KNYSNA councillor Doris Nayler yesterday expressed fears for the safety of residents living on a massive sand dune between Groenvallei and Sizamile in Sedgefield, saying the removal of vegetation could render it unstable.

About 300 families have built their shacks on the dune behind Sizamile.

On the other side of the dune, Groenvallei residents have also expressed concerns about damage to their homes if the dune shifts.

Nayler said yesterday she was concerned about the living conditions in the informal settlement, where a lack of proper sanitation and services has forced the residents to use a ridge above the dune for their ablutions.

Animals grazing on the dune vegetation are further exacerbating the problem.

Nayler said that although the Knysna Municipality had numbered the shacks in the 2006/07 financial year and ordered that no further homes be built on the dune, the informal settlement had grown.

She was worried that the close proximity of the shacks could compound injuries and fatalities in the event of a fire, or that the shacks at the top of the dune could slip in a heavy downpour and topple into those further down, causing a domino effect.

“People are erecting separate dwellings adjoining a shack and calling it all one building.”

Nayler said municipal workers regularly cleared refuse from the ridge and upper northern slope of the dune.

Vegetation was being removed for firewood and was being destroyed due to the heavy pedestrian traffic.

Pedo-geomorphologist Dr Munro Munnik – who has carried out research on soils and hill slopes in his field of expertise, the formation of land forms – said the dunes in the area were stable as long as they were covered with vegetation.

“The dunes are very stable. They are thousands of years old. They have to be covered with vegetation. If it‘s removed, the wind and water erodes it and the stability will go. If the fynbos is stripped, the wind erodes it very quickly and if a dune is opened in big sections, it will be destabilised.”