100 000 trees to make way for business
Relocating ancient trees such as the baobab is possible but comes at a cost to its micro-habitat
Plans to uproot more than 109 000 trees at the construction site for the government’s proposed Musina-makhado special economic zone, including thousands of protected mopane, marula and baobab trees, don’t sit well with Isaac Sekwama.
“These trees are woven into our culture and are sacred to us,” says Sekwama, who lives in the Tshikuwi village in Limpopo, around 25km from the proposed 8 000-hectare southern site of the controversial metallurgical cluster.
“There are a lot of indigenous trees, which have cultural significance to us as the Venda people, because the roots, the bark, are used for many different things.”
Last month, the final environmental impact assessment (EIA) report by the project’s environmental consultants, Delta Built Environmental Consultants, described how the total number of trees recorded in the proposed construction area is 109 034, of which 51.3% are marula trees, 41.9% shepherd trees, 5.2% baobab and 1.65% leadwood trees.
The specialists recommend that juvenile and subadult trees need to be relocated and transplanted.
“This should be done when the plants are actively growing, and the outside temperature is less than 30°C, which would increase the likelihood of successful translocation.”
A horticulturist and a plant translocation specialist need to be consulted on the feasibility of the relocation of the adult trees, says the final EIA, which notes how De Beers’ Venetia Mine successfully managed the relocation of baobab trees in 2016 and Sanparks in 2005.
“The feasibility of creating tourism opportunities using the larger baobab trees need to be investigated. Should the permit be granted to allow the trees to be removed, the wood must be made available to local communities,” the report states.
The proposed site is home to more than 5 000 baobab trees. Dr Sarah Venter of the Baobab Foundation says it’s possible to relocate baobabs of any size.
“It would be important that it is done professionally and that there is at least a five-year plan to look after the relocated trees to ensure their survival wherever they are moved to,” she says.
There will be a huge impact on the remaining environment (animals that rely on the trees and the microhabitats around them), landscape (tourism and aesthetic value), and undermining the trees’ spiritual significance in the process of removing them, she says.
“I cannot believe that the Venda people, who are the cultural custodians of this landscape, would tolerate such sacrilege.”
An assessment of where the trees would be moved to needs to be done.
“Introducing 109 000 trees to a new landscape is just as damaging as taking them out of the original landscape. This doubles the impact of moving the trees and has to be taken into consideration as well,” she says.
Venter notes how baobab wood is spongy and is of no value to local communities.
“It disintegrates within months after it has been harvested. It cannot be used for firewood or building, so there is no value in the wood for local communities,” she says.
The African Centre for Citizenship and Democracy at the University of the Western Cape says trees provide a micro-habitat for small faunal and floral species and microclimatic conditions suitable for these species’ survival.
The canopies of huge trees such as baobabs form micro-habitats as they limit light penetration allowing other species to grow in their shade.
“If so many trees are uprooted from one site at once, many species, particularly birds, dependent on trees for nesting and resting, will be displaced. This will be problematic since species that are only endemic to the area could be completely eliminated and even driven to early extinction.”
“Moreover, trees are carbon sinks and provide all living organisms with clean air for breathing. Cutting down trees, especially rare trees such as the baobab and the mopane tree, on which the edible mopane worm feeds, will be disastrous to the ecology and to the livelihoods of those in Limpopo.”
The centre says that even if the said number of trees are uprooted and taken elsewhere, the species dependent on them cannot be transferred together with the trees.
“This implies that all those said species will be displaced and stand a great chance of elimination.”
Neil Beddy, the conservation manager at Greater Kuduland Safaris in nearby Tshipise, agrees. Removing ancient trees such as baobabs will change the entire ecosystem.
“Those trees are little ecosystems in themselves. We can take you down to one baobab, walk you around it, and show you how so many species interact with it, from bats to insects, to big game, to the biggest game, to birds, to nesting sites. You will actually be destroying populations and turning that area into a desert … Something that’s stood there for 1 000 years — it doesn’t even belong to us and it deserves respect.”
The violent death of Kwazulu-natal environmental defender Fikile Ntshangase — and the deaths of many other human rights activists — could have been prevented, had governments across the globe done their jobs to protect their lives.
This conclusion was drawn by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which published a report this month revealing that 1323 activists were killed worldwide between 2015 and 2019.
A further 100 human rights defenders were murdered between 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2020 in just 10 member states, the report, titled Final Warning: Death threats and killings of human rights defenders, found. Latin America and the Caribbean account for 933 of the 1 323 deaths — more than 70%.
Using Ntshangase as a case study, Mary Lawlor, the UN’S special rapporteur who compiled the report, found similarities between the events surrounding her death and those of defenders in other countries.
Ntshangase, the deputy chair person of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation (Mcejo), was shot and killed metres away from her grandson in October 2020 inside her Ophondweni home. Community and Mcejo members, who spoke to the Mail & Guardian in Ophondweni, described Ntshangase as a fierce opponent of the expansion of the local 22 000-hectare Somkhele Coal Mine.
Her opposition was fuelled by the shocking pollution in the area that coats rainwater tanks with a sootlike substance; remnants of the mined coal that lingers in the air and is a health hazard.
The UN report comes amid a peace accord signed in Somkhele last month between the mine, unions, traditional leadership in the area, and the Somkhele branch of Mcejo, among other interested groups. This accord is to bring about peace following “several months of tensions that culminated in the murder of Mrs Fikile Ntshangase … and honours Mrs Ntshangase and condemns all violence and intimidation”.
Petmin, the holding company for mining operations in the area, has offered a R20000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest
of Ntshangase’s killers. No arrests have been made.
The UN report states that Ntshangase had received several death threats since June 2019, which she reported to the police.
