Silt from the Umfolozi River is a problem !!

Greetings to all who read here. 

My name is Frankie2Socks and I need your support in our efforts to restore functionality to the St. Lucia estuary and lake systems within and adjacent to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park world heritage site in the Umkhanyakude district municipality of KZN South Africa. 

 The main problem in returning our wetlands and related waterways to functional status is the vast volumes of silt that has dropped out of the Umfolozi River flood waters over the years that the St. Lucia estuary and the Umfolozi River mouth were treated as a single combined unit. 

 In the post-GEF 2017 PROJECT era an exceptionally large volume of the sediment in the Umfolozi River flood waters was thus deposited at the northern edges of the narrows just South of Makakatana Bay Lodge, closing the intertidal water flow path, which are the fish migratory routes between the Indian Ocean and their semi freshwater breeding grounds.

This closure of the intertidal flow channels between the ocean and the marine fish breeding grounds needs to be addressed. 

This sediment / silt from the Umfolozi River now needs to be mechanically removed and placed outside of the intertidal water zones of the St. Lucia lake and Estuary systems. When asking around about the true volumes of Umfolozi River silt and sediment that went under the bridge on the N2, just South of Mtubatba I discovered that nobody appears to be measuring the sediment loads of the Umfolozi River flood waters. The river sediment is a really nasty issue. The Umfolozi River sediment, silt and flood debris must all end up somewhere. 

During the periods when the two systems were actively connected, large quantities of sediment and flood water debris ended up flowing into the Lake St. Lucia basin through the St. Lucia narrows. 

 The St. Lucia narrows has been closed out and silted up many times over the existence of the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands and surrounding rural areas. There is ample evidence of these past floods when scientists take a deep look. This time it is a bit different. The issues associated with global warming and changing weather patterns need to be put into perspective. 

Poorly managed agricultural practices and large-scale soil erosion due to landscape changes are prevalent and then there are the natural changes in animal migration in, and outside our many parks as well as human development and expanding rural populations. 

 There are truly many varied issues that have contributed to the extremely high sediment and and silt loads of the Umfolozi River flood waters. That being said, Just how much silt has come down the Umfolozi River ? 

To the best of my knowledge nobody has been keeping records of these issues. There is thus a problem in explaining how much sediment has been deposited within the greater St. Lucia wetlands region, including

•  the UMfolozi Flats, 
• the Sokulu farm lands and the 
• Umzundze swamplands. 

 Unfortunately, this silt and sediment has not been evenly distributed over the area, but has dropped out at key focal points where the water flows down for any reason. Within the mfolozi flats there are a number of such sediment deposit points, where some have caused major water flow changes, resulting in changed water flow paths and other nasty long-term changes to the general landscape. 

This has meant that sediment has reached new areas and caused new problems for farmers, and in some cases folks houses are still underwater in  September 2022. These silt deposits within the southern sections of the park from Mapelane to River View are scattered accross the landscape. 

In the Sokulu area farmers are still flooded out coz of the vast number of blockages in the Umsundze River flow path. 

 In the central St. Lucia areas from the mouth, moving north, these silt deposits are kind of levelled out, and flat, but at the specific zone where the river water collides with the lake water, there is a truly troublesome silt drop out zone. 

This nasty silt dropout zone at the northern edges of the narrows is substantial. This Heavy silt dropout zone has caused a rather high dam wall that now separates the lake system from the estuary system, preventing any intertidal actions betwen Lake St. Lucia and the Indian Ocean.

 This introduced silt dam wall at the top-end of the Narrows is not the only problem here. The entire  River narrows is silted up, the mouth area of the St. Lucia estuary is silted up. Nobody can tell us just how much silt needs to be removed. The numbers are scary, coz when we did rough guesswork,  and used those estimates, the answers had an awful lot of zeros.  

