Communities that were forcefully removed from the land around the Kruger National Park (KNP) by repressive colonial regimes should get back their heritage through rigorous nature conversation and the protection of wildlife, say the leaders of the Hlanganani Forum.
The organisation represents 28 villages on the western boundary of the KNP’s Xanatseni region of the park.
Xanatseni stretches across more than 530000 hectares of the park and is also part of the 3.3million-hectare Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which includes the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe and the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
Tribes in western Xanatseni were forced off their ancestral land following the draconian enactment of the Natives Land Act No. 27 of 1913, which confined indigenous people to only 7% of the national arable land.
The land on the KNP is owned by South African National Parks (SanParks), a state-owned company which is the custodian of natural assets.
It also works with neighbouring communities to drive nature conservation and environmental and wildlife protection.
It’s this nature conservation drive that Hlanganani wants to ramp up with SanParks through the use of locals to fight poaching and protect the environment.
David Mapogo, the chairperson of Hlanganani, said the community was blessed to have access to a “gold mine” which they should conserve.
The Hlanganani Forum was established in 1993 to mitigate against wild animals decimating cattle in the villages.
Through its engagements with SanParks to manage the decimation since the dawn of democracy in 1994, community members in Hlanganani have begun playing an active role in the conservation in what they believe to be the natural heritage that was violently taken from them.
Tribes have received received their land back through the Restitution of Land Rights Act No 22 of 1994. Among them was the Makuleke Traditional Community which received 26500ha.
Mapogo said they wanted to help preserve the environment and wildlife on its land for future generation as well as boost tourism from which the community would accrue socio-economic benefits.
Mapogo was proud that the KNP’s first female regional ranger, 40-year-old Tinyiko Golela, was from Makuleke, where Golela is responsible for marshalling of 150 law enforcement staff members to guard more than 530000 hectares of Xanatseni at poaching hot spots.
“We are proud of Tinyiko because she came through our ranks where we made sure that locals, especially women, played a critical role in conserving our heritage,” Mapogo said.
Golela began her conservation career at the KNP in 2001 after completing her national diploma in nature conservation, where she was a field guide who interpreted the wild to tourists, before ascending to her current position in December 2016.
Maano Chabalala, a village woman from Makuleke, said she was proud of the science labs donated by SanParks to high schools in her village, saying the labs would produce more success stories like Golela’s.
“Even other schoolchildren from neighbouring villages have access to the centres. These are critical skills that will enable our children to take care of our heritage,” Chabalala said.
But she complained about the litter strewn across the area, saying it was polluting the villages’ water supply, as well as ruining the aesthetics of the KNP’s neighbours for potential tourists.
SanParks spokesperson Ike Phaahla acknowledged that more needed to be done by the government to foster sustainable programmes with communities in order to reverse what he called the historically adversarial relationship between communities and state-owned parks.
In this regard, Phaahla said, Department of Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa announced 1346 environmental monitors to be deployed at poaching hot spots nationally,most of whom would be sourced from communities surrounding national parks.
Phaahla said the government would be ramping up community involvement in nature conservation as locals had more extensive knowledge of their environment.
“That is why our motto at SanParks is ‘connecting with society’; we understand that society must play a role in maintaining natural assets which were violently taken away from them,” he said.
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