Director of proceedings
Hon. Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs
Hon. Premier – Free State Province
MEC Free State
Executive Mayors
Chairperson of the North West Landowners Association
Chairperson of the Free State Landowners Association
Chairperson of Conservancy
Director General – Department of Environmental Affairs
Deputy Director General
Distinguished Guest
Government Officials
Ladies and Gentlemen
Baagi ba Bokone –Bophirima le Free State Vredefort Dome is a unique geological region, with its oldest and largest meteorite impact structure that is known to man. Is natural and rural character / ambiance is central to its Outstanding Universal Value.
While Conservation of this Site might be obvious from a global and national perspective, natural and rural spaces in developing countries like South Africa are constantly under pressure for development, especially with tourism and recreation activities. Tourism currently account for 15% of the World’s GDP while South Africa accounts for 10% and it is one of the fastest growing economic sectors. The many enquiries and heated discussions amongst you as Landowners, Planners and Conservation Authorities are therefore not unjustified.
Contrary to this is the existence of local inhabitants which have developed a sense of attachment, they have close ties with the Site and have developed deep symbolic meaning, values and interpersonal relations with the Site over time. These are the people who value the history and the natural ambiance of the area more than anything, who would not want anything modern to the Site.
As Government we are aware of the challenges facing the Site, to name but a few: Veld Fires during winter: The Site is prone to Veld Fires. Water quality: The issue of Pollution of the Vaal River is also a challenge, which is actually the repercussion of poor sewage treatment infrastructure. The other challenge is that of sceptic tanks that are largely used in the area due to the absence of infrastructure for proper sewage disposal.
Poor Waste Management practices: The area is not serviced with waste collection systems. There is no Landfill site in this area and as such you are forced to dispose the waste in your back yards.
Fast growing development which led to the need for change of Land use from Agriculture to Tourism. It is only natural that you would want to move with the times, and start looking at tourism as a better and easier way of making money for your survival, but is very much critical that in the process of those new viewpoints you ensure that food production is not compromised and most importantly your tourism activities must be very friendly to the environment.
Mediation process
Mediation disputes are currently a voluntary process where involved parties in dispute choose to participate rather than being coerced. It was more than encouraging to note that with the Vredefort Dome dispute, all the interested and affected parties where willing to take part in the dispute process from the word-go in spite of their differences.
This is always a critical positive step towards success in conflict management and mediation cases Contrary to popular believe, dispute cases do take time to come to an end due to parties’ hostilities, mistrust, and suspicions for each other particularly in a multiparty dispute. This was typical with the Vredefort Dome case.
The dispute dragged for over eleven months (11) due to Arguments, differences, and other delaying tactic reasons by parties. But still at the end there were major agreements reached like a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) which included principles on which the agreement is based, management authority and how it will be constituted. This is a great milestone in itself.
I must admit, the mediation process was characterised by challenges, accusations, finger pointing, mistrust etc. but at the end of the day, we managed to find one another and we have an agreement, hence we are here today. Those dialogues were necessary; they are a critical tool of finding a common direction. We needed to disagree and dialog further to find convergence in our views of how to move forward.
This shows that we are a healthy society living in a highly democratic state. This was one of the not so easy journey that we had to undertake, it was characterised by trials and tribulations, accusations, loss of trust and so many challenging things that I need not make mention of, but the most important thing is that, throughout that confusion, we never lost sight, our eyes were fixated on the ball, hence our arrival at the desired destination.
I must say today that, the fact that we are all here today, confirms our undying and unchallengeable commitment to the sustainable conservation of this site, and for that we all deserve a very strong round of applause. Together we made it.
Moving forward, I would like to pledge for integration and transformation in this project. Let us continue to work together with the same level if not more increased levels of commitment to make this Site one of the best World Heritage Site that is managed by the Landowners in partnership with Government.
Together let us ensure that we green the economic growth of this site such that it does not lose its essence of Conservation. Let us guard against succumbing to selfish economic gains which are likely to make us lose sight of the pertinent issues.
Let us not forget the need to maintain the Rural and Natural character/ ambiance of this site. That is what makes this site unique from all the other sites out there. Let Sol Kezner keep his Sun City, we shall keep and protect our Rural Vredefort Dome with everything we have our.
