By Khulile Thwala
The first phase of fencing of the proposed Big 5 Game Park in the Lubombo region is under threat as locals are said to be overstepping the boundary.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Moses Vilakati. He said although consultations had been done with the residents in the area where the fencing demarcation has been done, some locals were defying the ministry by overstepping the boundary in the middle of the night to construct.
Vilakati was responding to debate submissions during a parliamentary sitting of his ministry’s portfolio committee.
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“Eight households have been engaged concerning a boundary line near them. However, you find that people around the area still insist on overstepping the boundary at night. The demarcation is completely removed in the middle of the night, which is disrupting the process,” he said.
Meanwhile, the minister said there was an opportunity for investment in the proposed game park as a five-star lodge was also on the cards.
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“This is a great opportunity to generate income through constructing a five-star lodge that can bring you money while you sleep. Emaswati have an opportunity to create generational wealth with this project,” he said.
Vilakati said in the game park’s masterplan, what was key now was the fencing and he also indicated that they were working jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to solicit some additional funding for the project.
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Fencing at the proposed Big Five Park in Lubombo has commenced as consultants were recently engaged by the Ministry of Tourism to help them improve their business performance by focusing on operations, strategy, management, information technology, finance, marketing, human resource, and supply chain management.
The minister has previously mentioned that the ministry has received a subvention of E20 million to proceed with the first phase of the Lubombo Region Big Five Park.
The parks targeted to form part of the Big 5 Game Park include Hlane, Mlawula, Ndukuyamangedla, Honpan, Kronpan, and Manzimnyama.
