/ 12 April 2013

Dismay as axe falls on eco-project

Dismay As Axe Falls On Eco Project

Indalo Yethu ("our nature"), a legacy programme of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, was launched in 2006. It was an independent trust co-founded by the department and the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa.

Its flagship programmes were ecotowns, which together with the expanded public works programme restored natural habitats and recycled waste, and an eco-endorsement scheme that promoted cleaner production. Its launch was celebrated on the front page of the Greening the Future supplement in 2006.

"We were dismayed when the government pulled the funding late last year," said Yolan Friedmann, a former Indalo Yethu trustee and the chief executive of the Endangered Wildlife Trust. "They wanted trustees to raise funds, but that would have posed conflicts of interest."

Friedmann said operations were running smoothly at the time of closure. There were 10 ecotowns, which each provided jobs for hundreds of previously unemployed locals in clean-up operations and small businesses.

"Working on a large scale with municipalities is challenging, but valuable lessons were learned and a successful system was created. Eco-towns is the type of project that is too big for most non-governmental organisations and not ideally suited to corporate social investment funding," said Friedmann.

"Eco-labelling was an equally important initiative. Nobody else is doing it on the scale envisaged by Indalo Yethu. Setting up national, verifiable standards, auditing and compliance monitoring systems requires government funding. Who will take it forward now?"

An insider, who did not want to be named, said the environmental affairs director general had terminated funding for the programme. The treasury had questioned the programme's structure and funding model and requested that its registration be "regularised".

"Many of us were surprised, including people within the department itself," said the insider. "The trust had received a clean audit. The department had only provided some 20% of funding. Further fundraising would have been easy. National Lotteries was a loyal supporter and Indalo Yethu could possibly have applied for money from the department's Green Fund."

Kayyoom Ganie, acting chief executive of Indalo Yethu, is busy winding up the finances of the project. "Audits are being done, service providers paid and the trust is being deregistered," he said. "This should be done by the end of April.

"The closure of Indalo Yethu is very sad. Eco-towns proved so successful that it should be replicated. It uplifted communities and engendered civic pride. When we would arrive at projects in Indalo Yethu-branded vehicles, people would stop and thank us for the initiatives."

The department gave the trust a set amount of around R4-million a year for operational expenditure. However, the trustees were not hands-on and asking them to fund­raise was impractical, Ganie said.

Indalo Yethu was listed as a project implementer and would receive another 7% of project value for running various government projects.

"It offered a consolidated approach to implementing public works projects," said Ganie. "For example, instead of piecemeal projects, eco-towns would pick one town and complete 10 deliverables."

Ecotowns employed at least 3 300 workers but had a limited lifespan because it was a pilot project, he said.

The 30 office staff members were given packages at the end of December after their case was taken to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, Ganie said.

Although this article has been made possible by the Mail & Guardian's advertisers, content and photographs were sourced independently by the M&G supplements editorial team. It forms part of a larger supplement.