We did an informal science experiment to estimate  the silt load. We filed up some two-liter cool drinkemties with raw River water. Left them in the cupboard for a few days then evaluated the volume of silt/sediment in the collected water samples. The results were rather scary, coz we discovered that each single liter of water contained more than two hundred and 50 ml of sediment. Previous tests during high flood levels in the early stages measured more than half silt. 

 I am not aware of any person who measured the silt levels at the lower ends of the estuary before this water flowed into the higher ends (northern sections)  of the lake as was mentioned to / the architects of the 2017 GEF PROJECT.  the IWPA can not say that they did not know of the very serious potential threat, which became a reality that we are now living with. this silt is in place and causing problems.

 The scientific team that drove the 2017 GEF PROJECT were warned of the rather substantial sediment loads of the Umfolozi River flood waters, but chose to ignore this coz it suited their crooked agenda. This scientific team needs to be held accountable for their arrogance and deliberate exclusion of the silt issue. The silt from the Umfolozi River flood waters now needs to be mechanically removed.

 This is not going to be cheap. The longer we wait, the harder this silt will become, as bentonite does its job of binding the silt and turning it to clay. There is evidence of this action at the current mouth to the St. Lucia estuary. The clay n the estuary mouth zone is rather problematic and restricts the water flow paths which should contain sand flats, but is currently mudflats. We need some serious government intervention. 

What to do ? 

How to organize things ?

 Please leave suggestions in the comments. Frankie2Socks for the 4u2fish campaign.

Environmental activism is a strange thing ..

 Environmental activism is a strange thing, and creeps up on you. You usually only become involved in any Environmental activism project when the smelly stuff has already collided with the wind making machine. 

I have been skirting around the edges of the Environmental issues associated with the St. Lucia estuary systems, and now feel the need to step into the fight and push the issues of lost fishing rights and related economic impacts. 

These said fishing rights are divided into groups, where indigenous rights,  international tourism rights and domestic tourism rights each need to be looked at separately as well as collectively.

Today I will focus on some of the indigenous fishing rights, and associated matters.  I have discussed these before, in many different blogs, and one of the more important posts is found here   

http://frankie2socks.blogspot.com/2021/06/section-24-of-constitution-and.html?m=1

Section 24 of our national constitution is a powerful tool for every conservationist.  It is a short and sweet section, but very powerful, and rather explicit in it's intentions.  The biggest part of any law is it's purpose and intentions. This always comes to play when one challenges the constitutionality of any issue.

The department of Forestry Fisheries and Environment appointed an independent panel of scientists to look into the issues around the opening of the St. Lucia estuary in Jan 2021 by community groups in the village of St. Lucia, which is the tourism hub for the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site in north east KZN South Africa.

This committee is has completed  their investigations, (end March 2022) and I did meet with them in November 2021. They have a very tough job, and need to be careful of how they handle the different public perception management strategies of the various role players.  If this committee does not wake up to the fact that the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority use extremely powerful public perception management strategies, then they are gonna be in big trouble. Other groups like the 4u2fish campaign and the Revive St Lucia campaign also use public perception management tactics to push their agendas, and counter the IWPA where appropriate. Our strategies are seen as problematic by some, coz they have had way too much of Uncle Andrews cool aid.

So we need to bring in the BIG GUNS in, and fire s few salvos, just so that the debate can start moving in our preferred direction.  This is all about making sustainable use and gaining consumption tights of the "RENEWABLE NATURAL RESOURCES" as supplied and sustained by Lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary system.

Previously big business ran a prawn fishery which harvested prawns on both the TUGELA banks and Umfolozi banks which run parallel to the KZN COASTLINE  between St. Lucia and Umhlanga Rocks. This venture failed when the IWPA closed the St. Lucia. Estuary mechanically after the Jolly Rubino incident in 2002 https://www.google.com/amp/s/mg.co.za/article/2002-09-18-jolly-rubino-starts-cracking-up/%3famp. 

