iDurban - Game rangers were chased from their outpost after which their camp was damaged and a suspension bridge destroyed in the Ndumo game reserve in the north of KwaZulu-Natal last week.
According to Radley Keys, DA spokesperson for environmental affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, the two incidents on Monday and Friday last week are attempts to allow land invasions to continue unimpeded in the eastern part of this park of international importance.
Conservation circles were abuzz on Thursday, warning that this state of affairs could have serious implications for South Africa in the international community.
Ndumo's flood basin wetlands, similar to those of the Okavango, have been given international conservation status according to the Ramsar agreement. They also form part of the proposed Lubombo Transfrontier Park which South Africa is involved in along with Mozambique and Swaziland.
Bush cleared for farming
All the game in the eastern part of the reserve has already been destroyed, the crocodiles Ndumo is famous for have left the area, and the bush is being cleared unhindered to make space for farming plots, said Keys after he and other members of the KwaZulu-Natal legislator's portfolio committee for agriculture and conversation visited the area last week.
"It's a crisis. There's total anarchy," said Keys.
The invasion of this part of Ndumo, east of the Pongola River, comes as a result of a land claim which was awarded to local residents in 2000.
However, nothing came of government's promises of agricultural assistance outside the park, Keys said. Then, in 2008, people chopped down 20km of Ndumo's eastern border fence.
According to an informed source, the land invasions are also related to the influx of people from Mozambique. The border between these two countries splits the Tonga tribe in two.
If the eastern part of Ndumo is lost for conservation, it places the future of the whole reserve in danger," Keys said.
Well-known game conservationist Dr Ian Player says this reserve is one of the most important bird-watching destinations in Southern Africa.
Suspension bridge destroyed
Last Friday, after a tourist was confronted, a group of people destroyed a suspension bridge across the Pongola River which lends access to the east of the park, Keys said.
On Monday a group of people attacked the game guards' outpost at the Mpholwe pan. The game guards were chased away before the buildings were damaged.
Police were called in to patrol the area after this incident, but as far as he knows, no charges were laid, said police spokesperson Jay Naicker.
Lydia Johnson, MEC for environmental affairs, condemned this "criminal behaviour". She is worried that it might hamper talks with local communities to find a solution for the problems surrounding the land claim.
