Controversial rezoning approved?

[Lisbeth]

In concluding, Dr. Mabunda said many conservation agencies globally are increasingly relying on commercialization of non-core functions to manage their estates, “so this is not unique to South Africa.”

Making mistakes in many does not make it more excusable!!

[Lisbeth]

How is Sanparks going to handle the 2km corridor? Rent the land? Lend the land? or sell the land?

What kind of activities will be allowed?

How do you enter this zone? through the gates, paying a conservation fee or are the gates going to be moved back 2 km?

As I see it the Sanparks Management, with the blessings of the government has just stolen a 2 km broad (I do not know the length) piece of conservation area!!

[Sprocky]

Would this not result in Kruger losing it's National Park status?

Could SANParks afford this to happen?

[Richprins]

The 2km corridor is inside Kruger, as per the "new" PDZ proposal. The "buffer zone" is outside Kruger...or Greater Kruger as it suits you...

So both concepts benefit SanParks...the interior one proclaims the 2km's as already tainted land because it is within view of neighbours, and the outside strip as under government "control", to stop poachers or whatever...but mostly to control new tourist developments unless they are from the communities bashing at the door to get some cash from Kruger....although those deals have worked quite fine without any mention of PDZ...

[Poplap]

My comments in red:

Media Release: Facts about new peripheral development zone for KNP

Date: 25th June 2012

The South African National Parks (SANParks) management has today in a press briefing held in Pretoria given facts about the new Peripheral Development Zone Plan (PDZ) for Kruger National Park (KNP). About 3 newspapers attended



SANParks said there is no such a thing as a ‘stand-alone PDZ’ as many have been made to believe by those in favour of the old purist style of managing national parks. The PDZ is part of a bigger KNP Zoning Plan which covers all management activities taking place in the Kruger National Park and its surrounding areas. So why has SanParks made a submission for the approval of whatever PDZ it is referring to for approval by the Minister then?

It reflects on the latest developments and events affecting the management of the park, among these were the realities of the population explosion around the park's boundaries, the urban sprawls of Nelspruit, White River, Hazyview, Phalaborwa, Komatipoort, and the Malelane areas.

Issues around the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP), the outcome of Cabinet's deliberation on land claims which threatened to consume 60% of the parks' area, the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Tourism Growth strategies as well as the congestion caused by the tourism heartland route linking Mpumalanga, Swaziland and Northern-KwaZulu Natal wilderness areas had to be factored in as they were now impacting negatively on SANParks Tourism Strategy. (But not negatively on other people's businesses? Can they not also create jobs?)

The management said during the public participation process of the review of the KNP Management Plan which took place between 2006 and 2007 it was agreed to revisit the Zoning Plan in the near future in order to reflect the latest developments and events affecting the management of the park. Why, as "The PDZ has in fact been in existence for the last 20 years"

In 2008, the variables that informed the Zoning Plan were further put under pressure with the escalation of rhino poaching mainly emanating from the eastern boundary with Mozambique. Rubbish!!! In 2008 87 rhino were killed in the entire country, in 2010 147 in Kruger alone! Why not institute a PDZ "special" then already, if it would make such a difference??

The Water and Environmental Affairs Minister approved a Zoning Plan for the whole park, not just the PDZ. The revision of the Zoning Plan is covered by Section 40 (2) of the PAA which stipulates that "the management authority may amend the management plan by agreement with the Minister or MEC as the case may be".

The same Act compels the management authority in section 41(2) to "include a zoning (plan) framework indicating what activities may take place in different sections of the area and the conservation objectives of those sections". So why bother mentioning the PDZ pending approval by the minister then?

The elements of the zoning plan were discussed with stakeholders during the 2006-7 consultations and consensus was reached to include them when the plan was revised. Communities complained bitterly about being by-standers in an asset that affects their daily lives. The land claimants wanted to know how they were specifically going to benefit from their gazetted claims. The claims are gazetted, not necessarily awarded, and the land has to remain conservation land. Not even the minister can change that. Anyway, that was a problem 20 years ago! Why does it now require a PDZ? Then the security matters around rhinos became a factor that effected enormous change in SANParks management regime of the KNP. These elements are not mutually exclusive but complement each other in the total management effectiveness of the park. The old zoning plan was based on the biophysical properties of the park with little focus on the socio-economic issues of people and external influences. In the meantime Nelspruit has become a city and the neighboring towns have grown sixfold. Why exactly is that a National Park's problem? Many departments have huge budgets to address those issues!

