Rights violations
Rights violations in terms of section 24 (b) (iii) of the South African Constitution are rather complicated issues. Especially when one talks of our economic rights, which come along for the ride but, are ULTRA Important aspects of the intent of the law.
PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION TO THE PREMIER OF KZN
Now as discussed in the 4x4 BAN blog pages here #Section24 of our constitution discusses our collective environmental rights, and we all, as South African citizens, , have the constitutional right to make reasonable economic gains through the sales and consumption of our local renewable natural resources.
Section 24
Section 24 of the South African Constitution does not discriminate between Juristic Persons or Natural Persons which makes some issues less complicated and others more complex. Section 24 of the South African Constitution also views renewable natural resources in the same light as non renewable natural resources, which is very helpful for us as consumers of natural renewable resources within the coastal environment of South Africa.
Section 24 of the South African Constitution is our lever to pull, and institute a claim of violation of our collective economic rights, which are disguised within our Environmental rights as a Ryder, which the mining industry use to ensure mining rights.
If the Economic Ryder within section 24 of the South African Constitution, which the mining industry uses to ensure that their access to natural non renewable resources, is not denied, was not in place, the South African mining industry would not exist and Environmental activists would have closed down all mining activities within South Africa a very long time ago.
Mining Rights and fishing rights
So we as environmental activists, who want our local environment protected and restored to natural functionality, where our renewable natural resources can flourish, need to use these same clauses within section 24 of the South African Constitution ( which the mining industry uses ) to acquire access rights, consumption rights and sales rights to the natural renewable resources within lake St Lucia and surrounding waterways within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site in KZN South Africa
Now being a world heritage site does complicate these issues of rights to both non renewable natural resources and renewable natural resources, but we need to remember that legislations associated with the world heritage convention act also guarantee us as South Africans that any rights we had before the area was declared a world heritage site, would not just disappear, but that we would maintain those rights.
Before the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park was declared a world heritage site in December 1999, we as citizens of South Africa had the right to consume the natural renewable resources of the St. Lucia estuary system. The IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority do not appreciate the economic Ryders in section 24 (b) (iii) of the South African Constitution, and as such the IWPA has introduced legislations to ensure that our access rights, consumption rights and economic rights associated with the renewable natural resources of lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary system have been eroded, denied, and criminalized.
This criminalization of our collective environmental rights by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, previously known as the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park Authority, has caused great hardships and really nasty economic problems and associated social distress for the folks of Umkhanyakude district Municipality.
What happened
So how did this situation come about and what can we as residents of Umkhanyakude district Municipality do to restore our economic rights, consumption rights and associated access rights.
Well this violation of our collective environmental rights happened because the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, through ROD's ( Records Of Decision) Legislative processes as well as well as actions and activities of their predecessor, the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands park Authority, which excluded true and meaningful public participation in the mandated integrated management plans of the park. ( IWPA IMP )
Now we do need to remember that the greater St. Lucia Wetlands park had a name change forced upon it through actions taken by the United Nations who manage international issues associated with world heritage sites, where UNESCO was the main driver of this name change. This name change became necessary when the Island of St. Lucia in the caribbeans also acquired world heritage status and confusion existed about which St. Lucia world heritage site was being discussed.
We got a new name for our world heritage site here in Zulu Land, South Africa, so as to remove the confusion. This name change was just that. A name change. This was a name change and not anything else.
No rights, duties, Obligations or any legal matters were impacted by this name change from Greater St. Lucia Wetlands park to iSimangaliso wetland park. How ever the guys that actually managed the world heritage site at the time, thought very different, and they used this name change to adjust the way that they viewed and implemented many laws and legislations. The Andrew Zaloumis management team at the IWPA were rather ruthless, and used this name change and related legislations to their advantage in many strange and devious ways.
The first was by excludung local municipalities and provincial authorities from their zone of influence by claiming that the IWPA as the custodians of a World Heritage site, are above these two levels of governance, and so only report to national government.
There were many other issues, but those are for other discussions but this discussion and related conversations is about our socio - economic and Environmental rights.
This makes things rather complicated and allows the IWPA many advantages to hide things away and side step a number of issues that impact on the local Municipality and provincial management activities and actions. Municipal planning strategies are problematic, as the IWPA falls into three of the four local municipalities within Umkhanyakude district Municipality.