The mouth opened naturally on 14 April this year (2022) after relatively high rainfall in March / April 2022, but the Umfolozi mud flows have caused problems just as the 1968 Estuary management plan discussed at great lengths. The big question was and always  is "How will one remove the silt after a major flood incident, should the St. Lucia Estuary mouth be closed and the silt flow heads north up the narrows and  into the lake system.

Well that has happened, and been happening since 2002 when the IWPA CLOSED THE MOUTH. Right now the inter-tidal actions are blocked by the silt in the system which is a above  sea level in many spots within the areas that should be inter-tidal.

What are we gonna do ,? 

What can we do ,? 

What options are left for us to take ?

It appears that we need to take legal actions against the minister of Forestry Fisheries and Environment as this person is the responsible person who signs off on the iSimangaliso Wetland park Authority Integrated Management Plan in terms of the world heritage convention act and related legislation.  The Department of Forestry Fisheries and Environment was well awear that this mud and silt issue would arise, but they told us that their scientists have better ideas, and they implemented the 2017   GEF 5 PROJECT, which connected the Umfolozi River directly to the northern sections of the lake, bypassing the natural filter systems within the Umfolozi Flats and the Umzunduzi spill over zones.

This was a very bad move where many local folks made big noise. But they were ignored on instructions from Andrew Zaloumis,. Who was the CEO of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park at the time. In my mind this was a crime against nature, and we can see the results directly today. The water levels at Sunset Jetty reveal the large volumes of silt and mud that have settled in the Southern sections of the narrows, as the levels have not dropped significantly. This channel needs mechanical help to wash out the silt and mud deposits.

The water is not flowing out the lakes northern sections fast enough to scour out the silt and mud deposits. We need serious government interventions and a large scale dredging plan, as well as water cannons to blast the silt free so that it may flow when the tide runs out and remove some silt after each night tide.

Read more about the St. Lucia estuary management issues here

What to do ? How can we force the issue?

Leave your thoughts in the comments and let's see what can be done.

Frankie2Socks

#4u2Fish. #Frankie2Socks #ReviveStLucia 

Section 24 of the constitution and renewable natural resources.

 Greetings and thanx for reading here.

In my last post I said I would discuss section 24 of the constitution, so here we are.... 

Section 24 of the South African Constitution covers our Environmental rights. Section 24 is in  chapter 2, the bill of rights. This section covers both natural folks rights as well as juristic folks rights.

Quote section 24 of the South African  Constitution

 Environment (section 24)

Everyone has the right ­

to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and

to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that ­

prevent pollution and ecological degradation;

promote conservation; and

secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development. 

END QUOTE

There are some serious economic rights, social rights and other rights  that come along as Ryders which are sometimes not that obvious, but that does  mean that they should be ignored but rather that these are special cases that need extra vigilance from the holders of these rights.

In our case here in the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands park and surrounding areas, the economic, social and  Environmental rights are very entertained, and #Section24 of the South African Constitution caters for all these rights, and a few other hidden rights which we will be discussing in more detail within the social media environment within the coming weeks as we slowly start to dismantle the Andrew Zaloumis management erra public perception management STRATEGIES, where the use of natural renewable resources were seen as property of the IWPA and not for public consumption or public utalisaion. 

   if we take a closer look at section 24 in the South African Constitution,  then we may read chapter 2, section 24 (b) iii as "Every one has the right to have the environment protected, for benefit of present and future generations through reasonable legislative measures that secure ecological sustainable development and the use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development 

Now the key here is the the aim, which  is to ensure that local communities have the right to make use of natural resources, while justifiable social development and economic issues are also included as special Ryders.

Here at Nibela these economic and social rights have been violated and erroded by the environmental policies and practices of the Andrew Zaloumis estuary management STRATEGIES as approved and implemented by the ministers instructions through the actions of the IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority.

So our beef about section 24 of the South African Constitution is with the minister of environmental affairs, coz this is an environmental issue, where bad faith and poor oversight has been applied.

Basically our economic rights as associated with the trade of the natural renewable resources of lake St Lucia and the St Lucia Estuary systems have been erroded past the point of sustainability, as a result of the  collapse of the biodiversity within the St. Lucia estuary and lake systems. 

