Program Director, ngithi angiqale ngokubingelela Isilo samabandla,
King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu Bayede!
Hlanga Lomhlabathi
The Honourable Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize
Member of the Executive Committee for Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development, Ms Lydia Johnson
The Executive Mayor of the Zululand District,
Councillor Zanele KaMagwaza-Msibi
The Mayor of Nongoma Local Municipality,
Councillor Jeremiah Mavundla
The Chairperson of the Champions of the Environment,
General Bantu Holomisa
Members of community
Ladies and gentlemen
Allow me to begin by thanking His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini for agreeing to combine the annual Zulu Reed Dance Ceremony with our history-making and biggest of its kind tree planting event. We share a special relationship with the people Enyokeni, with the pavilion we are assembling at today funded from our department’s budget in line with government’s Extended Public Works Programme.
The Department of Environmental Affairs has spent 15 million rands to develop this pavilion, improve the access road to this pavilion, parking and the paving of the area at the entrance gate.
The project focuses on the development of infrastructure needed to accommodate the Royal Reed Dance at the Enyokeni Palace with 131 work opportunities created for local community members.
We are proud to be associated with you.
Also I would like to appreciate the work done by General Bantu Holomisa and his Champions of the Environment for the sterling work they continue to do in raising the profile of our environment portfolio.
It is through his efforts and our Social Responsibility Programme (an affiliate of the Expanded Public Works Programme) that we were brought together as part of our work towards the 17th meeting of the Climate Change negotiations or Conference of Parties (COP17/COMP7) in Durban between 28 November 2011 and 9 December 2011.
We value this moment and are grateful for the support we received even when we planted our trees this morning.
The two events complement each other: whilst we learn of the noble intentions and significance of the Reed Dance and Zulu culture, we also appreciate His Majesty's acceptance of our request to involve the maidens and local community in our effort to deal with climate change awareness and education.
Our survival as human beings is dependent on how we treat our environment – how we relate with our natural resources like trees, grass and water.
To us as government, today's tree planting event, with the blessing of His Majesty, symbolises leadership and direct response to the call we should continue to make to all our people to work together with us to address climate change challenges.
It is pleasing to note that the partnership is happening here today and we would want to see all of us work together in saving tomorrow today.
King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, we are immensely proud of the leadership you are showing in ensuring that, as an institution that represents traditional leadership, you have placed yourself as part of our drive to raise awareness and create a good relationship between our people and the environment.
We will also engage with other traditional authorities to ensure that our preparation for the coming 17th meeting of the Climate Change negotiations or COP17/COMP7 in Durban also recognises the role, leadership and jurisdiction of traditional leadership.
We are convinced that if our country works as one big positive force other countries will follow suit. We can substantially reduce the anticipated catastrophic consequences of climate change.
We must recognise that climate changes threaten to disrupt the way we have been interacting with our environment. For an example we need rain and healthy ecosystem for the reeds to continue growing. If all our sources for water are threatened, our continued existence as a people is under enormous threat and therefore our traditional activities are also threatened.
Please allow me to use this platform to demystify climate change. I would like to simplify it only as far as trees are concerned given that we are here to plant trees and encourage a South Africa that lives in harmony with its environment. As trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide, which is the gas that causes excessive heating responsible for climate change.
Trees reduce the concentration of this gas in the atmosphere and this is good for the environment. Planting trees helps offset the loss of native forests and fights climate change.
The process of reforestation or planting trees as is commonly known, can and will make a valuable contribution in how we deal with global climate change and offer an added benefit of enhancing our socio-economic conditions.
Trees are known for acting as carbon sinks in that they absorb the carbon dioxide which gets emitted through a variety of human activities including burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide as well as other Greenhouse Gases (GHG), leads to the warming of the globe that results in the change in climatic conditions through trapping of the heat in the atmosphere.
As part of the solution, our department is championing the idea of planting trees. Today will see a total of 34 000 trees planted and we have set aside a budget of 3,5 million Rands for this initiative.
We appreciate the sponsorship of 4 000 trees from one of our partners Vodacom and we appreciate their support to our private public partnership initiative which we believe is stronger than any force. We need to nurture the private public partnerships and get more companies on board moving forward.
Ladies and gentlemen, environment behaves like human beings. When you take care of it, it returns the favour and also takes care of you. For instance, if we take very good care of our environment, it can deliver a sustainable benefit of food security for everyone thereby assisting our efforts to fight poverty in all our communities.
Trees also reduce soil erosion, thereby conserving soil quality upstream and water quality downstream. Forests also provide habitats for a wide array of plant and animal species which ensures sustainable business to our tourism industry and continued employment.
Some of you may wonder how this project will benefit you as an individual. To answer your question, some immediate direct benefits include direct employment of 330 persons for a short term, infrastructure development, skills-transfer and the creation of markets for related products and services.
Of these jobs created, 30 of them will be for the entire duration of the project, about 15 months, for maintenance of the trees and conducting carbon assessment of the soil after the planting of the trees.
In addition to the work opportunities, the project will provide accredited training to those employed in order to increase their chances of getting further employment opportunities once the project is completed. It also has the potential to also provide local communities with additional products such as fuel-wood, fruit, nuts and herbs, amongst others.
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate my gratitude to His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini for providing us with the platform to engage his people and allow them to participate in a project that will benefit all of us.
I wish to send a message to other South Africans that we are in the midst of climate change summits in which we are visiting provinces to get Team South Africa behind us all the way to Durban.
When we visit your area, please come lend your support to this good cause.
Thank you.
Enquiries:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
Roopa Singh
Cell: 082 225 3076
Speech by the Honourable Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Minister BEE Molewa on the occasion of Greening (Tree Planting) event at Enyokeni, Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal
