Community next to park marginalised
THE anchor presenter of SABC Morning Live was broadcasting live this week from the Sundays River mouth with a view of the Alexandria dune fields and the sparkling Indian Ocean. It was correctly stated that it was one of the most beautiful places in the Eastern Cape.
The presenter further stated it made up part of the Addo Elephant National Park, home of the big seven. Yet less than a few kilometres away lives a community under siege by SANParks.
This community borders on the park. The hypocrisy is that this disadvantaged community has no assess to those dunes or the beach or the river!
This has got to be one of the most polarised communities in the metro, living in abject poverty and unemployment, and the socioeconomic benefits of being neighbours of the province’s major tourist attraction are not felt here. For years this community has been appealing to the park for assistance but were seen as an obstacle in SANParks’ expansion.
The statements allegedly made by one of the honorary rangers recently that the community would never get land for expansion is a reflection of the attitude we deal with. It is met with the contempt it deserves.
The Mayibuye Ndlovu Development Trust, which is a proxy of the park and started by the current SANParks chief executive, has not in 11 years allegedly funded any developmental projects in Colchester! So while SANParks pats itself on the back for spending more than R18-million on a new camp, our community will be lucky to see the inside of it as cleaners.
The question is how is a balance going to be found by SANParks to conserve the biodiversity of this pristine part of the province versus its corporate social responsibility to its surrounding communities? The sustainability of the park must be balanced with the needs of these communities.
Our township children were let down on two consecutive days as they waited for the park’s bus to come to them without any explanation. If a balance isn’t found quickly, as we have warned in a number of correspondences, the park will be viewed as a source of food for survival.
Kevin Foster, SACP sub-district secretary