South Africa

The Kruger National Park is to be enlarged by 5,000 hectares, while by the same agreement recently concluded, the Makuleke community regains its right to 25,000 hectares of Kruger Park lands. Settlement of the Makuleke land claim came just in time for the celebration of the centenary of Kruger National Park on March 25. In 1968 the Makuleke community was forced to leave their lands now falling within the borders of the Kruger National Park.

The Forest Owners' Association recently released a report from results of a survey during the first nine months of last year on "crime and violence" in the so-called South African forests (in reality large industrial eucalyptus and pine tree plantations) in the Kwazulu Natal area. The survey covered 54% of total afforestation in the country -over 800.000 hectares. According to a company's forest manager, plantations "were increasingly becoming safe heavens for people who lived in violence-torn rural townships, which mostly neighboured the plantations."

A new pulp mill that will produce between 400,000 and 500,000 metric tonnes a year, largely for export, is being planned for the Umtata-Kokstad-Ugie triangle. According to Enoch Gogongwana, provincial MEC for Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism, such project would create 600 direct and 1000 indirect jobs. The total investment would involve some 1.5 billion Rands.

We wrote an article on the issue of tree plantations, aimed at a South African audience, for the Environmental Networking Justice Forum's bulletin. Chris Albertyn, current director of ENJF, had previously been extremely helpful in providing us with information on the plantations issue in South Africa, much of it included in "Pulping the South". Chris is also actively distributing copies of the book, which, he says, "is clearly having an impact -in the province where I live (Kwa Zulu Natal) we have formed a coalition of organisations which calls itself TIMBERWATCH".

Malaysian forestry companies could be given a thirty-year concession in South Africa to establish 300.000 hectares of industrial tree plantations in the Transkei in Eastern Cape province. Such project has raised very difficult and delicate questions given that this is probably South Africa's most impoverished area and plantations are being presented as providing development, jobs and money. Malaysian companies would also receive exclusive rights to develop elite and exclusive tourist resorts in the most pristine areas of coastal forest endemism.