This collapse of the natural renewable resources within the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park is as a direct result of the poor / bad estuary management strategies of the Andrew Zaloumis management team during their reign of terror as the IWPA MANAGEMENT TEAM 

The current managent team at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority have rather different views than the past (Andrew Zaloumis) management team at the IWPA. Their attempts to fix the issues around community benificiation are not going un-noticed, but they are very slow, and also rather subtle and in the background.  These attempts to restore community access rights are not very  public, and that needs to change. 

Our collective rights in terms of section 24 of the South African Constitution need to be investigated, and we as citizens of South Need to be vigilant when it comes to economic rights associated with harvesting of natural renewable resources

This is a complicated matter, which is headed for the constitutional court in the not to distant future.

Please comment and share further.

Regards  #Frankie2Socks

 

St. Lucia estuary is closed again.

 Greetings and THANX for reading here. I have had reports that the St. Lucia estuary mouth, which opened on 6 January 2021 closed again with the storm that we had as a cold front passed us in early June 2021.

Sunrise over eastern shores of lake St. Lucia, taken on the eastern cliffs of Nibela Peninsula 

The water levels at Mpilo Einde on the Nibela Peninsula are currently rather high. The issue appears to be the reed growth and silt deposits in the narrows and the delta around Broadies Crossing. The heavy reed growth and DELTA type waterflow channels here causese  water from the Umfolozi to slow down and drop it's silt load where it will cause the most long-term problems.

The fact that the mouth at St. Lucia is closed again is not a positive sign for things to come. Remember the 2017 Rehabilitation project undertaken by the Andrew Zaloumis management strategy, well it is my opinion that this strategy has caused serious damage to the biodiversity within the St. Lucia lake and estuary systems. It has also connected the main stream of the Umfolozi River directly to the St. Lucia lake systems, without first flowing into the Umfolozi floodplains to drop off the the larger silt particles as the water flow spreads out into both the Monzi flat lands and the greater Umfolozi flood plains. 

This means that the greater portion of the Umfolozi River silt load is now being deposited within the St. Lucia lake and estuary systems. This silt has been building up with each serious rain within the Umfolozi River catchment zones. When the flood waters subside, the silt remains. From 2017 till the St. Lucia Estuary mouth was breached artificially on 6 January 2021 these many tiny, small and mild flooding episodes within the Umfolozi catchment zones has each contributed just a little to the raising of the estuary and lake bottoms.

In some areas like the Sokulu farming zone within the base end of the Umfolozi flood plains, these large scale silt deposits have generated reed blockages which have grown to form water flow barriers, retaining high water levels at specific naturally occurring constrictions, causing long-term back-flooding.

This long-term back-flooding is a serious problem in the Sokulu farming zone, Which will only be solved by mechanical intervention, or dredging of the main water flow channels to below sea level.  This will be a mamoth task, just as dredging of the water flow channels between the northern sections of the lake and the actual estuary mouth, will also be a rather large task.

These are all, in my opinion logical issues, that can be easily seen, and understood by the average person. However past public perception management STRATEGIES of the IWPA (iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority) has laid a foundation of confusion around waterflow, mudflow and intertidal actions.

The base end of the Umfolozi flood plains in the Sukulu area used to be tidal once upon a time.. Long ago. Silt deposits from the Umfolozi River have taken their toll and filled the area with furtile soil over many generations. Now with " GLOBAL WARMING and CHANGING WEATHER PATTERNS" we as humans need to do what we can to firstly survive, then where possible prosper and enjoy lifes many bounties.

Enjoying something does not mean destroying the available natural renewable resources, so these need to be managed in a sustainable manner, and that starts with understanding the breeding and life cycles of our natural renewable resources. The St. Lucia Estuary and lake systems used to supply abundant natural renewable resources, and many up and down our coastline enjoyed this abundance. 

