Rumours of SANParks/Ezemvelo merger spark panic

A suggestion that the feasibility of handing over some Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife reserves to the SA National Parks Board be investigated has triggered heated debate. A report in The Mercury notes that Ezemvelo and SANParks both declined to comment last week as they had not seen any official correspondence, but Ezemvelo acting chief executive David Mabunda has circulated an internal memo to staff urging them to ‘relax and focus on rebuilding the future of our organisation’. In his letter to staff, Mabunda gave an assurance that Ezemvelo (previously the Natal Parks Board) was not about to be swallowed up by SANParks. This follows comments last week by the provincial Finance MEC, Belinda Scott, raising the possibility of merging the two conservation organisations or handing certain Ezemvelo reserves over to SANParks to save costs. Di Dold, a former member of the Ezemvelo board and conservation co-ordinator of the Wildlife and Environment Society in KZN, said she was concerned that KZN’s smaller game and nature reserves could end up being ‘orphaned’ if there was a merger. ‘Inevitably SANParks will cherry-pick the biggest and most popular reserves – but what will happen to the small reserves that can never generate a profit?’ she asked, according to the report. It says the Wildlands Conservation Trust, however, has welcomed a discussion on the proposed merger, noting that merging the strengths of the two organisations ‘could be a very constructive move’. Wildlands CE Andrew Venter said Scott’s remarks suggested that a serious conversation was under way – and that the merger plan could extend to the future of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, the report states.