A LONGSTANDING land dispute in the Dukuduku Forest has reportedly been resolved through a High Court judgment and government has stepped in to kick start development.
The settling of the Dukuduku Forest, formerly a State Forest protected in its entirety by conservation laws, has been a contentious issue for conservationists for many years.
While the settlers themselves claim to have been living in the forest for many generations and forcibly removed from their land by previous governments, orthophotos from the 1970s show Dukuduku to be a pristine forest, without any inhabitants.
Today’s selling of the forest’s coastal lowland tree roots as ornamental ‘upside down trees’ has drawn much criticism from conservationists.
The forest’s proximity to wetlands adjacent to the St Lucia estuary was a major obstacle for the current government’s aim to develop the protected wetland without turning it into a formal human settlement.
High levels of poverty with which the Dukuduku community is afflicted meant the costs of land surveyors or environmental impact assessments (EIA) required to determine the agricultural feasibility of the land would never be met.
Balancing nature conservation and human need proved to be a serious challenge.
Thus, government-sponsored EIAs were conducted and tracts of land suitable for human settlement identified.
The Land Dispute Committee, together with numerous experts, produced a development programme identifying schools, clinics and sports facilities as infrastructure requirements for Dukuduku.
Recent protests and publicised violence relating to the development of Dukuduku was allegedly spearheaded by those benefiting from illegally selling the previously state protected land to community members.
The government identified Almon Sithole, Thulani Gina Ntguli, Dumisani Thethwayo, Themba Gina, Bheki Mkhwanazi, Jabulani Lukhozi, Bhasobha Ngwenya, Livingstone Mhlongo and Sipho Zwane as the illegal land sellers and served them with court interdicts against such practices.