The extremely poor / bad ecological management of the St. Lucia lake and estuary systems by the Andrew Zaloumis management team has ensured that these natural renewable resources within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park have been seriously compromised, and in some cases even destroyed.

We want our heritage back, and have thus taken a stand on the issues around natural renewable resources and section 24 of the South African Constitution, which some folks will not appreciate, purely because their thinking has been contaminated by public perception management from those folks who want to see high end international tourism in places where nature provides us with sustainable natural renewable resources. These tourism opperators, and their high end investors, do not want to share with the folks who are living in the areas that they want to turn into tourism wonderland.

What to do ? Which way to turn?

Leave a comment and share your views.

In my next post I will discuss #Section24 of the South African Constitution. 

#Frankie2Socks 

the 4U2FISH campaign is slowly gaining momentum

The 4U2FISH campaign is in place to ensure that the domestic tourism market associated with fishing, hunting and collecting of natural renewable resources is taken seriously by the tourism bodies and businesses within Umkhanyakude District Municipality.

Fishermen and their crews have a bad rap here in St. Lucia and they are not really welcome at most tourism establishments within the village of St. Lucia. This change of attitude by the local tourism businesses did not happen in 24 hours, but was a slow process that was managed and driven, through elegant high level PUBLLIC PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT by the IWPA (iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority) in their very devious and sneaky efforts to ensure that the waters of lake St. Lucia change from a salt water estuary system to a fresh water lake system, so that dune mining may be seen as an ecologically and economically  viable option when the mining companies step into the picture.

Before our area, the old Maputuland Coast, was declared as a world heritage site in  December 1999, as an apparent ploy to prevent mining of lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia Estuary System, fisher folks were the core base of the St. Lucia tourism industry, and were most welcome as paying guests in St. Lucia.  The St. Lucia tourism industry sustained  three caravan parks that were fully functional and full every week end.  If one wanted to visit Cape Vidal over the week end, one would need to be in the line at the gate before 1 AM in the morning, to ensure that you were one of the few allowed into the park, as the numbers were limited, and many people wanted to visit the park.

We need to remember that the area was declared as a park long before the idea of a world heritage site was thought of, and the old NPB (Natal Parks Board ) ran the park as a farm, which supplied fish, prawns and many other natural renewable resources for the folks living within Umkhanyakude district municipality.

in 1998 our beaches were busy, businesses were flourishing and tourism within Umkhanyakude was a truly big thing. The government and big business within South Africa were all excited and looking for ways to expand this impact and increase the economic impact of tourism associated with recreational beach  use.   Unfortunately there were also some folks who had other ideas, like mining.........

Domestic tourism within Umkhanyakude was a truly huge thing, and there was an awful lot of interest in the economics associated with an expanding tourism base connected  with recreational activities and the eco tourism base of our beaches and the St. Lucia estuary system.

CONSUMPTIVE TOURISM was flourishing and everybody was making money.  The home stay style tourism businesses within the coastal belt between Mbaswane and Manguzi was awash with visitors from Joburg, Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Pietersburg and other areas of the Transvaal, the Freestate and the rest of KZN.  Domestic tourism within Umkhanyakude was a big thing.

Unfortunately for us, the big mining companies wanted to, and still want to, mine the lake and surrounding sand dunes for titanium and other minerals.  For them (the mining industry ) to succeed they needed to ensure that the domestic tourism industry collapsed, and would thus be unable to challenge the mining of our non renewable resources within the rich mineral sands that have been deposited over the years within the flood plains and surrounding sand dunes of the greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park. hence the 4x4 ban which did its job and hurt domestic tourism industry, causing some 20 000 job losses

Mining is a short term financial income strategy, but tourism is a long term business model that will employ many more folks than the mining industry, and have a much wider tax  base, that will also be around for many years.  Those who want to mine our sand dunes and water ways within the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands park have understood this for a long time, but have always been looking at ways to get in, mine and leave without spending large volumes of cash on REHABILITATION like they are currently doing  in the areas just South Of Mapelane.   We need to remember that they started mining our sand dunes in 1974, just North of Richards Bay, and that this mining has ensured the growth of Richards bay into the thriving industrial port that exists in Richards Bay today.

