St. ucia lake and estuary systems stake holder engagement meeting held at Elephant lake hotel, in St. Lucia on 15 and 16 November 2021
St. Lucia lake and estuary systems stake holder engagement meeting held at Elephant lake hotel, in St. Lucia on 15 a
Meeting notes and feed back for online audience.
#Frankie2Socks attended the first three legs on behalf of the #4u2fish campaign.
Agriculture on Umfolozi Flats and surrounding areas
Tourism issues in St. Lucia toursim node
Fishing issues within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park focusing on estuary and lake issues
The first two legs were well attended with suitable representatives who were knowledgeable on their areas of concern. The third leg where fishing was the core theme was very poorly attended with just three concerned citizens showing their faces (including myself #Frankie2Socks)
The purpose of these stake holder engagement meetings was defined each time as being a source of information for the panel . What the panel instruction was or is was not discussed in depth, besides that this panel will make a recommendation to the minister on a way forward regarding the ecological and Environmental MANAGEMENT of the St. Lucia lake and estuarine systems.
One person from Khula area arrived late, coz he found out about the meeting late. He represented some land claimants in the area, but did not make a presentation, as he was not prepared. He did however say most of the same things that others had said at earlier stake holder meetings, which was very helpful in putting one solid well supported story in the picture, and not a bunch of separate private issues and individual petty complaints.
All stake holders were on the same page at each meeting. All stake holders require a functional estuary system, and all stake holders have issues with the manner in which the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority behave and interact with the public and our concerns about our livlihoods.
All four of us pushed the same core theme, that the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority are responsible for the current catastrophic collapse of the biodiversity within the St. Lucia lake and estuary systems.
During all three sessions the core complaint was that the estuary is nonfunctional, and the silt levels within these interconnected systems are unacceptable and exceptionally problematic to remove, as tidal ebb and flow will not have the scouring power needed to agitate, then pick up and remove this SILT.
The panel of experts did seem to understand our concerns, and asked some relevant questions. This panel of experts is set to deliver their findings and recommendations in March 2022, which is on the other side of our rainy season. We are currently in an extended drought, from the late 1980's so we do have serious issues with water quantity and quality. Then there is so called GLOBAL WARMING which is somehow not properly in the picture.
The amount of silt that will enter our lake and esturine systems before actions are taken to separate the Umfolozi mud stream from the St. Lucia lake system in the far north is going to cause some real nasty problems. The burm between the Estuary systems and the ocean is (currently Nov 2022) quite high, and wind born sediments coming from the North are accumulating on the burm, growing it higher. This wind born sediment is rather serious, as the beaches between first rocks and the estuary mouth are currently rather long, in some cases being in excess of 500 meters at low tide. This can change overnight with one big wind and associated sea current moving all this sand in less than 24 hours.
So things are dynamic, and can change Rather suddenly. These sudden changes will not, and can not remove compacted dried silt on the estuary basins or the water flow channels due to the excessive reed growth within the system which was exacerbated by the 2017 ecological and Environmental terrorist activity by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, ( GEF PROJECT) which was sanctioned and approved by the minister.
The joining of the Umfolozi River and the northern sections of the lake was a true disaster, which the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority put forward as REHABILITATION.
This so called rehabilitation was in my mind not rehabilitation, but an active ecological disaster in the making. Over the years the Umfolozi River has been manipulated by different groups, and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority has contributed greatly to these bad river management tactics through their attitude towards problem solving and being extremely autocratic and non co-opperstive at many levels, including the local municipality IDP PROCESS, which the IWPA refuses to acknowledge and participate in, claiming "WORLD HERITAGE STATUS"
This needs to be addressed, as the iSimangaliso Wetland Park no longer meets the criteria for world heritage status, and many folks would now like the area to be stripped of this world heritage status as things have just deteriorated since the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority took over management of the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park way back in December 1999. Name changes aside, this management structure is not conducive to co-,operative governance and this task team investigating the estuary management issues needs to be pro-active and place blame for bad decisions where it belongs.
Folks here on the ground tried many different approaches to discuss these problematic issues with the IWPA, but AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP by the Andrew Zaloumis management team at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority (IWPA) did just as they please. This management team should be held accountable for their actions, and be criminally charged with crimes against the environment.
The panel of experts was tasked to hold stake holder engagement meetings, then generate a report on the way forward as far as estuarine management of the St. Lucia lake and connected estuarine rivers within the iSimangaliso Park World Heritage site and surrounding areas is concerned. One of the panel members is a hydrologic specialist with deep level knowledge of waterflow and related siltation load distribution factors. The rest of the team are mostly involved in socioeconomic studies, so we are hopefully on a good wicket, but ball tampering and damaged bats are an issue of concern. In the past those appointed by the minister have not played fair, and team selection was for party political purposes and not outcome driven. Let's hope this team has been selected to achieve community engagement and good relationships between all role players.
Let's hope that the panel of experts puts forward in their recommendations that Andrew Zaloumis along with his management team need to be held accountable, and that criminal charges be laid against them for CRIMES AGAINST THE ENVIRONMENT which is now unable to support the ecological processes that ensure the natural renewable resources within lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary systems is functional and able to sustain the local economy of the area in question.
The Andrew Zaloumis management team has prepared the area for mining, the lake and estuary systems are silted beyond the point of no return, and now the only solution is to remove the silt load mechanically.
This problem was created by deliberately, and with criminal intent, by passing the natural filter system of the Umfolozi Flats, and allowing the Umfolozi mud stream to drop it's silt load within the extreme northern sections of the lake, where nature can not create sufficient water flow volumes to scour the bottom of the lake and the rest of the St. Lucia estuary systems.
What to do ?
Which path to take?
How can we solve these problems ?
Your views and comments will be helpful in establishing a better path forward.
Please share and ask others to share as well. We need diverse opinions and open minds to solve this rather nasty problem which was exacerbated by the Andrew Zaloumis management team at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, when they implemented the GEF PROJECT, even after being warned of the drastic silt problems that would follow, which we now need to remove by mechanical means.
The Andrew Zaloumis management team need to be held accountable for the biological and biodiversity collapse within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site.
Looking forward to the next step along the path to restoring the functionality of the St Lucia Estuary and lake systems.
The #4u2fish campaign is greatful to our sponsors and those who made attending these meetings possible.
Black Hawk Security supplied transport to and from the meetings.
Accommodation in St Lucia supplied by Bundu Basher Inn
Research and internet publication by Info4u and associates.
Social media marketing by #Frankie2Socks and associates
