Fiona Macleod
The Kruger National Park, South Africa’s premier tourist attraction, is experiencing a cash crunch running into millions of rands.
An internal memorandum by park director David Mabunda last week says he expected the park to be R36,6-million in the red by the end of February. “The current overdraft (as at February 18) stands at R16,5-million, with an approved facility of R19-million. The projected expenditure over the next 13 days has been set at a further R20,1-million,” the memo reads.
“It must be noted that we are already committed to this expenditure of R20,1-million there is no turning back.”
The Kruger Park, which attracts thousands of international and local tourists each year, is the crown jewel of South Africa’s national parks and is expected to keep smaller, loss- making reserves afloat.
According to Mabunda’s memo, the overdraft at the head office of the South African National Parks (SANP) and other national reserves around the country was in the region of R20-million on February 18.
The Kruger crunch is a dramatic slide from the situation in the park in 1998, a year after Mabunda took over as director, when it was reported that the Kruger had made a profit of R14-million.
Management this week ascribed the present shortfall to shrinking government grants, high salary bills, staff restructuring and repairs to flood damage in the park. The crisis is aggravated by the seasonal trough in tourist numbers at this time of year, and revenue coming into the park is at an all-time low.
“The Kruger should and will make money,” says Salifou Siddo, head of corporate affairs at the SANP. “The cash situation is fluid, and Mabunda was using these figures to tell his managers to be careful with expenditures.”
The crunch comes at a time when the SANP, which runs the country’s 18 national reserves, is laying off some of its 4 200 staff members.
In the face of the cash crisis, top management at the SANP has launched an emergency rescue campaign called “Operation Prevail”, amid dire warnings that unless drastic belt-tightening measures are taken the long-term survival of the organisation is at stake.
At least 20 people at the SANP headquarters in Pretoria were told this week their services will not be required from the end of March. Two directors have already left the organisation after taking packages late last year.
Siddo says the SANP has been forced to review its staff requirements because its salary bill accounts for 60% of its costs. “Out of every rand the SANP makes, 60c goes to paying staff, leaving only 40c for everything else the organisation does. It is clear this is not sustainable.”
Siddo could not say how many staff will be retrenched, but says a freeze has been placed on all overtime and part-time employment.
In his memo, Mabunda instructs his managers in the Kruger park to implement an immediate moratorium on buying non- essential goods, including curios and T-shirts for the tourist shops in the park.
He says the cash crisis is compounded by supervisors and managers embarking on a “neurotic compulsive buying spree” before the end of the financial year on March 31. “There is a whole range of examples of non-essential buying happening before that mystical date … If SANP is to survive, these practices reminiscent of a Banana republic must stop now!”