Heritage Symposium, Mpumalanga Lake District
30 August 2007
Programme Director,
Members of the Executive Council,
Executive Mayor of Msukaligwa Municipality, Councillor B M Vilakazi,
Mayors and Councillors,
Professor Peter Delius,
Distinguished scholars and presenters at this Symposium,
Managers in the public service,
Colleagues, fellow participants,
Ladies and gentlemen
I would like to thank the organisers of this symposium for putting this
excellent programme together, and ensuring that we enlist the participation of
some of our distinguished academics and researchers in various fields in the
robust debates on history, heritage, conservation and sustainable development.
To the presenters and participants, we thank you for being part of this
symposium and we appreciate that your participation will enrich the quality of
discussions and debates.
It is particularly inspiring that we meet on the eve of the commencement
tomorrow, of our country's heritage month, September, at Ermelo in Msukaligwa
Municipality, one of our country's modest backyard towns to strenuously trace
our lost and disappearing identity. Our land, our people, our heritage. This
symposium comes at an opportune moment in the province's development struggle.
As a province, we have prioritised the 'Big Five' flagship projects that are
aimed at accelerating economic development and service delivery. One of these
projects is Heritage, Greening Mpumalanga and Tourism. This is a project that
combines the elements of reconstructing, recording and preserving in an
inclusive way, Mpumalanga's history and heritage, enhancing biodiversity
conservation, sustainable development and effective environmental management
practices to create a 'green province.'
It was interesting to see how embarrassingly limited our knowledge is of our
country and who we are. The reconstruction of history and heritage is an
important medium for national cohesion. The benefit flowing from well-managed
heritage and greening the province is the ability of the province to unlock the
tourism growth potential by enhancing ecotourism and cultural tourism. In turn,
this will contribute to economic growth and job creation. As this government,
our abiding mission is to vanquish the scourge of poverty in our country.
One of the challenges facing any developing nation is maintaining a delicate
balance between the pressures of economic development for job creation on the
one hand, and sustainable environmental management on the other. The outline of
presentations promises to provide insights into some of the obscure and complex
issues defining the interface between heritage, conservation and development.
The Mpumalanga Lakes District locality presents an exciting context in which to
highlight and debate issues raised by the flagship project.
In terms of its heritage and biodiversity value, the Chrissiessmeer environs
is one of the most unique landscapes in South Africa we are told. As narrated
to us during the excursion yesterday, this plateau area has been eroded by wind
over 1 500 000 years to form natural depressions or pans as we saw them. These
diverse water and nature resources have supported humankind and wildlife for
thousands of years. The Chrissiesmeer or Mpumalanga Lakes District as it is
locally known, like other lakes is no exception. The interesting San Rock
paintings scattered amongst the small sandstone cliffs adjacent to the pans
bear testimony to the presence of our intrepid predecessors who roamed these
plains. Their paintings are also represented in a number of sites in the
district including Jessievale and Buffelspoort and the many sites in the
Nkomati River Valley near Elukwatini. Quite clearly, the legend and the majesty
of these pans, of this lake, have not been fully exposed. Their place in the
sustenance of the evolution and development of early human societies in this
region of the continent, begs for far more attention than we have cared to
pay.
Programme Director, in terms of its economic value and potential to unlock
economic activity, this region is endowed with rich reserves of coal. The
critical management challenge is ensuring that we are able to maintain a
delicate balance between meeting growing national energy requirements and
preventing the degradation of sensitive ecosystems and sites of heritage
significance.
Traditionally mining has played a major role in creating job opportunities
in South Africa and especially in Mpumalanga. We have noted with interest the
exponential increase in mine applications since the revision of the mining
legislation. The challenge is how we deal with the risk of losing a significant
area of natural and high potential agricultural land. If this is not managed
properly, we will create a legacy of impoverished land that, in future, will
impact negatively on the sustainable livelihoods of generations to come. As we
implement agricultural projects to improve sustainable livelihoods, it is
important to consider the impact of open caste mining on water availability,
pollution and soil fertility so that we are able to manage and restrict
unintended consequences for some of the noble development activities we engage
in.
The key question is how we are able to prevent the pollution of water
catchments to spill over into other pristine environmentally sensitive
catchments, in particular with regards to waste management challenges in the
face of new growth. I hope that the presentations on the strategies for the
future will give insight into some of the options available for the Province to
implement sustainable development practices.
This symposium will also give pointers to some of the innovative ways to
deal with the challenge of meeting pressing human development needs while, at
the same time, enhancing environmental integrity and rehabilitation. From what
I have seen of the story of Lake Chrissie (Seokodibeng), I cannot but take back
with me the overwhelming realisation of the immense potential for livelihoods
Lake Chrissie presents us with and the enormity of the work to be done to turn
it into reality. To that end, one of the evident challenges we must address to
realise this dream is to listen to one another and work together for the common
good of all.
Thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
30 August 2007
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government (http://www.mpumalanga.gov.za)
