4X4 BAN and the Mtubatuba IDP process.

The 4x4 ban,  or the closure of our beaches to reasonable motor vehicle access, has had a rather nasty impact on the tourism associated with recreational use of the South African beaches within rural areas along the South African Coast line

In the Elephant Coast region,  where the IWPA are in control  of the coastal zone, and manage the area in accordance with the world heritage act, these losses have been very pronounced and rather disturbing, causing huge economic issues, which have been festering and causing anger amongst the folks on the ground for the last 15 years.  way back in 2004 KZN TOURISM estimated these economic losses caused the tourism industry of Umkhanyakude District Municipality to shed in excess of 20 000 jobs.

  These 20 000 job losses were never addressed, as the IWPA claimed that they had these issues, under control,  and that the envisaged INTERNATIONAL TOURISM that would be generated through the marketing of the world heritage status of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Wold Heritage Site and the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative would off set these losses.   These tourism gains due to the world heritage status of the park, as well as other government initiatives, including but not limited to the LSDI, never materialized. 

It is thus time to take action and demand an answer from central government what they are doing to alleviate the serious economic losses caused by the 4x4 ban.  This will be accomplished by taking the issue up at the Mtubatuba Local Municipality IDP structures and requesting that the various role

players come and explain their role in ensuring the failure of the domestic tourism sector within the Umkhanyakude district municipality, focusing on the Mtubatuba Local municipality, and the St. Lucia tourism node, which is the region that suffered the biggest losses with the local arts and crafts industry collapsing and disappearing .

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority is the government appointed body  to look after the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park World Heritage Site along the Elephant Coast of KZN South Africa.  It is the duty of the IWPA or the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority to ensure that tourism associated with the use of our first world heritage site is equitable and reaches the majority of tourism stake holders within the area (Umkhanyakude District Municipality)  The IWPA have failed miserably due to the implementation f the 4x4 ban which did not go down well with the domestic tourism market shedding more than 20 000 jobs, as per the last paragraph on page two of this document by KZN Tourism.  

what to do and which way forward is now an issue that needs urgent attention from central government, with the question being  

1) Do we mine the lake, leaving the rehabilitation up to the IWPA,  or 

2) do we push tourism as an alternative, or 

3) do we chase the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority out of town, then mine the lake, and rehabilitate the area to be the biggest nature based tourism project ever ?

my self personally, I like option 3.......

See open letter to the Mtubatuba Local Municipality here for more

What is the annual cost of implementing the 4x4 ban within the Elepehant Coast ?

Sun rise on the beach

There is so much documentation out there discussing the NEGATIVE ECONOMIC impacts of the 4x4 ban, but it appears that these have not been read by the folks on the ground within the #ISIMANGALISO wetland park and surrounding rural areas of Umkhanyakude district municipality.

firstly there is the OCCASIONAL PAPER 20 BY KZN TOURISM    found here Tourism KwaZulu-Natal's Occasional Research Papers and Ad Hoc Research Projects

then there are a number of documents that were live on this web site http://www.acerafrica.co.za/ which have since been removed or made unavailable to the public. Acer Africa has been the #IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authorities preferred environmental consulting company for a number of years.

The IWPA and associates have many nasty political tricks that they implement, and their PPP or Public Participation Programs are quite well disguised and often hidden from the public through disingenuous tricks and sneaky public perception management strategies.

The current situation where they (IWPA and associates) hold impromptu road blocks and search vehicles for alcoholic beverages when en-route the the local St. Lucia beaches    is also an emotional issue as most South Africans appreciate a beer with their braai.  when this is a problem then the South African Tourists tend to pack up and leave town.  

This attack on our rights to enjoy a beer with a braai is quite a big thing from a tourism perspective, as it chases the lo0cal and domestic tourist out of town.  In the past (pre 2002) this was the main stay of all tourism in St. Lucia with international visitors being very few and far between.  The IWPA decided for us that we should no longer welcome South African folks, but focus on international tourism.

If you take your time and evaluate the OCCASIONAL PAPER 20  (link above) you will soon see that more than 20 000 folks lost their economic opportunities due to the knock on impact of South African Folks no longer feeling welcome within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site.

these economic  losses are huge,  and have never been fully disclosed to the public at any PPPM or Public Participation Process Meeting.held by the IWPA.  WE will soon be challenging this, as the original ROD (Record of Decision)  clearly stipulates that this must happen.  there is supposewd to be an annual review which the minister gets.  this annual review is supposed to (at least in my mind) go through a public participation process in terms of the this ROD but we as the public are left in the dark and fed the biggest pile of hog wash in show and tell meetings that are meant to be Public Participation Process Meetings.

This will soon be a topic of discussion t the Mtubatuba Locla Municipality RDP process, and cause many red faces and lots of  political posturing.  The St. Lucia tourism folks need to brace themselves for the fall out from these political posturing moves and the public reaction that will follow.

WE as the public will soon be requesting an explanation from the new minister of tourism.... asking for the economic costs incurred to enforce the 4x4 Ban including the cost of lost tourism.

this will cause many problems and open the can of worms, spilling them on the dinner table while the guests are eating ....

We can expect some strange reactions from the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority and the Minister, as this is a big problem where the local community of the St. Lucia area ;ost more than 20 000 jobs due to government attitude. 

Which way the Mtubatuba Local municipality will react is an open question, as these are all new councilors, with none of those who were in power way back in 2000 still being in power....

Frankie2socks is in town....

The purpose of the ARBU

The purpose of the ARBU  or Association of Recreational Beach users is to bring together like minded people, and gather public support to challenge the 4x4 ban and all subsequent legislation which has a negative impact on the coastal Environment within the Elephant Coast of KZN south Africa.

History has clearly shown us the very negative impact of the closure of the Elephant Coast beaches to the regional economy of the Umkhanyakude district Municipality, with KZN Tourism estimating 20 000 (twenty Thousand) plus job losses and large scale economic losses associated with this legislation  as in their occasional paper no 20 which was published and circulated within the KZN tourism web site.

The comment period for the new draft legislation closed on Sunday 31 March 2013 and our comment that we emailed to the advertised email address did not elicit a response of any kind, not even an acknowledgement of receipt.

The Association of recreational beach users has a social media profile that can be found here

The ARBU has a web presence and this blog is in place to boost that web presence and help the management of the ARBU to gain support from the people on the ground, and a mandate from our supporter base to take the 4x4 ban issue up at the political level.

To contribute to this blog or our collective efforts to have the 4x4 ban issue addressed in a manner that best suits the majority become a supporter and register here or to offer us your personal mandate to take up the issue on your behalf here 

Looking forward to keeping you informed and  working with you and your friends to solve the many thorny issues of recreational beach access to the Elephant Coast beaches.

Please share and advise others of our need for public support to address the 4x4 ban issue.