So they have been mining our sand dunes along the east coast of KZN South of Richards bay for more than 45 years.  In this time these mining houses have made huge unthinkable volumes of cash, and their options are now running out.  We need to remember that the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park was declared as a WORLD HERITAGE SITE in December 1999, from within the well managed smoke screen of  public intent to prevent the mining of our beautiful tourism destinations along the then MAPUTULAND COAST.  The first thing that the new authority did was to ensure that the mouth to the St. Lucia Estuary was closed, and stayed closed.  The IWPA did not exist at that time, but ........

The Greater St. Lucia wetlands Park Authority was renamed to the iSimangaliso Wetland park in 2007, but this organisation has been pushing hard to keep the St. Lucia Estuary Mouth closed and ensure that the ocean does not connect to the lake and estuary system.  The so called REHABILITATION which the IWPA undertook in early 2017, where they connected the Umfolozi River to the St. Lucia Lake System, by passing the natural filter system of the Umfolozi Flood Plains, has ensured that the lake has silted up, and that there is no way that the estuary will be able to have a natural breach ever again.  The tremendous amount of FRESH CLAY that was compacted by the bulldozers that pushed the dredger spoil into the Indian Ocean  during this so called rehabilitation process is a real problem, as this introduced clay layer forms a PLUG that will not easily be eroded away, as sea sand would have been.


The residents of St. Lucia tried to talk about this during the public participation process but were closed down very quickly by the scientific component of the IWPA  estuary management team.  I have been saying that the IWPA is preparing the St. Lucia Estuary and lake systems for mining for some time now, as the mining technology does not allow for mining in a saline (salt water ) system, and thus the new fresh look of the lake and estuary system is good for the mining industry.

Then there are the many cases where the IWPA closed down the informal home stay / back yard camp sites within the Umhlabuyalingana and BIG 5 / Hlabisa municipalities. This happened in a very sneaky and devious manner around the same time that the 4x4 ban was introduced. This process coincided with the very big drive by the national government to close down coastal tourism businesses that did not conform to unrealistically high criteria that  they demanded. The Transkie coastal belt suffered extensive losses within their rather active tourism industry which collapsed as a result of these rather nasty closures of informal and semi formal tourism businesses.

With some hind sight and lots of digging around to try and discover where our business within Umkhanyakude disappeared to when our beaches were closed to reasonable motor vehicle traffic way back in 2001 / 2002, one can very easily join the dots and come to some rather disturbing conclusions.  The Occasional Paper 20  by KZN Tourism which discusses the losses associated with the #4x4ban, alledges that more than 20 000 folks within Umkhanyakude district municipality  lost their economic opportunities as a knock on impact of the 4x4ban, and goes on to say that more research is needed as there appear to be other mitigating circumstances which they were unable to pinpoint with the limited budget and resources at their disposal.

The fact that international tourism boomed and flourished after the area was declared a world heritage site, was expected, and if this did not materialise, then something would be very wrong.  The collapse of the domestic tourism market within Umkhanyakude district municipality on the other hand, was caused by the mismanagement of the physical environment  and related renewable resources through the actions, activities, policies and management style of the IWPA.

These  guys  (The IWPA ) have no intention of ever fixing the ecological problems  and economic impacts associated with a dysfunctional estuary 

Please comment here and leave your views and opinions

#Frankie2Socks #4u2fish

St. Lucia Estuary Management Plan and the iSimangaliso wetland Park Authority

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority ( IWPA ) is the  government appointed legal entity put in place in terms of the World Heritage convention Act.

The original appointee was the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park Authority, and the name change ( for marketing purposes) has confused many folks, allowing the IWPA to usurp a whole range of powers and functions which they should not have in the first place.

