A fascinating environmental debate in Midrand is pitting the protection of giant African bullfrogs against the urgent housing needs of Gauteng.
Janet Schofield, of the Local Authority Watchdog, said Gauteng and the Ekurhuleni metro council had given a guarantee that bullfrog pans in Midrand would be protected from development. Premier Mbhazima Shilowa had himself endorsed this.
“But now the Gauteng environment department has given Ekurhuleni council the go-ahead for this development to proceed,” Schofield said. “They’ve gone against their word.”
Schofield and other concerned residents, including the Glen Austin Residents’ Association, lodged an appeal with the department, which was dismissed.
Paul Fairall, a wetland environmentalist, told the Mail & Guardian the Glen Austin pan has the world’s largest bullfrog population and that the development will encroach on their habitat. Many had already croaked.
But Gauteng says its green stripes are solid.
Mike Harding, the official who approved the development, denied his department had reneged on any commitment and insisted the bullfrog habitat remains firmly protected. Future development would not infringe control zone buffers around the sites.
“A specialist study conducted during the EIA [environmental impact assessment] process determined that the site is suitable for development, provided that no future development occurs to the west of the final township boundary,” Harding said.
On the drawing board is a low-cost residential township of 2 400 stands, covering 88ha. According to the department, the site’s western border is about 1,2km and 875m away from the two bullfrogs pans, “deemed to be of high ecological function and conservation value”.
Harding said a wetland corridor formed part of the site’s northern boundary, extending from the two pans to Kaalspruit in the east. “The department has required that the two pans and the wetland corridor have a control buffer zone placed around them, and the proposed development will not infringe on these,” he said.
“The western and northern boundaries of the site are to be fenced off from the adjacent open space using palisade fencing to prevent access to sensitive areas,” he added.
Harding said his department acknowledged that the Midrand bullfrog population was being threatened by rampant development, but added that a framework had been established together with the local council to deal with it.
University of Pretoria bullfrog expert Caroline Yetman said that the department would have to monitor development on the fringes of the low-cost housing scheme quite closely.
“If shacks are allowed to develop around the housing project, it might endanger the frogs,” she said. Bullfrogs often bury themselves in mud up to a kilometre from their chosen wetland.