“Such murders of defenders are often preceded by the sorts of threats directed at Ms Ntshangase. Sometimes the threats are direct, sometimes indirect. Some are targeted at specific individuals. These threats are often intended to intimidate, silence and stop human rights defenders from carrying out their work. There is no more direct attack
on civil society space than the killing of human rights defenders.”
Zara Alvarez’s death is also in the report. An activist in the Philippinesbased human rights organisation Karapatan, she received her first death threat in July 2019.
“In April 2020, a text message was sent to Ms Alvarez, purportedly from state security forces, harassing her after she had distributed rice to impoverished members of her community during lockdowns.
“On 17 August 2020, she was shot dead on the street in Bacolod City. She had previously been red-tagged and de facto named as a terrorist by the Department of Justice,” the report states. Red-tagging is a Filipino government tactic used to brand people as communists, to justify the abuse of their rights. The Philippines has the third-highest number of activist deaths: 173 between 2015 and 2019.
Lawlor concludes: “States can and should intervene to prevent killings by responding more effectively to threats against human rights defenders. Such interventions include taking action to stop vilification and threats aimed at defenders, making them more vulnerable to attacks.
“Businesses should also intervene when threats are made against defenders, to prevent them from escalating into attacks.”
Nathi Kunene, business development manager at Tendele Mining, told the M&G that the company did not bribe or offer jobs to anyone to sign the peace accord. There are more than 20 signatories.
“The peace accord has been signed by individuals who, together, represent the vast majority of the 220 000 community members with an interest in the mine’s future, including traditional structures, elected local authority representatives, consultative forums and the three representative unions at the mine,” Kunene said.
Just last month, the cost of maintaining a basic nutrious diet for a family of four was R2 778.48. This is according to the Household Affordability Index, which also shows that the average cost of feeding a child a basic nutritious diet per month was R710.75. But South Africa’s child support grant only covered 63% of this.
The child support grant has also been found to be 25% below the poverty line, and for a mother of three who lives at Vusimuzi informal settlement in Tembisa, east of Johannesburg, feeding her family with more than R2700 seems like a luxurious concept.
Ncebakazi Ngozana originally hails from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, and like many seeking a better life she came to Gauteng to look for a job. She lives with her three children and her 21-year-old brother.
To feed her family of five, she relies on the child grant and volunteering at a nonprofit organisation.
The child grant will be increased from R450 to R460 for each child in April. Ngozana told the Mail & Guardian that the extra R10 would make a difference in her household. This is despite experts calling the increase insufficient; they are advocating for one that will enable a basic nutritious diet for a child.
The R10 increase has been labelled as “worrying”, as the grant already did not meet children’s required nutritional intake. More worrying was that, unlike in other years, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni did not announce that recipients would get a top-up in October.
Katharine Hall, a senior researcher at the Children’s Institute, said that the grant remained the most efficient way to reduce poverty, with evidence showing that these grants were well used by recipients.
“The government cannot afford not to increase social grants. To allow the persistence of extreme poverty and
child malnutrition is to ensure slow economic development — as we have seen for the past 25 years. Yet this is precisely what has been done again, even after the economic impacts of lockdown. The social grant increases that will come into effect in April are behind inflation. Effectively, the poorest people will be even poorer.”
However, Ngozana appreciates the increase.
“I welcome the R10 increase because I didn’t have it before, so it will assist here and there.”
The R1 350 in child support grants Ngozana receives every month is spent on:
12.5kg of maize meal;
10kg flour;
10kg of rice;
Samp;
2-litre cooking oil;
2kg sugar;
Canned food;
Teabags;
Some chicken bones, chicken feet, chicken gizzards and chicken intestines from the local hawker;
R170 for gas, which she uses to cook with; and
R250 on burial society premiums. Ngozana spends most of the grant money on prioritised food items, which have in the past six months increased by 5.6%, or R114.93.
She tries to focus on essential food items that are zero-rated (VAT free), but even that has not made any difference to how far she can stretch the grant, because even these have increased by 5% or R95.39, in the past six months.
The food items bought for the Ngozana household do not include nutritionally-rich foods such as eggs, meat and dairy, which have critical nutrients such as protein, calcium and iron.
There are few vitamin-, mineraland fibre-rich foods such as vegetables and fruit; or foods with good fats such as maas, peanut butter and pilchards, which are all essential for her growing children, aged 14, seven and four.
According to the index, all these core foods that make up 54.5% of the average food basket have become quite expensive, at an average cost of R2 180.64 in February.
Fortunately, Ngozana gets some relief from her voluntary work. She and other women from her community have found ways to supplement their income.
The women receive vegetables, fruit, and care products — including sanitary pads, deodorant, toothpaste, soap and lotion, donated to the centre she volunteers at by various organisations.
“Since the grant gets finished before I can buy most of the things that we need, the donated food and cosmetic products help a lot.”
The Child Gauge has since 2015 been reporting on and monitoring the situation of children in South Africa. The most prominent theme in the 2020 Gauge was the nutritional status of children, which has been deteriorating at an alarming rate, leading to the report’s authors describing this as “the slow violence of malnutrition”.
According to the report, one in four South African children under five is stunted. This chronic sign of undernutrition has remained unchanged for 20 years. Over the same period, the country has seen a steady increase in childhood obesity, with a rate double that of the global average, affecting one in eight children under five years.
The Gauge also found that children from poor households are three times more likely to be stunted than children from the country’s wealthiest households.
With 30% of children living below the food poverty line of R571 per month, the report stated that it is not surprising that in children under five years, severe acute malnutrition is
“It is violence because it is a violation of children’s rights, and violence because there are perpetrators”