The IWPA as the legal custodians of the iSimangaliso Wetland park World Heritage Site inherited all the below listed items and many others when the Authority was renamed

• Duties 

• Obligations

• Functions

•  Rights 

•  Legal  responsibilities

 These above mentioned issues are not to be confused with normal working issues or conditions of any legal entity, and the IWPA is not a special body which is above the law as they would have you believe. The IWPA is currently acting and behaving in a very unacceptable manner, bullying the Umkhanyakude District municipality and it's Local municipalities in many strange and devious ways, making it extremely difficult to get things done within the Umkhanyakude District Municipality tourism industry and related economic spaces

The main issue for me personally is the current ( October 2019 ) situation surrounding the management of the St. Lucia estuary and surrounding waterways. The IWPA have adopted a " Let nature take its course attitude" and this is causing many true economic hardships to unravel within Umkhanyakude District Municipality.

EDIT : 2 November 2019 ----  I discovered this link to a plan which appears to be an Estuary Management Plan for the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority here.  there are no dates, or addresses so not sure about this, but .....   They do not respond to my emails from the email addy admin@info4u.co.za   so   perhaps you can contact them and ask if this is an official plan or what is the story....

The folks on the ground who were dependent on the fish, prawns and other renewable resources supplied by the lake and surrounding waterways are in real serious economic distress. The Domestic tourism industry is about to have a total melt down, as the tourism connected to the biological functioning of the St. Lucia lake systems and associated waterways is missing from the Umkhanyakude District Municipality economic opportunity base.

The 4u2fish campaign has thus taken a legal view on these issues, and is in the process of taking legal actions against the IWPA.   It al starts with an #openLetter to the IWPA requesting elementary and basic information through the mandated public participation process meetings, as dictated in the national environmental management act , and subsurvient legislations such as the  integrated coastal management act.

What are your views .... ????

Please use the comments below to air your views.

Please share this further so that we may expand the conversation to include the relevant folks, and find a workable solution.

#Frankie2Socks for the #4u2fish Campaign

Will Andrew Zaloumis be criminaly charged for neglecting Lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia Estuary system ?

The latest news here today, Tuesday 05 September 2017 is that Uncle Andrew, or Andrew Zaloumis has resigned from his position as CEO of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site.  This is good news for some folks and bad new for some others. Those who have been the recipients of his good favours may be not too happy, but many South Africans, specifically those who  want to go fishing and enjoy our beautiful golden beaches along the Elephant Coast of KZN South Africa, are thrilled beyond belief that this tyrant has stepped aside.

Andrew Zaloumis as CEO of the IWPA has caused many hardships and cost the Elephant Coast dearly. In 2004 KZN Tourism issued an OCCASIONAL PAPER (#OccasionalPaper20 ) discussing the loss of 20 000 jobs caused by the knock on impacts of the 4x4 ban ( 4x4 ban blog ) #4x4ban  this document makes it very clear that these losses are huge and need government interventions.   Uncle Andrew on the other hand convinced the powers that be that the increase in INTERNATIONAL TOURISM would off set these losses and so they were ignored.

Problem is that the INTERNATIONAL TOURISM did not materialize, and the numbers are still (September 2017) well below the safety thresh hold with most tourism businesses within St. Lucia battling to make ends meet.  There are how ever a select few who have been hand picked by #UNCLEANDREW to make big returns on investment within the exclusive up-market international tourism sector. The losses within the domestic  tourism market were predicted, and intentionally side- lined with Good PUBLIC PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT  and bad intent perhaps even criminal intent on the part of the board of trustees at the IWPA  under the direct supervision and instructions from #UNCLEANDREW as CEO of the iSimangalsio Wetland Park Authority.

This document outlines just how well documented the predicted losses within the Elephant Coast Tourism sector was .  These predicted losses were deliberately ignored, as per linked document, and today the village of St. Lucia is nearly bankrupt,     and the tourism flow figures are way below those
of 1997-1999.  Once #UNCLEANDREW too over as CEO of the #IWPA (iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority) things went south, coz this fella was hell-bent on changing the face of tourism to suit the needs of the eleite, and exclude us as commoners or ordinary south African citizens.

