Ecologically fragile land in the Drakensberg is to be planted with pines, reports Eddie Koch
WATER and Forestry Affairs Minister Kader Asmal is under fire in KwaZulu-Natal from organisations across the political spectrum over his ministry’s decision to allow some 3 000ha of ecologically fragile land on the Drakensberg escarpment to be planted with commercial pine trees.
Environmental organisations, some of whose members have historical links with the anti- apartheid movement, along with officials in the Inkatha Freedom Party, argue that the water-guzzling forest could dry up wetlands in the area and deprive local farmers and communities of water.
The row centres on a decision to allow Inzinga Ranch in the Mpendle district of the Drakensberg the right to establish a commercial timber forest close to the road between Nottingham Road and Himeville.
Keith Cooper of the Natal Branch of the Wildlife Society says the forest will inevitably damage a sensitive part of the Drakensberg catchment area.
“We know plantations affect biodiversity 100% but this could also affect the water supply for hundreds of thousands of people lower down in the catchment area.” He added that the green light for Inzinga would open the way for other damaging forestry programmes in the area.
Meridy Pfotenhauer from Bergwatch said there “are 80 to 90 applications for forestry in the Drakensberg” and no proper land-use plan to ensure that the region’s natural resources are used and protected in a co- ordinated way.
IFP senator Philip Powell said his party is concerned about the forestry plan in a sensitive area “where there are lots of streams and small rivers that feed rivers in the province”. While rural people in the Mpendle area were desperate for jobs, they were also concerned about water supply in dry years.
Powell said it appeared the Natal Midlands were being targeted by the forestry industry because commercial plantations in the Eastern Cape have been severely disrupted by industrial protest and militancy.
Although some Inkatha officials are opposed to the forestry permit for Inzinga, Powell stressed it was important to come up with another form of economic development that would offer jobs and benefits to the people who live there.
Earthlife Africa representative Marion Witte, whose organisation has members more aligned to the ANC camp, said Inzinga Ranch’s application for a permit had been a “completely untransparent process” and that over 20 objections had been lodged to it.
Claas Triebel, a deputy director general in Asmal’s department, said the row reflected how contested the control and use of water in South Africa had become.
The permit had been issued after 18 months of study and consultation in the area and “careful consideration of the impact such development would have on the water resources of the immediate community”. Inzinga has also promised to build a dam to ensure safe water supply for local people.
Faced with a growing controversy, Asmal has decided to call a meeting early next year of all affected by the permit.
The meeting will form part of a strategic environment assessment that aims to plan the regional economy of the Midlands in a way that will try to accommodate the conflicting views and interests. This will probably be the first time such a planning process is used to solve an environmental conflict in South Africa.
“My sense is that it is a very important step forward and a concession that the ministry has made,” said Chris Albertyn, national coordinator of the Environmental Justice Networking Forum.
“It is unprecedented step to use new ways of resolving these issues.”