The closure of all beaches in South Africa in terms of legislation passed way back in 2002 needs to be revisited as it caused many job losses with TKZN (Tourism Kwa Zulu Natal) issuing a document ( Ocassional Paper 20 ) suggesting that more than 20 000 economic opportunities were lost along the Elephant Coast of KZN as a knock on impact of the 4x4 ban.
We would like to have this issue revisited, and properly addressed. In the past the IWPA used all kinds of devious political tricks to side step the issue. We now need to open the debate about the extreme economic impact of these issues on the domestic tourism industry of St. Lucia and surrounding rural areas. see OCCASIONAL PAPER 20 by KZN
this issue of low tourism numbers has many knock on impacts, which are very difficult to overcome without serious government support. There has been very little visible government support within the rural areas of Mtubatuba local municipality and surrounding rural areas of the other local municipalities in the Umkhanyakude District Municipality. domestic tourism is still very poor and has not recovered at all since the 4x4 ban. International tourism has however increased significantly, and the tourism consumer pattern within the Umkhanyakude district municipality has changed drasticaly, but the rural folks are still excluded some how......
WE thus wrote an OPEN LETTER to the IWPA (iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority ) out lining the problem and requesting assistance to solve the problem. this fell on closed ears and blind eyes.... so we need to take further steps and bring the matter before the public, and then take legal action if the IWPA still shows us the middle finger...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2QSHFfEjk2TTcyTHpjeWZZMUk/view?usp=sharing
the 4x4 ban was the start of many problems that followed. bad management of the lake along with its tourism potential followed and also needs serious high level government interventions. lake St. Lucia and associated estuary is ( was ) the primary breeding ground for many marine species, and the fact that the lake is still dysfunctional is a real concern, which should be elevated to a national disaster #NATIONALDISASTER
what to do and which way to get the right folks to see the problem is not as easy as it appears to be. your help in talking about these issues and sharing this post within the social media space, asking for alternative views or open honest discussion around these very thorny issues will be appreciated.
#4x4ban
#Frankie2socks
