Tensions brewing at Makhonjwa Mountain World Heritage Site in Barberton

By Lwazi Raul-Shongwe and Kopano Dibakwane

Mpumalanga MEC for Economic Development and Tourism(DEDT), Makhosazane Masilela, has reaffirmed her commitment towards resolving the brewing impasse between stakeholders of the BMMWHS (Barberton Makhonjwa Mountain World Heritage Site).

A statement by DEDT has revealed that the impasse is based on who should become the management authority of the heritage site. According to the statement, the MEC is unhappy with the manner in which the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment-Dr Dion George, has handled the matter during his two-day fact-finding visit to Mpumalanga to meet the stakeholders.

MEC Masilela has raised concern with the said decision by Minister George to meet the stakeholders in two separate venues. The MEC says the action by George ‘borders on racial lines’. It is reported through the statement, that one of the stakeholders- BATOBIC(Barberton Tourism and Biodiversity Corridor), wrote to the Minister to raise concern about the development taking place at BMMWHS, under the management of the MTPA(Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency).

The Minister is said to have arrived in Mpumalanga on Sunday 10 November and started by visiting geo-sites at the BMMWHS to familiarize himself, and concluded with stakeholder engagements on Monday 11 November, at two different venues in Mjindi.

“ I am totally disappointed by the Minister’s unilateral decision to meet the two groups in separate venues. As the host province, we were requested by the Minister to arrange an engagement with the two groups of stakeholders at one venue, and we had arranged to meet at the Barberton Museum.

“ However, I was taken aback when I learnt this morning that the Minister has decided to meet BATOBIC(Barberton Tourism and Biodiversity Corridor) at a private venue owned by one of the members,” said MEC Masilela.

According to Masilela, she spent some considerable time with the Minister during a tour to the geo-sites at the BMMWHS, but he failed to have the courtesy to inform the MEC about his ‘last-minute’ decision.

Masilela has also revealed that she was not invited to the ‘private’ meeting. The Executive Mayors of Ehlanzeni and Gert Sibande District Municipalities, and the Speaker of the City of Mbombela, were reportedly also excluded from the ‘private’ meeting.

“ Why should we meet people with different skin Colour privately, when the arrangement was that all stakeholders will be met at the Barberton Museum? Is he(the Minister)not perpetuating racial segregation in this way?”, Masilela asked.

According to DEDT, the Minister did not answer why he met BATOBIC members separately at a private venue, and as to why the Mpumalanga municipal leaders, including the MEC, were excluded from the meeting.

“ I will definitely ask the Premier to raise this matter with the President(Cyril Ramaphosa), it cannot be that a national leader comes to our province and does not recognise us, as local leaders. We will not accept that our people should be treated differently, when we are one nation,” said Masilela.

“ As the Department, working with all municipalities surrounding the World Heritage Site, we recommit to engage all stakeholders so that the development of geo-sites continues in earnest. We will leave no one behind as we develop this tourism route as a new catalyst for tourism growth and job creation in our province,” MEC Masilela concluded.