ALL eyes are on a large section of protected forest between Birdswood and Mandlazini as a ‘church versus State’ confrontation looms.
This after an item on an application from the Shembe Church (Richards Bay Church of Nazareth) appeared before the City of uMhlathuze Exco meeting last Thursday.
While the item dealt only with the lease issue to formalise the existing 1.6ha Shembe site, a long term ‘land claim take over’ of the entire Mpuza (or Mpunza) Hill area was brought to the fore.
More importantly, the Shembe Church has, in the short term, applied for use of some 40ha of the land on which to host a gathering of tens of thousands of adherents, from 20 April to 10 May.
A Section 4 application for permission has been submitted to the City of uMhlathuze.
No progress has been made in this regard, according to DA councillor Louis Fourie, who vigorously opposed the application, and it is understood that a meeting of all stakeholders will be held on site on Monday.
While Shembe will argue for an historic and religious claim to the land, and the right to use it for large formal church gatherings, stern opposition has already been voiced by the Department of Agriculture as well as Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.
And while any destruction or clearing of the indigenous forest requires proper authorisation and an Environmental Impact Assessment, a visit to Mpuza Hill on Wednesday this week revealed massive clearing of undergrowth outside the 1.6ha area, as well as construction of a number of buildings in progress.
At least 100 people were busy on the site and vehicles containing building materials had been entering at regular intervals.
Other venues available
Ezemvelo urged the City to direct Shembe to other more suitable venues for the church gatherings, such as ZCBF or the central sports complex.
Any harm to the natural environment would be in conflict with the National Environment Management Act, according to Ezemvelo spokesperson Jeffrey Zikhali.
Already, the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs had ordered Shembe to rehabilitate a 20m wide road illegally built for easy access from Pelican Parade to Mpuza Hill.
‘Besides many environmental concerns, issues such as traffic impacts and the lack of sanitation and water preclude the large-scale use of the land,’ said Cllr Fourie, who is deputy chair on the City’s Community Services and Health portfolio.
‘This event simply cannot be allowed to happen here and we will oppose it to the utmost.
‘I have sympathy for the church but they will have to find a more suitable venue. There is simply no time for any proper EIA to be conducted.’
Fourie said if no solution was reached, the DA would hold a public meeting on 16 April and would the following day march and hand over a memorandum of protest to the municipal manager.
