Squabble over the new Shangoni Gate to the KNP is far from over

Speaking during a meeting with stakeholders inside the park at the location where the infrastructure intended to support the opening of the new gate has already been built, the deputy minister stated that the location of the gate was decided in favour of Muyexe village in the Greater Giyani municipal area. He cited several reasons why the gate should be located in Muyexe. He said in Altein an existing road to a KNP management gate passes through the centre of a settlement.

He said the cost of relocating residents to another place to make way for a road would be expensive, and therefore the new KNP tourist gate was not viable from Altein. “Among the reasons why the current management gate was not viable to be converted into a tourist gate was that the road to the new gate would have to be constructed through a residential area in Altein village,” explained the deputy minister. He said if the road were to be approved and constructed without the relocation of residents, there would be a lot of delays which would inconvenience tourists.

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“A final resolution was reached in a stakeholder meeting at Mopani Rest Camp. All parties agreed on the position of the gate,” said the deputy minister. He said the new tourist gate was less than one kilometre away from the current management gate used by SANParks staff. “We agreed that there must be maximum beneficiation of the communities in the surrounding area on an equal basis.”

He said the meeting further resolved to establish a technical committee that would be led by SANParks, the Department of Tourism and CoGHSTA. According to him, this team would work with both municipalities to engage with stakeholders and communities to ensure all benefit from the new tourist gate. “This will ensure that they come up with a comprehensive beneficiation plan or strategy that will be presented, possibly by the first week of April, after which we will be able to finalise this matter once and for all,” he said.

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He added that “once everything has been concluded,” the department would then begin construction of the gate and the road. The MEC for CoGHSTA, Basikopo Makamu, said the committee has only this month to conclude the issues of beneficiation and should complete its consultation by the beginning of April. “We will be working with traditional leaders to ensure that even before you end your term on May 29, everything has been signed off so that we can start with the actual construction,” the MEC told the deputy minister.

However, some traditional chiefs in the Collins Chabane Municipality dispute that a resolution has been reached. “We want the department to convert the existing management gate into a tourist gate. “Whoever is saying that we agreed to the removal of that gate to somewhere else is out of line because that’s not our agreement,” said Ronald Shivuri, who represents the Mtititi-Madonsi Shangoni Gate Forum.

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Hosi Mtititi said he supports Shivuri’s point of view. “I have no other words to add,” he said. Meanwhile, Risimati Chauke, the chairperson of the land claimants in the Madonsi area, a village that won a land claim against the KNP in 2016, dismissed the argument that the road would disturb the settlement if approved. “Changing the road to Muyexe is not in line with the promise made to us when we won a land claim in 2016.

“They told us then that because they could not give us a portion of the land that we claimed, they would construct something that would benefit our community, so changing the gate goes against that promise,” he said. Hosi Muyexe, on the other hand, welcomed the development that was coming to his village. “I don’t want this issue to drag on too long because it will further delay a development that could have started a long time ago,” he said.