In a dust-bowl village circled by the purple mountains of Riemvasmaak, Clarissa Damara poses proudly behind a brand new computer in her crisp tourist centre. There is no electricity to power the computer, nor a telephone line to connect to the
outside world, but Damara is confident she will be online soon.
Damara is the information officer for a community-driven tourism project that is offering hope to the people of Riemvasmaak in the Northern Cape. The community were the darlings of the media world in the mid-1990s when their land-restitution case was a pet project of the newly democratic dispensation.
In the 10 years since then, Riemvasmaak residents have set up several ecotourism projects in their mountain desert wilderness. These projects have provided jobs, income and purpose in a community still living with bitter memories of their forced removal.
Tourists visiting Riemvasmaak these days come for the awesome scenery, the friendly community and the natural hot springs where they can wash away the dust of the desert and the worries of the world. There are hiking trials, 4×4 routes, chalets and conference and catering facilities in reed bomas overshadowed by towering granite cliffs and big skies.
‘Tourism is better than other businesses. Sometimes it seems slow, because the marketing works by word of mouth, especially among the international tourists,” says Damara. Between 75 and 230 tourists visit the area every month, most of them 4×4 enthusiasts from Gauteng, Western Cape and Free State.
The land returned to the Riemvasmaak community covers about 75 000ha in the country’s largest and least populated province. It is next to the Augrabies Falls National Park and is bordered by the Gariep (Orange) River in the south, private farms of the Kalahari in the north and Namibia in the west.
Unemployment in the area verges on 100%, but the ecotourism projects of Riemvasmaak employ three permanent and 24 casual workers in a community totalling about 1 000 residents. During peak tourist season from April to September, up to 80 casual workers are employed, and field guides are used on a daily basis. Income from the projects has gone towards funding schools, projects for the elderly and an annual Christmas party for local children.
Damara had not yet been born when her family and neighbours were thrown out of their homes in 1973/4 by the then South African Defence Force. Riemvasmaak was used as a military zone because of its proximity to the Namibian border and just over 4 000ha, an area known as Melkbosrand, was incorporated into Augrabies Falls National Park in 1982.
The removals were brutal and the people were abandoned willy-nilly in Namibia and the Eastern Cape, where they were treated with open hostility by the communities already living there.
In February 1994, the government decided to give Riemvasmaak back to its original residents. As one of the first land restitution projects under the democratic dispensation, it was launched as a presidential project and had a high political profile.
The resettlement of Riemvasmaak was completed by the end of 1995. But the removals left bitter memories, especially among the older members, and the community has had to start from scratch.
Damara grew up with relatives in Springbok, a cosmopolitan town in Northern Cape. It is for younger members like her who have chosen to live in the community and support it that eco-tourism holds the greatest promise.
‘We are eager to continue working with ecotourism, although not all the community feels the same,” she says. ‘At the end of the day, it’s about creating jobs. It is mostly the youth who see this.”
Development of the area has remained a priority project of the government. There is an unusually high degree of engagement between the trust and different levels of government in order to mobilise resources in the community’s favour.
The Siyanda District Municipality, the second-largest in the province, has helped raise funds from other public institutions for economic development at Riemvasmaak. It has provided electricity to 90% of the community, is dealing with water scarcity and is fund-raising to provide jobs.
The chalets, hot springs and conference facilities were developed with money from Siyanda. Damara’s new tourism centre, which cost about R700 000 and was launched on September 23, was a joint initiative between Siyanda and national government.
The community has set up a development trust, comprising representatives elected every two years, to steer development. Says Richard Roman, its present chairperson: ‘The local government is very supportive. Delivery is sometimes a little slower than desired, but it does happen.”
In a goodwill gesture, South African National Parks paid R50 000 for office equipment and furnishings in the centre — in the past, Damara had to travel 60km to Kakamas to get access to a computer, printer or fax.
A kiosk and museum are being developed next to the tourist information office. Outside the new centre, a boom has been erected across the dust road leading towards the village and the tourist facilities.
‘The boom was needed because some tourists used to just go straight to the hot springs without paying or drive around in the veld and damage the ecology,” Damara says.
Over the past four years, another development partner has been a conservation-poverty reduction project funded by the United States office of the World Wildlife Fund. Called the Economic Change, Poverty and Environment (ECPE) project, it aims to increase livelihoods in rural communities and improve natural resource management. Other countries in which ECPE also works with poor rural communities include China, El Salvador, Indonesia and Zambia.
With input from South African NGOs, and in consultation with the trust, the ECPE project has focused on ecotourism and institutional strengthening of the Riemvasmaak Community Development Trust.
‘The choice of intervention by ECPE was guided by what the Riemvasmaak people envisaged for their long-term future; they saw their land as having potential for diversifying their economic options,” says Saliem Fakir, director of the South African office of IUCN-The World Conservation Union, which has been co-ordinating the ECPE since the beginning of this year.
Fakir points out that the general downscaling of mining in the Northern Cape has seen a recent growth in tourism initiatives and game farming. ‘The challenge is to get long-term projects that will provide permanent jobs for the youth.”
The Riemvasmaak trust and IUCN have applied for funds from the National Lottery to upgrade and expand the present ecotourism facilities provided by the community.
Adds Fakir: ‘The Riemvasmaak story encapsulates the positive aspects of South Africa’s land reform policy. It also highlights many of the post-settlement challenges in land restitution cases. The right to land is only one part of the story. Success has to be judged on the well-being of land claimants after settlement.”