Environment policy

The South African Constitution (RSA, 1996) states that everyone has the right to live in an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being, and that natural resources should be sustainably used and protected for the benefit of present and future generations.

According to the MM (2006) the Department of Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism is the lead agent for environmental issues provincially. They are primarily responsible for the implementation of environmental management plans and the materialization of the Environmental Management Act (NEMA, RSA, 1998). However, the Municipal Systems Act (RSA, 2002) requires the municipality to ensure that its Environmental Management plans are integrated with those of the province, and the NEMA. The South African government has adopted an environmental management approach and because of this, the Mnquma Municipality, in response to poverty issues, has considered environmental issues within the integrated development plans of the MM (2006/7).

The Municipality has concerns with regard to nature conservation in the area that includes rural and coastal areas. In particular, they are concerned with overgrazing and over utilization of coastal zone and inter-tidal resources (MM, 2006/2007).

The Municipality also manages a number of open spaces, and they have identified the following as potential gains from open space systems:

 They may act as conservation or other recreational facilities,

 They can be used as areas for accommodation of engineering services e.g.

dams, canals and reservoirs, and

 They form buffers between adjacent Land Use Zones, therefore improving the aesthetics of the area (MM, 2206).

3.2.4.2 Agriculture

In their integrated development planning the MM therefore consider both: how to manage the environment and how the environment relates to development opportunities. In the MM, the IDP has identified the following 5 key areas that require environment management and sustainable development:

 Agriculture,

 Forestry,

 Marine resources, aqua culture and tourism,

 Water and sanitation, and

 Waste management.

Various studies conducted by the Department of Agriculture indicate that the soil and climatic conditions of the municipality allow for production of the following crops that are currently not widely known in this area:

 Sunflower,

 Soya beans,

 Grain (mainly maize and wheat),

 Citrus and subtropical fruits (in particular along the coast e.g. banana, mango and naartjie), and

 Vegetables.

The Department of Agriculture is currently involved with a programme called ‘Massive Food Production’. This Programme mainly focuses on the production of maize and vegetables throughout the municipality. In 2004/5 the programme spent about R1,5m

on 900 hectares of land involving 646 participants who implement the vegetable and maize production project (MM, 2006/7) as indicated in Table 3 below:

Table 3: Vegetable & Maize products

Banjwaludaka 100 163 000,00

Tandanani 100 -

The Department of Agriculture has identified banana and wheat production as key areas for agricultural development within the Municipality. There are currently experiments to grow banana in Centane and 5 hectares have been planted in Nqamakwe. As these programmes succeed, there are plans to increase the size. In 2005/6 agriculture intervention initiatives benefited 3485 families, as indicated in Table 4 below

Table 4: Agricultural initiatives in MM.

Name of initiative Description Amount of

investment R Beneficiaries (no. of families

Teko Wool Amagwelane Trust Promotion of crop

and vegetable

The projects are operational, but internal budget constraints of R300 000 per project limited the projects. More potential beneficiaries are expected to join the project. To ensure the involvement of communities, farmers have been grouped into commodity groups. This approach, according to MM (2006/7), makes it easy to deal with people who share the same interests and allows for the development of training and development programmes for the interest groups.

Citizens in the Municipality also have considerable numbers of livestock. These mainly include sheep, cattle and goats. Based on the land suitability and climate conditions, Nqamakwe is mainly suitable for sheep farming and Centane is suitable for sheep and cattle whereas Butterworth is suitable for goats. The IDP indicates that, with improved and proper husbandry methods, the quality of livestock can be improved. It also indicates that a market driven strategy is needed if stock farmers are to realize the value of their livestock. The municipality argues that, with intensive and better farming and animal husbandry, possibilities for processing wool and leather are great. Butterworth already has a history of the processing of these products in the

industrial area (MM 2006/7). This indicates that agricultural education is needed in the MM.

There are also a number of poverty relief programmes running in the municipality to address food security issues (see Table 5 below) The IDP states that R55 000, 00 will be provided to fund part of a food security programme and other activities like stipends. The programme currently benefits 418 infected and 99 affected orphans, providing a measure of food security for these children (MM, 2006/7).

From the discussion above, agriculture is therefore a potentially important contributor to poverty relief and food security in the area, although it is not fully developed as a sector. This has implications for education of the population in the area, which would benefit from a better understanding of agricultural practices and development possibilities in the area. Educating children in the MM to participate in gardening and food production activities can possibly help to develop much needed capacity for this sector in future.

Table 5: Budget allocation

TOWN PROJECT NAME LOCATION ALLOCATION

BUTTERWORTH Vukani poultry Bawa R30 000

Piggery Mission R70 000

Masihlume small irrigation Qora R40 000

Maweleni Vegetable Bika R15 000

CENTANE Msento citrus Msento R25 000

Zazela vegetable (Nosandla) Nqileni R20 000

TOTAL R550 000

3.2.4.3 Forestry

The Municipality indicates that the area currently has about 3,500 hectares of forestry plantation under the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry management. These forests are mainly referred to as category B forests and the main species is gum. Years

of neglect have resulted in an increase in the number of unplanted areas. This has resulted in only about 10% of these forests being viable for commercial forestry, and estimates in the IDP indicate that it will take about five years for the forest to be fully rehabilitated (MM 2006/7).

There are also currently about 350 hectares of community forests spread in about 22 woodlots mainly in the Nqamakwe area. A possibility exists for a further 250 hectares to be developed as new forestry development. Currently the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) has founded a project in Nqamakwe where 100 hectares have been planted.

The challenge for the Municipality is therefore to utilize the existing resources in an efficient manner and identify and develop niche markets such as pole manufacturing (MM, 2006/7). While the Municipality has information on commercial forestry, it does not have any information on conservation of indigenous forests. I could not get information of how indigenous forests are conserved in this area.