Ezemvelo pleads with residents to stop cutting Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park fence

A committee of Ezemvelo KZN wildlife has urged izinduna to help the conservation body deal with the removal of the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park fence by residents.

This emerged when the committee on operations and community affairs held a stakeholder meeting with amakhosi and izinduna adjacent to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park on Friday.

According to Ezemvelo, the meeting discussed possible approaches to help prevent or reduce human-wildlife conflict.

Some of the amakhosi who attended the meeting included Inkosi Mthembu of kwa-Somopho, Inkosi Hlabisa of Mpembeni, Inkosi Hlabisa of Matshamnyama, Inkosi Mlaba of Mlaba, Inkosi Mthethwa of kwaMthethwa, and Inkosi Zulu from kwa-Mandlakazi.

Members of the co-management committee as well as the local and provincial SAPS teams were also in attendance.

Inkosi Xolo, the chairperson of the operations and community affairs committee, appealed to all stakeholders, particularly to izinduna, to help Ezemvelo deal with the removal of the park’s fence by some of their subjects.

We have noted on several occasions where local people cut the fence. At times izinduna were called and witnessed that the fence had been cut, but nobody was held accountable. For the park fence to remain intact, I appeal to all izinduna present here to deal with the few disruptive individuals who cut the fence,” said Inkosi Xolo.

Ezemvelo’s newly-appointed acting CEO, Siphesihle Mkhize, said Ezemvelo recently appointed 115 local people to repair the fence and to also work as fence liners. He said they have further appointed 136 people through the fire management project.

According to Mkhize, there have been 22 lion breakouts recently reported around the park.

He said the lion escapes have led to 12 lions being killed and this figure includes one lion that was killed by the community near eMakhosini asoPhathe.

About 57 lion sightings were reported. Mkhize said it is important to note that one lion could have been reported more than once.

There were 22 community protests that emanated from these lion escapes, he said.

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Musa Mntambo, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife communications manager, said the committee adopted some resolutions after lengthy and heated discussions that included Ezemvelo agreeing to add a fence cable when it repairs the park fence.

Mntambo said it also recommended that any new plans or initiatives affecting the adjacent communities must be discussed with the local traditional leadership before they are implemented.

“Local traditional leadership exercises their powers by disciplining their subjects who destroy the park fence. Ezemvelo is to reinstate various social initiatives like soccer/netball tournaments, Indlamu, etc. The stakeholders further committed themselves to facilitate quarterly meetings,” Mntambo said.

He said an appeal was made to izinduna to avoid giving land to people within or close to the buffer zone