opening of the Mata Mata Access Facility to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier
Park
12 October 2007
Your Excellencies, the President of the Republic of Botswana, Festus Mogae,
and the President of the Republic of Namibia, Hifikepunye Pohamba
Your Excellencies Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Your Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners
Distinguished guests
Community leaders and representatives
Ladies and gentlemen
This is indeed an historic occasion for all of our nations gathered here in
the grand expanse of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park to celebrate this
momentous accomplishment - the official opening of the Mata Mata Tourist Access
Facility.
Today, together, we rejoice in our shared natural and cultural inheritance with
great pride.
I am pleased that this development is happening on the ancient land of the
Khoi and San people, for whom these lands have been sacred since the dawn of
time.
I recall the objectives we set our countries on 12 May 2000, as we signed the
Treaty and launched the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park at Twee Rivieren.
The Mata Mata Access Facility is unique in that it enables a very strategic
physical linkage between the two Transfrontier Parks of Kgalagadi and the
!Ai-!Ais/Richtersveld.
I am convinced that nothing can stir the soul and evoke intimacy with the
remote, better than the legend of the lost city and the stilled voices of past
civilisations buried deep beneath the shifting sands of the Kgalagadi
Desert.
The spectacular sights set upon the contrasting tapestry of the expansive
plains and undulating dunes of the red sands of Kgalagadi, set against the
rugged mountains of the Richtersveld and the habitat engraved by the third
largest canyon in the world, hold out the prospect of a real encounter with
African infinity.
Perhaps the enormity of the experience offered by this desert can better be
described in the extraordinary images imagined by the poet William Blake when
he said: "To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower; hold
infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour." (Auguries of
Innocence)
Indeed this picturesque landscape, artistically formed by the hand of
antiquity, constitutes the ever rhythmic African reality, interwoven with
infinity.
In this regard, let us embrace the tourism as well as the social and
economic opportunities that are presented by the natural endowment of our
transfrontier parks as we prepare for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup and the
years beyond.
Our Ministers responsible for Tourism and Environment in our region have
assured us that the Transfrontier Parks and Transfrontier Conservation Areas
are well positioned to serve as Southern Africaâs premier international
destinations.
These Ministers are hard at work to ensure that the seven Transfrontier
Parks and Transfrontier Conservation Areas that have been identified in the
TFCA Strategy for 2010 and later years receive the necessary infrastructure
overhaul, as well as branding and marketing, to assure their long-term
sustainability.
Today it is exactly seven years and five months since the signing of the
treaty that established the first transfrontier park of our region, the
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
And this year, conservationistsâ worldwide joined the celebration of the
75th Anniversary of the establishment of the Waterton-Glacier International
Peace Park, (a Transfrontier Park), between Canada and the United States.
This 75th Anniversary Commemoration was marked by a major international
conference in Canada, with senior representation from our region.
I am informed that a special session at that conference was especially
dedicated to the development of transfrontier parks in our region, to enable
the countries of the world to learn from our experience.
Evidently, our decade-long collaborative conservation efforts have made a
significant global impact, equivalent to that of seven decades in the developed
world.
The global recognition of our regional, Southern African Development Community
SADC conservation efforts would be rendered meaningless if these fail to
improve the lives of our people, as well as inspire confidence in our peoples
about their tomorrow.
The important strategic physical linkage between the Kgalagadi and the
!Ai-!Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Parks is indeed indicative of our efforts
to promote conservation for the people, with the people.
The 27 June 2007 proclamation of the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical
Landscape as a World Heritage Site, itself, like the Kgalagadi Transfrontier
Park, the cradle of indigenous knowledge systems in our region, should inspire
all of us to do everything we can to protect this heritage and use it to for
the benefit of the people.
May I also add that, of great significance, the Richtersveld Cultural and
Botanical Landscape is communally owned and managed by the Nama people.
The indigenous knowledge systems to which we have referred range from
ancient rock art, to the ground breaking commercial application of the
traditional use of the Hoodia species by the San people as an appetite
suppressant in dietary control, which will be commercialised into a food
supplement and/ or prescription medicine.
Once again, the equitable access and benefit sharing principles, together
with the recognition of the intellectual property rights of local communities
for their traditional knowledge, bear testimony to our commitment to the use of
conservation for the people, with the people.
When the winds will have wiped out all of the footprints of our generation
from the sands of the Kgalagadi, this excellent Mata Mata Tourist Access
Facility will stand to tell the timeless tale that we championed global
conservation and friendly communion among the peoples of the world through
tourism, for the benefit of our respective nations and all humanity.
As South Africans, we are pleased and privileged that we share this happy
moment with the leaders and representatives of the sister peoples of Botswana
and Namibia, which confirms that we do indeed share a common destiny, enriched
by an abiding spirit of hope.
Thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
12 October 2007
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)
