Garth ready to ‘park off’ but leaves behind a legacy

FOR Garth Kloppenborg, working in the Parks Department at eThekwini Municipality has been about service to the community.

Garth, who retires on Friday, has served the community with his expertise as a horticulturalist for the past 37 years, 27 of these as a manager within the Parks Department. Although he’s sure to miss his work, Garth is confident that the new generation in the department is capable and will step up to carry on with his legacy, which he attributes to what he has achieved over the years and the people he has worked with.

From a young age, Garth felt an affinity for the outdoors, the environment and horticulture.

“When I was in Standard 8 at school, I became aware of my calling to horticulture. In my year book they called me ‘the happy horticulturist’! ” he said.

Garth started at the municipality as a student horticulturist on 1 June 1982, and registered with Tecknikon Natal for a Horticulture Diploma. He qualified in 1985.

His first depot was Bulwer Park in Central District. Thirty-five years later, he returned to Central as the District Manager. From Bulwer Park he moved to the Beachfront, Victoria Park depot, and part of the Northern District. During this time he progressed to Senior Horticulturist. He then moved to Phoenix as Acting Manager in 1992, and shortly after working in Phoenix he progressed to Chief Horticulturist and was then later appointed District Manager.
“This was a sharp learning curve for me into management of a district and pulling together a functional team of horticulturists and park supervisors and supporting staff. It was during this time that I completed my Higher Diploma,” he said.

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When the post come vacant for Manager Northern in 1995, he moved to Bridgeville Depot, which brought him back into the Northern District and back to dealing with the beachfront. He said he enjoyed his years in Northern, and he gained further experience and depth in developing his management style.

In 2002 Garth was appointed as Acting Director: Durban Parks Department (old North South Central Council) for three years, where he gained immense experience in bringing all the Parks Departments together of the respective Municipalities in forming the new eThekwini Municipality.

“I believe this opportunity gave me an in-depth knowledge and experience of managing and organising a large Parks Department. This period brought about a number of changes in the culture of the old Parks Department into the new multi discipline Parks Leisure and Cemeteries Department we know today,” he said.

From there, Garth returned to his post as District Manager and was deployed to District 8 for nine years from 2006. In January 2016 he moved to District 7, and said this gave him a new set of challengers and responsibilities for example the Mitchell Park Zoo and Grade one major tourist parks.
“I addressed challenges of park development, maintenance and service delivery to greater Cato Manor, park and sport field maintenance in the Bluff and Meerbank areas and further dealing with an aging urban forest and Durban’s street trees. I am proud of my achievements during this period in facilitating the publications of three books as part of the Botanic Gardens Trust,” he said.

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Garth said there had been various moments and highlights that stood out for him over the past 37 years.
“I had the immense privilege to visit Ireland and City of Leeds, and later visiting our two Sister Cities of Leeds and Nantes. The highlight of my career was to participate in three of the largest flower shows in the French world, Floralies International, from 2004 every four years. This is a wonderful experience, it opened my eyes to what other Parks Departments do. There is no difference in our work styles and methods of work and management. This experience is something that will always stay with me,” he said.

He said he has had a passion for his job and that the years had flown by. “I never got tired of it. I believe what I have done has been for the good of the community, and to provide greater service to the community. I have always tried to help others and the environment and facilitate service delivery in the community. Looking back it has all been about the element of service, which ties in with my involvement with the Scouts, from being a cub, all the way through to an adult scout,” he said.

Garth has already put a few plans in place to keep himself busy during his retirement, saying these will also enable him to be of service to the community.

“I plan to be part of a conservancy and hope to be involved with the Mitchell Park Trust. I will also work on improving my hobby with DIY jobs and woodwork. I am in the process of putting a ’47 Chevy on the road and am still doing the electrics and painting. I have had the car for over 30 years and it has been sitting in the shed, waiting for this day to arrive! I’m looking forward to working on this project. I will still be involved with Scouts in one way or another, as I have been for the past 20 years,” he said.

Garth is married to Alison and has two children, Catherine and Christopher, and two granddaughters. He said Alison will be retiring at the end of December so his grandchildren should also keep them busy as well!

When asked if he will miss his work, he commented: “Now I am tired, I need a break. I’m sure I will start missing it in time, but I will fulfil this with the work with the Trust and conservancy,” he said.

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