Mtubtuba
Big 5 Hlabisa
Umhlanuyalingana
This assumption of powers and management duties by the Andrew Zaloumis management team at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority left many folks on the ground confused and perplexed. The IWPA did not submitt their IMP's or Integrated Management Plans to the local municipalities, thus allowing the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority to evade the mandated public participation process meetings mandated by legislations associated with the national planing act.
The IWPA did not, and still does not include their IMP development strategies and planning at
Local Municipality IDP level
District Municipality IDP level
Provincial IDP level
The IWPA STILL CLAIM that because they are a world heritage site management team, they are above local Municipality laws, district Municipality laws and provincial management teams get similar treatment being told to speak to the national department.
This attitude by the IWPA management team is currently being addressed internally, as the new IWPA MANAGEMENT TEAM has a different view on public participation and is keen to get the local rural populations living adjacent to the park to be included at all levels.
The question now becomes "What is the IWPA doing about the economic losses associated with the collapse of the prawn fishing industry"
The IWPA does not tell you that there were TWO (2) and not one prawn fishing industries. The one that everybody knows about was owned and managed by I&J , the frozen foods guys. The second #PrawnFishingIndustry was a secret that was well gaurded and kept very quite, coz the Andrew Zaloumis management team at the IWPA had successfully closed down the legal prawn fisheries that were opperational within the iSimangaliso wetland park. They just simply refused to renew the existing netting licences, citing the world heritage status of the park as the reason for this closure.
The licence holders went bankrupt and did not have the resources to take legal actions against the state. There was a true collaborative effort by a number of different state departments to ensure that the entire fishing industry within the St. Lucia lake and estuary systems was shut down and destroyed. The Andrew Zaloumis management team at the IWPA managed this destruction of the local fishing industry in Umkhanyakude very well.
The fact that this management team only reported to the office of the president, and had special privilages, as the IWPA did not report to any local government or provincial government structures, allowed them to do as they please, leaving the folks on the ground excluded at every opportunity. The Andrew Zaloumis REGIME was not a pleasant time for the folks on the ground within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, as they were treated as poachers who should be dispised at all costs, and denied access to natural renewable resources.
The economic impacts of these rather nasty actions and activities by the IWPA, when they refused to renew fishing permits and netting licences was huge, and to make matters worse this went down at the same time as the 4x4 ban. The issue was truly confused within the public domain, coz the IWPA painted these folks as "POACHERS" and ensured that these issues were clouded out by the noise about the 4x4 ban.
With hindsight and a little joining the dots, one can understand what the other contributing factors to the economic losses within the Umkhanyakude district Municipality are. The missing economy is all about the missing natural renewable resources.
The local population living on the shores of lake St Lucia have the constitutional right to harvest and sell the natural renewable resources of the St. Lucia estuary system. The issue of sustainability is always a problem point. Now if the system is not managed as a whole, and the sustainability of individual species is not connected to the sustainability of the whole, then we will have a big fail…
This big failure by the state and it's appointed custodians of our natural renewable resources and associated environmental spaces is a reality. Unfortunately this is hidden from the public by very clever public perception management STRATEGY based within the national government at the highest levels with the guys at Tourism and Environmental Affairs taking the lead roles.
The current situation is not acceptable, coz the whole St. Lucia system ( estuary and lake ) is at risk of total collapse. Some folks say that we are already past the point of no return to natural Estuary Management, and that the human race must now take collective responsibility and manage the St. Lucia estuary and lake systems proactively.
Just do some #CriticalThinking and evaluate the serious environmental consiquences caused by the draing of all marshlands, Swamps and waterpans in north east Zulu Land, or the Maputu Land Coast, which was an extremely high malaria zone in the past, to eliminate mosquitoes, and the impacts of this on waterflow patterns within lake St Lucia.
So many different problems all neatly rolled up into one big spaghetti ball. What to do about the environmental health of the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park depends on which side of the environmental fence you live and play. These are serious issues that need to be addressed at National level.
What are your views ? Leave a comment !! Or not ?
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Thanx for your eyeballs on my content.
