For several years Matt Mercer has published an April Fools Day story in the local community paper, the Sentinel. This years response seems to have elicited the best response- probably because free electricity was on offer.
Matt's first April Fools day story described the sale of Seal Island to a Japanese consortium (Loof Lirpa.) Protestors were invited to board the Nauticat prior to 12pm on April the 1st. A few conscientous objectors arrived but disappeared once they realised the date.
Some of the more successful pranks include the proposed nudist resort on the beachfront and the driving range off the harbour which would have created employment for local divers (retrieving golf balls from the sea)
The best ever prank was the sale of the famed Sentinel leopard sculpture to a German buyer who intended moving the landmark artwork to his personal pool.
This years story came at an apt time, with Eskom imposing their load shedding schedule on Hout Bay- about 2 hours every week.
Matt received more than 126 sms registrations for the pilot project and several phone calls agreeing that it was about time that Houtbayers did something innovative about their electricity.
Clues that the story was in fact an April Fools included the name of the Danish director Olaf Priol who worked for a company with the initials WEIRD, the name of the turbines Besom Key system (Bye Eskom) and of course the date and the timing before the 12pm cutoff.
It was interesting to note that there were no objections to the wind turbines. " We expected at least a couple of complaints about the impact to the Hout Bay skyline, instead we got nothing but enthusiastic response. Perhaps the townsfathers should take note and consider such a scheme for Hout Bay after all!
As is custom Matt has agreed to his punishment and has sponsored the months electricty bill for local charity James House.
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