Eddie Koch
The Cabinet this week appointed new members to the National Parks Board (NPB) in a move that will speed up conservation reforms designed to make the country’s game reserves more relevant to the needs of the rural
The appointment of the new national conservation body, made at Cabinet’s meeting on Wednesday, is also likely to end a long period of intense conflict between NPB director Robbie Robinson and his chairman Naas Steenkamp, which had effectively paralysed many of the organisation’s plans to reform the way in which national parks are run.
The new-look NPB replaces an old body, made up almost exclusively of white males, with a diverse group of people drawn from non-government organisations, universities and the private sector. It includes:
David Fig, director of the Group for Environmental Monitoring; Farieda Khan from the Environmental Advisory Unit at the University of Cape Town; Ton Vosloo, a director of M-Net and Nasionale Pers; and Jacky Cock, a professor in the sociology department at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Enos Mabuza, former KaNgwane Chief Minister and the only black member of the old board, replaces Steenkamp as chair. His other colleagues on the new board include Roger Collinson from the North West Province, David Crusae from Mpumalanga province, Dave Hatton of the Wildlife Society and Ian Player from KwaZulu-Natal.
The new members of the board, selected by a Cabinet subcommittee after widespread consultation with the private sector and NGOs, will be plunged into a series of heated environmental controversies almost as soon as they sit for the first time.
These include:
* Intense pressure from animal rights groups on the parks board to stop the culling of a few hundred elephants in the Kruger National Park every year.
* The controversy over plans to prospect for diamonds in the Matshakatini Reserve, one of South Africa’s last stretches of unspoilt wilderness that lies on the banks of the Limpopo River, just to the west of the Kruger National Park.
* A heated debate between provincial conservation agencies and the National Parks Board over which body has ultimate authority over the national parks located in the provinces.
* Controversial plans to build a highway to Mozambique through the middle of the Kruger park.
Other members of the 18-member board are Theuns Erasmus, from the University of Potchefstroom; Sue Hart from an NGO called Ecolink; Vusi Khanyile, MD of Thebe Investments; Mike Rattray, chief executive of Mala Mala; Johan Roode, executive chairman of Genfood; Neil MacGregor from Northern Cape; Rufus Maruma from the Northern Province; Maria Mbengashe from Eastern Cape and Phomolo Modise from Free State.