A public letter to SANRAL

On April 6 2017 the new CEO of SANRAL, Mr Skhumbuzo Macozoma, agreed to visit the traditional court of Amadiba Area 24, which is the northernmost area of the Pondoland Wild Coast and the epicentre of resistance to the construction of the toll road. Over 200 residents packed the courtroom on a very rainy day; they were eager to meet Mr Macozoma and ask him the questions that they had been asking SANRAL for many years, with no response. The proceedings of the meeting were filmed and can be viewed here:

Briefly, and in case you don’t have time to watch this hour long meeting: community members were dissatisfied with Mr Macozoma’s answers to their complaints about SANRAL’s modus operandi and the extent to which they felt disrespected and disregarded in the process of consultation that SANRAL followed in securing what they believe is a 98.8% support level for the toll road. Macozoma explained that, as the CEO, subject to the authority of the Minister of Transport and the SANRAL Board, he could not make or change decisions without referring back to his seniors. Frustrated with the seeming impotence of who they perceived to be the big boss of the road, the community asked Macozoma and his team of senior SANRAL employees to leave. He had already promised to return to them with answers to their questions, and they felt that there was no value in further discussion. They trusted that he would return to answer their concerns, as promised.

To date, Macozoma has never reported back to the Umgungundlovu Traditional Court, following the meeting of April 6.

In recent months SANRAL has nearly completed the construction of the access/haulage roads to the Mtentu and Msikaba megabridges that are an integral feature of the toll road project, despite the fact that litigation requesting a review of the Environmental Authorisation granted for the construction of the toll road is unresolved. (Sinegugu Zukulu vs Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs and others.) This case was initiated in 2012 and is still pending due to the procedural delays that SANRAL have used to prevent it from being brought to court.

It seems that prioritising the building of these bridges is part of SANRAL’s strategy to make the completion of the road a “fait accompli”. If they can manage to get these bridges built, there can surely be no refusal from the courts to complete the entire project. To do so would be to waste billions of taxpayers money. Needless to say, a big pot of taxpayers money has already been spent on delaying this litigation, which as a result of Mr Zukulu’s recent vindication in court should now go ahead.

Following court proceedings on October 12 I light heartedly engaged with SANRAL’s legal team and suggested that they come for a Wild Coast hike, under the expert leadership of Zukulu, a world renowned expert on the Pondoland Wild Coast, in order to get to know the man whose “locus standi” SANRAL has been so determined to invalidate. “oh, we would be fired if we we did that” one of them responded, “we have to remain objective”. I was delighted by the honesty of the reply, but saddened that we live in a time and a country where ignorance masquerades as objectivity, and where understanding of real life complexity gets sacrificed in order not to threaten biased court evidence.

SANRAL’s response to petitions for accountability from affected communities has been woefully inadequate. SANRAL seems to take no responsibility for the behaviour of any its consultants or contractors implicated for arrogant and aggressive behaviour, or for the conflict that it has fomented as a result of its inadequate community engagement process. Only time will tell how this conflict unfolds; watch this space in 2018.

SANRAL has spent vast amounts of money in 2017 on a PR campaign that promotes only the promised benefits of the toll road. One can’t help wondering why this is necessary if the benefits of the road are self evident.

Recently I attended another community meeting on yet another very rainy day. This time 70 villagers in the village of Sigidi walked through the pouring rain to voice their opposition to the toll road being built through their area. They accept that other villages may be in favour of the road, but for them the northernmost section of the road is routed too close to the coast and dangerously close to the area that is threatened by plans to mine the titanium rich coastal dunes adjacent to their homes and grazing lands. The villages along this northern 22km stretch of coast want the road rerouted further inland, to where residents are in favour of its construction. The residents of the coastal area want to focus their efforts on agriculture and tourism to grow their sustainable local economy. The road and mining will negatively impact both.In the words of one of the village elders: “I want to ask SANRAL where they are going to build this road, because I don’t see any land that is not being used in our village. We are farming here and using all our land for planting. There is no room here for a road”.

Not to heed the voices of the Amadiba would be foolish disregard for a clear history lesson from the past; a warning from the fields of Pondoland, where in 1960 the AmaMpondo refused to submit to the authority of the apartheid regime, which resulted in 11 AmaMpondo being shot, and 21 then tried and executed for their role in the rebellion. The Pondo Revolt is a shameful and powerfully instructive chapter in South Africa’s history, and there are still people living in the Xolobeni area who were alive at that time. “Our forefathers died to protect this land in the Pondo Revolt. If necessary we will do the same.” In other words, “don’t mess with the land of the AmaMpondo!” This is the message I keep hearing when I visit Pondoland. It’s a message that Mr Macozoma and other government leaders need to heed. Post Marikana and Life Esidimeni, South Africa is tired of official disregard forhuman rights.

Margie Pretorius is Chairperson of Sustaining the Wild Coast, a non profit company, with no paid staff, which exists to support sustainable development on the Wild Coast.

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