OFF TRACK | Residents bring watershed back to life in Makhanda

SA has a vibrant tradition of environmental conservation, especially invasive alien plant control.

Species like gums and wattles were introduced mainly for commercial forestry, but soon spread to conquer the countryside and suppress native vegetation.

In environments like the fynbos and thicket that are exclusive to SA, alien trees posed a significant threat to indigenous shrubs and grasses. In river catchments, they appropriated much of the water that otherwise would have flowed downstream.

Backed by evidence and advocacy from environmental scientists, the government rolled out an intervention plan to tackle the unchecked spread of invasive alien plants.

Working for Water (WfW) is SA’s iconic green economy programme instituted in 1995, that links environmental work with an employment guarantee scheme.

It is recognised worldwide as a pioneering example of government-sanctioned payment for ecosystem services. The programme has been funded jointly through government budgets for agriculture, environment, forestry, water and public works, as well as water access fees paid by landowners and users in catchment areas. The programme sustains about 50,000 jobs annually, and aims to skill workers, particularly marginalised people, to participate in the environmental services economy.

Within a decade of its inception, the programme faced growing challenges in maintaining the land it had cleared. Landowner participation flagged, and legal frameworks to control invasive alien plants fell short. In recent years, moreover, the programme has run into budget and operational constraints.

Like many government sectors, the processing of invasive clearing contracts has fallen far behind schedule, slowing down programme implementation and stifling the employment opportunities the programme aimed to generate. This left landowners and users grappling with increased land invasion and degradation, and programme implementers with serious financial deficits from allocated but inaccessible budgets.

In Makhanda the effect of this slowdown is stark. Municipal budgets for infrastructure and parks have steadily dried up. Two and a half decades of meticulous clearing has ground to a halt post-pandemic, with the closure of the WfW Albany office. The resurgence of black and long leaf wattles over three years of non-management is visible. As is typical of these hardy tree species, fires and good rains last year have spurred on the growth of dormant seeds in the soil, adding to the older growth.

Notwithstanding, the residents of Makhanda have come together to resuscitate their commonage in the war against wattles.

Daniela Heunis, pensioner and former music lecturer at Rhodes University, has teamed up with Jonathan Pryor, former project manager with WfW Albany programme, to clear Mountain Drive, the most popular commonage in the area.

Daniela has been actively clearing aliens on the commonage since her retirement in 2022. “The invasion] has been an eyesore for me when walking past the yellowwood (memorial) forest and the little dam; both were surrounded by black wattles. I am very pleased that it looks so much better from the N2 now.” 

Daniela’s initiative to raise funds to clear Mountain Drive was met with much interest.

Nonzwakazi Wasa, long standing contractor with WfW Albany, led her fully equipped crew to clear Mountain Drive over the course of two weeks. Jonathan’s pro bono management and in-kind services enabled the crew to clear the land strategically and safely. The work comes as a welcome respite while WfW crews are still waiting to start government-approved contracts for 2024.

The initiative is a prime example of devolved governance for environmental stewardship. It demonstrates how mechanisms set up by national government can be handed over to local landowners, users, and service providers.

The residents of Makhanda have taken responsibility for their commonage in true grassroots fashion. A fund is being established by residents to enable invasive alien clearing in the area, and donations are welcome.

The municipality would do well in matching this with a clearly allocated and duly disbursed budget for green infrastructure (commonages, gardens, parks). This form of co-management can alleviate the administrative and financial burden of implementing invasive alien control through the national government. Handing this function to the people will bolster the local economy through quicker contract processing and will ensure timely, efficient action on the ground.

Daniela wants to inspire people to be more observant in recognising invasive plants and to get involved in doing their part for the environment.

“We can do nothing about the seedbed (years of seeds deposited all over) that are still about us, but every alien that one pulls out means there will be more water for the environment and subsequently for us. Having spent my first year of retirement clearing aliens above the local spring (on the road to Port Alfred), it was amazing to see the difference in the stream. And I am happy to say the aliens that sprang up after the fire and then the good rains we had, are not nearly as many as in other sections of the Oldenburghia hiking trail and Mountain Drive which has not been cleared for a while.”

While individual action can arrest visible young plants, older trees and newer flushes need trained personnel to use effective techniques to curb their spread. Sustained periodic clearing is key to keeping invasive alien plant populations at bay, and to keep water flowing into rivers. This is the premise on which the WfW programme offered economic empowerment and training to people to do skilled work that would be required on a regular basis.

Local buy-in from residents is more than half the battle won. The government must now meet them midway.

Dr Sardeshpande, is an ecologist, researcher and author working on urban and agricultural environments. She obtained her doctorate at Rhodes University and is affiliated with the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

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