This information came to light when a notice was placed near the Haenertsburg Cemetary entrance on February 11. The notice informs the public and affected parties that Emvelo Quality and Environmental Consultant was appointed by Lepelle Northern Water to undertake an environmental impact assessment for the proposed upgrading of the Olifantspoort and Ebenezer water supply schemes.
Parties were given 14 days to register their interests in writing. These projects were awarded a total of R1.4 billion according to the latest budget speech by the finance minister, Enoch Gondongwana.
“The area is critically endangered and we established the Haenertsburg Nature Reserve in 2016 in order to further protect the area and the endemic fauna and flora,” says Laurie Railton, treasurer of the Friends of the Haenertsburg Grasslands (FroHG), a local organisation created with the sole purpose of protecting these areas.
Railton explains that FroHG raises funds through membership fees and donations to manage the grassland areas in terms of controlled burns and fire breaks. They also facilitate research projects in the WGG. “The grassland has not been tilled or disturbed since humans started developing the area,” Quentin Hagen, vice-chair of FroHG, explains.
“The little that we have left of the grasslands that remain undisturbed has to be protected, the underground seed bank and 1000-year-old plants are irreplaceable and cannot be fully restored once disturbed,” Hagen adds.
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According to Hagen, the risks posed by the Ebenezer water project include the digging and disturbance of the soil, the movement of vehicles and heavy equipment through the area, and the inevitable litter that accompanies projects of this scale. “The area would be disturbed again when future maintenance and leak repairs have to be done on the pipeline,” Hagen adds.
This critically endangered ecosystem, although visually dominated by grasses, is home to 661 plant species of which 18 are red-listed and 36 are protected. There are only 53 grass species, while the bulk of the biodiversity is made up of wildflowers.
Geophytes are often abundant and numerous orchid species are currently known to occur within the WGG, all of which are protected by the Limpopo Environmental Management Act of 2003. The WGG ecosystem is also home to 62 mammalian species of which 19 are threatened; of these, the Gunning Golden Mole has been only recorded from six localities in the Grootbos-Magoebaskloof area.
The grasslands are also home to 237 bird species of which 12 are under threat or of conservation concern, 38 reptile species of which one is threatened, 11 amphibian species of which one is threatened, and more than 50 butterfly species.
At the time of going to press, Lepelle Northern Water media liaison, Yolande Nel, acknowledged receipt of the Herald’s media inquiries and was awaiting approval from the Lepelle Northern Water executive for the responses to the Herald’s questions. The Herald will follow up on the story.
