Transfrontier park on course

2002-04-30 14:04

Johannesburg - Work to get South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe's Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park ready for animals and tourists is moving ahead steadily, Environmental Affairs said on Tuesday.

In a statement on Tuesday, Environmental Affairs Minister Valli Moosa's office said: "The Minister would like to assure everyone concerned that the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park project is moving ahead steadily.

"He is in constant consultation with his counterparts in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In the nature of a project of this magnitude, it is to be expected that concerns will be raised by stakeholders and the general public. The minister will not take these lightly."

The statement follows a call on by the Democratic Alliance on Monday for Moosa to establish a commission of inquiry to probe reports that the future of the park was under threat.

A report in the Mail & Guardian newspaper last week stated that "political grandstanding and greed" were threatening the park, which straddles the borders of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

According to the report, "political pressure by Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Valli Moosa, coupled with apparent corruption by consultants and a failure to consult communities, may derail the dream".

35 000 square kilometre

The 35 000 square kilometre park is a cross-border game reserve between South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

It will include land adjacent to South Africa's Kruger National Park, other national parks, private game reserves, hunting concession areas and community managed natural resource areas.

DA environmental affairs spokesperson Errol Moorcroft on Monday said Moosa should urgently appoint a commission of inquiry "to ascertain whether there are valid grounds for the reports".

He said the DA fully supported the concept of the park.

"This park, which is scheduled to become the largest conservation area in the world, promises immense benefits for the three participating countries," he said.

The DA was even more alarmed at the prospect of hasty or ill-advised actions by Moosa's ministry harming the Kruger National Park, "the flagship-park of our entire eco-tourist industry".

Moosa said there was no need to take hasty action at this stage.

"One of the guiding principles in anything that has been done up to now has been to ensure that the environmental integrity of the Kruger National Park, which is the pride of the South African people, and indeed the people of the world, is maintained," Moosa said.

- SAPA