Mercedes Sayagues
This week, the Mozambican government revoked the controversial concession of 236 000ha granted in 1996 to American James Ulysses Blanchard III, who died in March this year.
Officially, Blanchard paid nothing for the land stretching south of Maputo to KwaZulu-Natal. The area is likely to be declared a World Heritage Site for its wealth of biodiversity.
The right-wing, paraplegic Ameri-can billionaire had promised an $800-million ecotourist development, but did only a bit of upgrading at the Maputo Elephant Reserve.
The two-year deadline stipulated by Mozambican law for investors to start development has lapsed. Little was done: an unfinished electrified fence around the reserve, restocking with three dozen kudu and waterbuck, and improved anti-poaching patrols.
Lacking co-investors, Blanchard Mocambique Enterprises was wooing South African magnate Anton Rupert. Blanchard’s estate, represented by his lawyer David Kirstin, was eager to get rid of its white elephant. At a price. They claim they made a $5-million investment.
On November 5, Maputo’s posh Polana hotel booked a guest with impeccable environmental credentials: Maurice Strong, United Nations under-secretary general and convener of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Together with Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, and with Graa Machel as their guide, they toured Inhaca Island. Rumours say that Turner’s United Nations Foundation and a consortium of international conservationists could step in to protect the wilderness.
Strong is said to be brokering the deal. Also interested are Vance G Martin, president of the Wild Foundation, and Teresa Heinz of the Heinz Family Philantrophies.
A takeover of the area by environmentalists might save it from uncontrolled building and plundering that would wreck its beauty and eco- systems. Corruption and disorganisation are rife in the government. Top officials could parcel out the land for unchecked development or for speculation.
One drawback for the conservation lobby is the government’s recent approval to build a $515-million industrial port just south of the reserve. The state railway company and two South African businessmen dusted off the Porto Dobela colonial project from the 1960s – planned to export coal from the Transvaal.
The project does not make economic sense. Nearby Richard’s Bay is expanding, and Gauteng’s coal deposits of export quality are estimated to end in about 20 years. Experts say $515-million cannot build a deep sea port from scratch.
The principals of Porto Dobela Development company, based on the Isle of Man, are Barry Swart and Colyn Braun. Swart was dismissed as managing director of First National Bank in South Africa in 1996 for awarding his daughter a corporate contract worth millions of rands. Braun was general manager of Lonro in Mozambique. Both are tight-lipped on their funding and investors.
It wouldn’t be the World Bank. It has just approved a $100-million loan to Mozambique to upgrade the port-railway systems in Maputo, Beira and Nacala.
Moreover, the World Bank wants to link South Africa’s Tembe Park with the Maputo Elephant Reserve along the Futi River, recreating traditional migratory patterns. The port railway would cut the Futi corridor in two.
“The port and ecotourism cannot co-exist here. It’s got to be one or the other,” says Helena Motta, coastal adviser at Mozambique’s Ministry of the Environment.
Ecologists warn the port would damage the world’s southernmost coral reef, the world’s highest vegetated sand dunes, unique bird and butterfly species, two species of turtles, the 200-elephant herd at the reserve, and a complex ecosystem of wetlands, freshwater coastal lakes, sand forest and savannah.
Until the fate of Porto Dobela is decided, tourism investment in the area will not materialise.
The area is of unparalleled beauty today, wholly pristine. But Mozambique needs to earn resources from its uniqueness.
A wildlife expert familiar with the reserve believes $1-million would be enough to set up efficient poaching controls, start serious restocking, and build a tented camp and thatched lodge.
Environmentalists say that this wilderness should be managed as a whole, linking the south with the St Lucia wetlands, the Futi elephant corridor and parks in KwaZulu-Natal and Swaziland.
It is an exciting idea: cross-border management to protect and sustainably use an area of dazzling biodiversity and beauty.