Peace found in Marloth Park and animals saved from imminent doom

Residents of Marloth Park and stakeholders have reached an understanding regarding issues of neglect and miscommunication.

Earlier in October the community was up in arms after rumours of the municipality authorising a passive game-removal capture plan. This was discussed on Friday November 7, at a meeting between Marloth Park Property Owners Association (MPPOA), Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA), honorary rangers and Nkomazi municipality.

According to MPPOA issues such as poor maintenance, lack of service and law enforcement were on the table. “The association’s committee has adopted the stance that all these issues need to be addressed in toto. We adopted a holistic approach with the view to joint cooperation with Nkomazi municipality,” said the chairman of MPPOA, Tony Hayman.

Furthermore the association has reached a separate agreement with the MTPA, which now recognises it as the official representative of Marloth Park’s property owners.

Spokesman for the Nkomazi Municipality Cyril Ripinga said, “Nkomazi municipality met with all relevant stakeholders in Marloth Park. This was a follow-up meeting to ensure there was dialogue between the municipality and all stakeholders.

There were number of issues discussed in the meeting. The municipality binds it self to sustainable delivery of service to all its citizens and further commits its self to improved living conditions particularly for the Marloth Park community.

Critical to this is the improvement of building-regulation control, ensuring the provision of clean and running water, maintenance of roads, waste management, availing adequate disaster response equipment and ensuring law enforcement and access control.

The municipality will continue to work tirelessly and relentlessly to improve the standard of living in Marloth Park and promote nature conservation by working hand in glove with all stakeholders.”

Hayman said, “We can confirm that no permits for game capture, removal or culling will be issued until March/April of next year. The culling of warthog, which does not require a permit, will take place on a casual basis by the NKLM rangers, with specific instructions to identify and not cull pregnant or suckling sows.

An no-hunting exception has been issued for Lionspruit which means that no hunting may take place in Lionspruit and no Marloth Park animal moved into Lionspruit will be hunted. The exceptions are the buffalo owned by Bushpig Safaris and after an official audit a suitable solution to this situation will be negotiated.”

According to him in April 2015, after a new veld-and-game assessment is undertaken by an MPPOA-appointed environmentalist, is complete, there will a be an extensive cull or game removal in order to bring the game numbers back into line with the food source.

“If we do not allow this to happen, then our animals will eventually all starve to death and our veld will be irreparably damaged,” said Hayman.