Krugersdorp Nature Reserve still closed but …

Nearly a year after the News updated the community on the plans for the Krugersdorp Nature Reserve, the reserve is still not open to the public and some of the lions have also been moved from the reserve. The News followed up with the Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) to find out what is going on.

• Also read: Krugersdorp Game Reserve: Are they still operational? – The News has the answers 

The News received reports that on Wednesday, November 9 some of the lions at the reserve had been moved. This comes after rumours of the animals not being fed and looked after, but MCLM said this was not the case.

The Biodiversity Management Division under the Department of Integrated Environmental Management (DIEM) responded by explaining that the municipality had 15 lions. Ten of them were removed by the Gauteng Nature Conservation and five still remain at the reserve. They also said that the lion enclosure is currently being upgraded.

MCLM’s Tourism Department explained the reserve has always been managed by third parties and every three years MCLM would appoint a service provider. This service provider would then be responsible for the running and operation of the reserve.

The last contract was issued to the Red Ants and their contract expired in 2018. The managements contracts do not require these service providers to do restorations as this falls on the municipality. But because MCLM has so many service delivery priorities and scarcity of resources the reserve had to get creative with the ways they conduct business, without drowning the municipality’s coffers.

After careful consideration they decided on a public private partnership (PPP), something that has successfully worked at other parks.

The benefits of a PPP is to optimise the commercial value of the park, to upgrade the management and commercialisation of the reserve long term, to transfer the risk to the private party, it is effective, cost saving and it creates jobs.

Last year, MCLM said the reserve was earmarked as an overflow facility during the Covid-19 pandemic but luckily was not needed and the facility has been handed back to MCLM.

“The municipality had commenced the process of doing a feasibility study with the objective of guiding the long-term sustainability and an appropriate business model for the nature reserve.”

The reason the PPP process is taking so long is because they have to follow strict treasury guidelines. These are costly and had to be performed by private companies. But these processes have now been completed and presented to the portfolio committee who have recommended it go to council for final approval. Once this is done they can enter into a long term contract of 25 years with the suitable private sector.

Their feasibility study found that MCLM will save about R775 million over the next 25 years if they enter into the PPP.

For now MCLM’s Biodiversity Division said, “There are dedicated field rangers appointed to manage all fauna and flora. All animals are well looked after and a dedicated budget is available for veterinary care and supplementary food as and when required. As soon as the Krugersdorp Nature Reserve is opened, visitors will be able to see a variety of game in huge numbers”.

They envision that the reserve will be open and running by the second half of 2023 once a suitable business partner has been appointed.