Prices skyrocketed, and the tourism market changed its colours under Andrew Zaloumis as CEO of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority.  Lake St. Lucia itself was just a pawn in #UncleAndrew 's plot to break / destroy the domestic tourism market along the Elepehant Coast of KZN South Africa as this would put him in a good place to manage the upper market international tourism trade in a very nasty and self cemterd way, where few would get rich and many would suffer bankruptcy.

take your time and do the home work yourself.  Me telling you that #UNCLEANDREW was bad is not going to help, as nearly every person I speak to has been subject to the #IWPA public perception management strategy that makes the CEO (  #UNCLEANDREW ) look good and right for the job.  How ever once one gets on the ground and talks to the folks who have lost their livelihoods one sees a very different picture.  Problem is that the news papers and other media are afraid of government reprisals, should they say anything untoward.  #UncleAndrew and his team within the inner workings of the ANC have ensured that the truth is well hidden and buried under so much red tape that those looking soon give up.  

Problem is that nature reveals all, and the natural ecosystems within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park are now about to be revaled for what they are....   A DISASTER ZONE and not a paradise as the IWPA and associates have been trying to convince the public.

It is my personal opinion that Andrew Zaloumis should be held criminally liable for the loss of habitat and breeding grounds for marine species within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site.

Where to from here ?  Well I suggest that you read this blog next, before making any decisions...

Imfino Yethu a new green grocer coming to the St. Lucia hospitality scene.

Imfino  Yethu - project works initiative.

Imfino Yethu is a new green grocer coming to  St. Lucia,

KZN south africa. Imfino Yethu came about  as a spin off of a project work  initiative.  The initial intent  at project work, was to empower a group of ladies in the Dukuduku South region  area, within the subsistence agricultural arena,

The question became what does the market require?  And is there sufficient market size to remain viable once training completed?

upon investigation of the local green grocer business it was discovered that  there is no local green grocer within the Mtubatuba local municipality.

It was thus a  logical conclusion that project work establish a green grocer  to take up   a share of the green grocery business  which will fulfil the needs of the local hospitality industry and the Food and beverage industry of the Greater St. Lucia area.

Project work has passed the Imfino Zethu project along to one of the pioneer members of the project work management team   WE at Project work  expect this project to be  run as a viable profit making business.  AS long as Imfino Yethu remains viable, the trainees empowered by our practical farming for subsistence farmers, will have a sustainable outlet for these folks to maintain in the vegetable and herb growing business, showing profit for their physical inputs.

Besides the official prefered outlet for these trainees end products, The hospitality industry along with the food and beverage industry, there is also a reasonable sized market for the various greens that are consumed by the indigenous population of the Mtubatuba local municipality.  Then there is also the new market that is opening up due to the exposure of the south African market to shows like master chef, and braai master, where all these fancy herbs and related fresh produce are used to prepare really tasty dishes.  These online cooking shows are slowly opening up the niche areas to speciality herbs and indigenous food products like wild spinach, amongst many others.

There is no outlet for these products, as there is no marketing done by the farmers and farming associations within the Mtubatuba Local municipality. Imfino Yethu and Project work along with our marketing teams and advertising partners are in the process of changing this, and there will soon be some aggressive marketing of these fresh herbs and related spinach / green leaf varieties.

This marketing of fresh herbs, greens and other veggies will be a FUFISM based online marketing drive associated with a print media campaign, focusing on the local household markets of the Monzi / Dukuduku / St. Lucia / Khula and an online campaign along with a #HASHTAG  focusing on all visitors to St. Lucia, highlighting restaurants where this produce is prepared and served, with a primary focus on the local Imfino and other indigenous greens.

Subscribe to this blog to keep informed of when the doors of Imfino Yethu will be open to the public

Also do a hashtag search for #IMFINOYETHU to discover who is talking about this agricultural development project.