Govt. red tape may cost Sam Brooks his constituency
Government is still to act on a motion calling for the extension of communal areas into Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) in the Kgalagadi district, three years after Parliament adopted the motion.
The lack of action on the part of government has since prompted Sam Brooks, Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi South, who tabled the motion in 2020 to bring the matter back to Parliament.
Brooks has asked Minister of Lands and Water Affairs Dr Kefentse Mzwinila to explain when will action be taken.
He said his constituents and many other farmers in some places are suffering due to limited communal areas, while wildlife continues to increase in greater numbers.
Mzwinila said government with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is currently in the process of developing an Integrated Land Use Management Plan (ILUMP) for the Kgalagadi District.
This is undertaken through the Global Environmental Fund (GEF)-financed project titled, 'Managing the human – wildlife interface to sustain the flow of agro-ecosystem services and prevent illegal wildlife trafficking in the Kgalagadi and Ghanzi Dry lands.'
The project aims to address among others, the intense competition and conflict between the numerous land uses within the landscape and their associated stakeholders, incorporating biodiversity conservation, sustainable land management and climate change adaptation into spatial development plans.
Additionally, the ILUMP is intended to revise/review the land area under community management, subsequently increasing the participation of local communities in natural resource management (NRM) and direct benefits received by these communities.
Mzwinila said that introductory consultation meetings were undertaken with all the communities in the Kgalagadi District at the inception stage of the project from the 5th to the 7th September 2022.
“The project then moved into the Report of Survey stage and it was approved on the 31st of January 2023.'
He said the project is currently at the Draft Plan Stage and during the week of the 12th – 18th March 2023 the Project Management Team visited the Kgalagadi District for ground truthing of possible hotspot areas where proposals for major land use changes including de-zoning of a portion of the Wildlife Management Area to communal area are being considered with the aim of harmonising the conflicting land uses that are found in the area.
Community Trusts, affected farming communities and village representatives were among those consulted during this period and their views are in alignment with the de-zoning proposals.
“Following these site visits, the Project Management team is compiling the proposals that inform the draft plan”.
Mzwinila revealed that the Draft Plan is expected to be completed by May 2023 then it will be taken through the approval process where it will be presented to the various District Structures before approval. “Once approved, the plan will then move into the Implementation Stage.'