The factors that needed to be considered were that the park is surrounded by approximately 3m people in 181 villages and towns. Many of the villagers live below the breadline and unemployment is up to 80% in some areas. The city of Mbombela has constructed a road in the south and they are talking to SANParks about opening an access gate. That is a blatant lie! Nelspruit has an international airport which brings tourists to the region and KNP is the main destination. The communities around Giyani want an access gate at Shangoni in the North. The tourism traffic between Johannesburg, Maputo and Swaziland is a reality and most of the tour operators schedule a night or two in the south of Kruger camps. So What else is new?

When the GLTP was signed on 9 December 2002, the Zoning Plan was not adjusted to take into consideration the needs for new roads, access gates or crossings over the boundaries of the new partners. Today the Giriyondo Gate into Mozambique is operational and it has changed the Phalaborwa-Letaba route to the new gate. What on earth does this mean???Traffic volumes have increased and changed the dynamics of how that part of the park is managed. The crossing into Zimbabwe will come in the near future and the zoning must be adjusted to accommodate the innovation. Why? The new plan now recognizes the entire GLTP and the future expansion southwards towards Nkomati River and the areas to Banhine and Zinavhe National Parks in Mozambique.

The PDZ in particular, So there is a new "particular" PDZ? is a 2km wide development and security zone that extends from the south of Pretoriuskop, across the Nkomati into the new proposed buffer zone in Mozambique up to the Massingir Dam. It covers areas that have land claims by adjacent communities, proposed hotel development (Malelane) on the periphery and the rhino poaching hotspots of Pretoriuskop, Stolznek/Matsulu, the Crocodile Bridge section and the Greater Lebombo Conservancy in Mozambique. Not really. That is the "Buffer zone". The PDZ covers a 2km wide strip allowing rezoning for developments INSIDE the Park...at least that's what your colleague Dr Hendricks said in 2011???

The PDZ has in fact been in existence for the last 20 years and was used to create contractual parks with privately owned nature reserves like the Sabi Sands, Balule and the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) in the past. It has to be noted that SANParks is simply following the same principle in creating opportunities for claimant communities to benefit from the restitution process but also to accommodate needs such as the park's tourism development and new access points that communities are demanding.

The Mjejane and Nkambeni communities are examples of new beneficiaries of the PDZ. More communities, as illustrated earlier stand in line to benefit from the new plan. The fact that the proposed Malelane Safari Lodge that some people (2629 people have signed two international petitions to stop the hotels) are opposed to is situated in the PDZ should not cloud the real purpose of the PDZ. Actually. Parliament rejected the Malelane Safari Lodge initially...explain that?

The PDZ is a management intervention in a big toolbox to address an array of issues, not just the building of a lodge. All future developments, from tourist lookouts and loops to camps are part of the zoning plan. So why mention that if this release is about the PDZ then?

Rhino poaching, especially on the eastern boundary with Mozambique, is a major challenge. The PDZ is also a security zone covering rhino poaching hotspots. The Environmental Affairs Minister's approval of the new zoning plan had a specific component dealing with the joint buffer zone concept with Mozambique as part of the furtherance of the GLTP treaty.

There will also be a specific focus with other partners under Operation Rhino to cover other hotspots. Buffer zones are a global conservation management tool and constitute an integral part of a protected area's management plan. They are not stand-alone nice to have development focused instruments. They can be used for joint security operations and this is how the Minister was advised. So joint anti-poaching cannot take place without rezoning? How bizarre!

In conclusion SANParks urges all in support and opposing to hold hands with the organization as it ushers in a new holistic philosophy of managing parks for the benefit of all. Our national parks bear a legacy of the politics of exclusion and we dare not continue with apartheid conservation objectives well, why have you been continuing with said apartheid objectives for the last 15 years or so then? Surely they should have been ruthlessly stamped out and exposed!which over-emphasized an exclusive purist conservation approach to parks and confined the majority of the people living around the parks to mere spectator status.

This is not how we want to lead and manage parks in the 21st Century and no amount of confused environmental activism from whomsoever will deter us from the cause of connecting national parks to our society. If this opposition is so confused and insignificant, why are the hotels years behind their scheduled commencement dates?



