You can believe it or not, but Malgas was a busy trading post and little harbor in roundabout the 1860. This was the time when the trader Joseph Barry built a 156t ship, the Kadie to travel with its merchandise of in particular wool, skins and dried aloe sap between Cape Town and Port Beaufort. Then travelling 48km up in the Breede River to Malgas the Kadie carried produce from Cape Town from where it was carried on ox wagons into the then hardly accessible Overberg region. This was also the same time the pont started operating. The Kadie shipwrecked in 1865 and Barry's trading took a huge jilt, but the pont survived. The pont that is in use today was built in 1914 and it works in the same manner as it did before - two men using the strength of their legs and chain straps pull the pont over the river. Today the pont is still the only crossing over the Breede River between Swellendam and the sea. In the 1916's the fee for crossing was 4 pennies per wheel.

There is still an old trading store, the Dutch Reformed Church and a hotel with conference facilities. The southern bank of the river is one loose row of idyllic holiday homes, each with its own jetty and motorboat. People you meet here are seeking weekend relaxation and - last but not least - good fishing. A recent flood had caused severe damage to some homes but folks are slowly but surely restoring everything back to working and living order.