iSimangaliso was Mandela’s pride
President Mandela was the architect of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park
THE most important decision in the establishment of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park was the decision not to mine.
In the early ‘90s, Richards Bay Minerals had plans to mine the dunes of iSimangaliso, but their plans were scuppered in 1996 by Mandela’s Cabinet.
Mandela was also one of 500 000 South Africans who signed a no mining petition in favour of conservation and tourism some years earlier.
This laid the ground for the establishment of the pristine area as South Africa’s first World Heritage site in 1999.
iSimangaliso Wetland Park was strategically nominated as South Africa’s natural wonder, along with Robben Island and the Cradle of Humankind.
President Mandela, together with the King of Swaziland and President of Mozambique, launched the Lubombu Spatial Development Initiative which upgraded regional infrastructure, rolled back malaria, opened borders and established the iSimangaliso Wetland Park as South Africa’s anchor project in the wider tri-lateral initiative.
Resources to deliver were also made available through job creation funds.
Tata turned the sod for the new 180km R22 (Lubombo) road constructed by local SMMEs from Hluhluwe to Mozambique.
Today this road gives thousands of rural people their first all weather access and at the same time the access required for iSimangaliso to become the major tourism destination it has.
Investment
President Mandela also launched the iSimangaliso’s investment drive.
Tourism businesses in and around the Park has grown by 89% and bed numbers increased by 40% at the same time as bed occupancies going from below to above the national average, providing thousands of jobs each year and significant local economic empowerment.
The last few years has seen a boom in international visitor arrivals.
In 2001, Tata made a speech upon the return of elephants to iSimangaliso after a 100 years of absence where he said: ‘There can be no better icon for holistic approach we are taking to conservation and development of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
‘This re-introduction is an almost spiritual form of restitution. It is an attempt to recreate the wholeness of nature so that we can live in harmony with its creator’s magnificence … so that the descendants of the elders of Maputaland, the generations of the future, too can experience this grandeur.’
He added: ‘iSimangaliso must be the only place on the globe where the world’s oldest land mammal (the rhinoceros) and the world’s biggest terrestrial mammal (the elephant) share an ecosystem with the world’s oldest fish (the coelacanth) and the world’s biggest marine mammal (the whale).’