Issued by:
SANParks Corporate Communications


For media enquiries:
Reynold “Rey” Thakhuli
GM: PR, Media Liaison and Stakeholder Relations
Telephone 012 426 5203 / 073 373 4999
email: rey.thakhuli@sanparks.org

[ceruleanwildfire]

"...no amount of confused environmental activism from whomsoever..."

I don't recall being confused about environmental issues, maybe commercial and social, but not environmental. SANParks better watch out that they don't slip up and get sued for defamation of character.

[Richprins]

Agreed, cwf! Notice they have left the "racist" bit out this time!

[Richprins]

As a point of interest, the EIA is still on hold for the Malelane Hotel until a clear signed written approval of the PDZ as pertaining to the zonation of the hotel is received from the minister ...

[Richprins]

From Beeld today:


Kruger: Staat sê ja vir 2 buffers
2012-06-26 07:59



Elise Tempelhoff

Die regering het pas twee buffersones vir die Krugerwildtuin, die Limpopo- Nasionale Park en die voorgestelde Lebombo-bewaringsgebied goedgekeur.

Die redes is om aan te pas by 21ste-eeuse behoeftes én om renosterstropery te probeer stuit, het dr. David Mabunda, uitvoerende hoof van SANParke, gister op ’n mediakonferensie in Pretoria gesê.

Volgens hom is albei buffersones vanuit ’n bewarings-, sosiaal-ekonomiese en ontwikkelingsoogpunt goedgekeur.

Die een buffersone is 3?km breed en buite die wildtuin en sluit die Limpopo- Nasionale Park en die voorgestelde Lebombo-bewaringsgebied in. Albei dié gebiede is in Mosambiek.

Die enigste plek waar die buffersone nie geld nie, is waar die private natuurreservate aan die wildtuin se oostekant ’n buffer vorm.

Mabunda het gesê die tweede buffersone is in die wildtuin en 2?km breed. In dié sogenaamde ontwikkelingsone sal beperkte ontwikkelings soos die Malalane-hotel plaasvind.

Die wildtuin se sonering was volgens Mabunda nodig omdat die sosiaal-ekonomiese behoeftes van mense buite die bewaringsgebied nooit in ag geneem is nie.

Daar word nou vir hulle in die bewaringsbuffergebied voorsiening gemaak. Die getalle van gemeenskappe en dorpe buite die wildtuin ontplof en hulle het tot dusver geen voordeel uit die bewaringsgebied getrek nie.

Die vestiging van die bewaringsbuffersone is deel van SANParke se sosiale kontrak met sy buurgemeenskappe, het hy gesê.

Edna Molewa, minister van omgewingsake, het onlangs in ’n skriftelike antwoord op ’n vraag deur die DA gesê klinieke en skole sal in die bewaringsbuffergebied opgerig kan word om buurgemeenskappe op te hef. Mosambiek en Suid-Afrika se regerings het besluit om die bewaringsbuffergebied om die hele natuurreservaat te vestig om ook voorsiening te maak vir gemeenskappe wat in ’n stadium as deel van grond­eise tot 60% van die Groter Limpopo-oorgrensgebied geëis het.

Mabunda het benadruk dat beperkte ontwikkelings in die ontwikkelingsone (die sogenaamde peripheral development zone) sal plaasvind.

Paul Daphne, waarnemende kommunikasiehoof van SANParke, het gesê al Suid-Afrika se nasionale parke sal soortgelyke sone kry.


It's basically the same, although more sensible than the press release, as Ms Tempelhof asked Dr Mabunda more questions.

Of interest is that it spells out the external buffer zone and internal PDZ properly. Also new is that schools and clinics may be erected in the outside zone, for some reason, and this applies to ALL National Parks. Also, the outer Buffer zone is designed to somehow compensate land claimants?

Mabunda confirms "limited developments" will now take place in the interior PDZ.

Just to show how confusing it is, she still refers to the Private Reserves on the Eastern Boundary...which should read "the west"...as being extraneous regarding the buffer zone.


The elephant in the room is now the question as to what the hundreds of private properties and enterprises along the Crocodile River, for example, are now supposed to do? I think the answer is there is to be no new tourist development within the buffer zone without SanParks approval, a ridiculous state of affairs all-round!

[Flutterby]