Sanbi accused of Botanical Garden neglect
The residents accused the South African Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) of only taking care of certain parts of the garden, particularly the visitors’ side on Malcolm Road in Poortview, which is the main attraction and apparently neglecting a great part of the garden.
Krugersdorp residents living along the borders of the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden have raised environmental concerns about the current state of the national reserve.
The residents accused the South African Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) of only taking care of certain parts of the garden, particularly the visitors’ side on Malcolm Road in Poortview, which is the main attraction, and apparently neglecting a great part of the garden.
The residents residing on the northern boundaries of the garden told Northsider that the garden is an eyesore due to the lack of maintenance which has culminated in the huge growth of invasive plants, which according to them are taking over from the indigenous trees surrounding the garden.
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“The management at the Botanical Garden is only focusing on what people can see. They are not looking after the garden properly, besides one part of the garden in Poortview. They’ve allowed gum trees and black wattles to grow at the garden and once those invasive plants are in the ground, they grow rapidly, consume a lot of water and are extremely difficult to root out,” pointed out an extremely concerned resident, who highlighted that the consumption by these trees could result in the majestic Witpoortjie Waterfall drying up.
“If they don’t stop these trees from growing, the waterfall will be empty and I don’t know how they would get the water back,” he cautioned.
According to the concerned resident, the invasive trees have been around for about seven years. However, the allegations were disputed by Andrew Hanky from the Botanical Garden, who said the trees have existed for over 50 years but nothing has happened to the waterfall. He referred the Northsider to Sanbi for official comment. The publication has approached Sanbi for comment but none has been received to date.
An experience environmental education and invasive alien control specialist, Karin Spottiswoode from Friends of Kloofendal, was also approached to air her thoughts on the matter. She said she simply could not see the need for much concern about the invasive plants at the garden and asked how the trees could cause the stream to dry up.
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