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Reality or rhetoric?
Koch, Eddie
Koch, Eddie
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DP54.pdf
Adobe PDF, 430.95 KB
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"The debate between the mining corporation and conservationists over the future of St Lucia became the focus of one of the most heated environmental controversies ever in South Africa. Some 150 environmental and conservation organizations formed an alliance, called the Campaign to Save St Lucia, and mounted a determined campaign to prevent the dunes from being mined. They argued that nature-based tourism was a more sustainable form of development for the area. The organizations launched a petition which was signed by some 300,000 people, including Nelson Mandela and local celebrities. They cited the Ramsar Convention’s stipulation that sites under its protection may not be mined (The Star, 17 August 1993; The Star, 9 November 1989). In December 1993 their efforts were rewarded when a supreme court judge, appointed to head a panel set up to review the environment impact study, ruled that mining be banned. The review panel concluded that mining would cause irreparable damage to the ecology of St Lucia and that ecotourism was a more effective vehicle for improving the livelihoods of people who live in the surrounding rural areas. The judge also recommended that South Africa’s government establish a national heritage park at St Lucia because of its "rich history, ecological and biological diversity". He suggested that the Natal Parks Board administer the conservation zone and an ecotourism scheme, at least until a new board is set up to run the proposed heritage park. The mining corporation has agreed to abide by the opinion of the review panel and the African National Congress (ANC) has cautiously welcomed the ruling but urged the then white-dominated cabinet to leave final decisions to a new government (The Weekly Mail and Guardian, 17-22 December 1993). The balance of forces in the conflict over St Lucia seems to have swung in favour of the proponents of ecotourism. In the process, the issues have shifted. St Lucia is no longer a symbol of struggle between South Africa’s green movement and a powerful 3 multinational mining corporation. Instead, it has become emblematic of the challenges that face ecotourism if it is to live up to claims that it is an effective instrument for rural reconstruction in the new South Africa. The protagonists in the environmental contest were primarily from white middle class constituencies, although a growing number of black students and professionals were exposed to the debate by extensive media coverage of the issue. However, caught in the middle was a more neglected constituency — the indigenous people whose ancestors owned the land being so hotly contested by groups of outsiders. So far there has been no in-depth study of the attitudes of these people towards the competing ecotourism and mining options regarding the use of their land. But they have manifested their feelings in some rather direct ways. In early 1993, two white officials from the mining corporation were shot dead by gunmen from a community that lives in a forest not far from St Lucia. It appears the attackers were resisting attempts by the company to survey the forest in order to build a dam and pipeline to supply its mining operations at Richards Bay. The proposed works involve the removal of about 300 people from the forest and the banana plantations they have established in the area. Their violent reaction was linked to an internecine dispute between members of the Zulu nationalist movement, the Inkatha Freedom Party, which tends to support the mining option, and members of the ANC (The Weekly Mail, 19-25 March 1993). The conflict has been part of the low intensity civil war between supporters of these two groups in Natal that has killed up to 10,000 people in the last five years. At least two groups of people, representing the original inhabitants who were forcibly removed in the apartheid years from the beach dunes on the eastern shores of St Lucia, have made claims to the disputed land. The traditional chief of one of these groups appears to favour mining while representatives of the rival group say they first want their land back before they decide how it is to be used (The Sunday Times, 19 September 1993)."(pg 3-4)
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1994-08
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With permission of the license/copyright holder