, varied considerably but where
there were no adjoining neighbours could include all the lands within a circle created by a
half hour walk in all directions from a central point known as the ‘ordonnantie’. In time this
distance came to be rationalized to equal 750 Rhynland roods (1 rood being equal to 12 Cape
feet) encircling a maximum area of 3000 morgen (2570 ha) (29) .

The second form of land tenure was Quitrent or Erfpacht which came into effect in 1732.
This quite simply was the grant of a determined plot of land for a period of fifteen years on

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