An aerial view of a lodge on the banks of Lake St Lucia in iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal. Picture: iStock
A war of words has erupted between a KwaZulu-Natal tribal council and iSimangaliso Wetland Park management over land ownership.
iSimangaliso Wetland Park is a KZN park where Lake St Lucia is located and home to large numbers of wildlife species.
EbuNguni Royal Council is accusing the park management not allowing traditional leaders free access to ancestral graves within the facility.
Council chair Phumlani ka Mfeka said the council recently wrote a letter to iSimangaliso management listing their grievances and requesting an urgent meeting to resolve the issues, which include monies they say the park owes the Westernshores Community Trust, which claims to own a huge part of the land developed into a park.
“The royal council demands that iSimangaliso management meet the trust’s committee under senior prince Bongumusa Joseph Mfeka to discuss the land and what is owed to the trust. Access to the land must also be discussed as beneficiaries cannot get access unless they pay.”
“A mechanism must be created immediately that will give beneficiaries access without paying.”
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Mfeka also demanded that members of the trust be allowed to perform ceremonies to commemorate the late kings.
In the letter, the council claimed members of the trust were the rightful owners of a huge part of the land developed into a multimillion-rand tourist attraction.
“In September 1996, the trust successfully claimed 26 750 hectares of land, including land within the park, and this was gazetted by the government.
“In 1999, the then St Lucia Wetland Park, now called iSimangaliso, lodged a claim for the land awarded to the trust. This, to us, was the beginning of the fraudulent and unlawful usage of land,” the letter said.
iSimangaliso spokesperson Bheki Manzini denied people were blocked from doing ancestral rituals in the park.
He said land claim issues are handled by department of land affairs but some claimants, who are in partnership with the entity, were being paid.
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