This week the Ngome Community, just north of Greytown, took the first big steps towards the establishment of a 4 300 ha+ community conservation area, 24 room game lodge and 100 room cultural centre and hotel. The community received the R7.6 million grant through Tourism KZN and the Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism. The funds flowed from a business plan completed late in 2006 by the Wildlands Conservation Trust and the Ngome community, with funding from the EU Gijima KZN fund and assistance from Tourism KwaZulu-Natal. Their dreams are finally becoming a reality after the initial scoping began in December last year and a recent stakeholders meeting confirmed the project plans for the reserve development with construction set to begin in March.
The Ngome Community Game Reserve is situated approximately 1½ hours from Pietermaritzburg and will ultimately provide a wonderful getaway for local bush lovers. The 4 300ha of rolling bushveld constitutes the culmination of two land claims made by the Ngome community, who are excited about the potential of the community game reserve. The Ngome Community Trust was initially formed by the Ngome community to oversee the land claims and is now more focused on ensuring the sustainable development of the area. “We want to create job opportunities for our youth, our women and our men” said the Trusts chairman Mr Michael Lathe.
Long-time partner of the project, Tourism KZN, was responsible for brokering the agreement for the grant through the KZN Premiers Department and Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism. According to Mr James Hlongwa (General Manager Tourism Development at Tourism KZN), “the R7.6million grant will provide the community with the boost they needed to ensure the sustainable management of the land and significant income generation for the community going into the future”.
The majority of funds will be used for the development of the Bambatha Kraal Lodge (including 10 two-bed units and a conference centre), a boundary fence up-grade, road access rehabilitation, land rehabilitation, and landscaping. There is more planned for the community though. Final discussions are underway with partners The Elan Group for the development of a 100 room hotel and cultural centre. Ngome community leader Inkosi Zondi says he is very pleased with the latest developments. “When [this project] is complete more than 500 of our community members will have employment.” “Previously a lot of people have survived on Government grants, this is a sustainable solution”, he said.
National consulting engineers, TPA consulting, are the project managers on the ground. They will be responsible for sourcing contractors and other necessary resources, overseeing the construction to completion and once complete ensuring all the quality standards have been reached. The company’s main focus is on poverty alleviation and developmental engineering projects such as this one. “Our aim for Ngome is to try to utilize community resources and to retain as much of the project spend within the community as possible” says Project Manager Steve Bartell.
The Wildlands Conservation Trust is a KwaZulu-Natal based conservation organisation specializing in community conservation. They have played a vital facilitation role in negotiations and planning the way forward. CEO Dr Andrew Venter, who has been at the forefront of these negotiations, says: “It has been a privilege working with this community. The commitment of their leadership to developing this project, as a means to creating local employment opportunity, has been an example to all of KwaZulu-Natal’s traditional communities. Furthermore, their commitment to establishing a game reserve and conserving their unique cultural heritage has been inspirational. There is little doubt that Ngome will be a benchmark project.”