Two Ears & One Mouth - Conflict on the Wild Coast about the Gwe Gwe Beach Lodge Development.
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2024
- Amampondo Eco Tourism practitioners are in conflict with the developers of an exclusive luxury lodge at Mkambati Nature Reserve on the Wild Coast of the former Transkei region of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
The developers want to control access and determine entrance fees while the local tour guides claim that the regulations are going to disrupt their lifestyle, discourage tourists and destroy their small businesses.
Ben Horowitz interviews Sinegugu Zikulu, Siya Ndovela, Homestay Mothers and local activists and reflects on their perspective of the conflict. In their right of reply, the developers; Mkambati Matters, the Eastern cape Parks and Tourism Agency and the Mkambati Land Trust defend their position. Ben concludes that there are two worlds clashing on the Wild Coast and that better communication, better understanding and more mutual respect could lead to solutions that benefit both sides.
Two Ears and One Mouth explores the challenges that many local communities and tourism developers face when trying to find the balance between Nature Conservation, Profit and Human Rights. Issues of racism, customary laws, economics and land rights are examined in the context of the current conflict.
For Ben, this episode signals the culmination of a years work on The Wild Coast, the development of this CZcams Channel and the start of a new leg to take the work to a new level. In this episode Ben tries not to cast judgement but instead seeks a balanced view of the conflict and tries to find paths to resolution. This is the kind of communication and media that can contribute positively to the sustainable development of our country, our society and our natural environment.
#easterncape #transkei #transkeistories #wildcoast #africanhistory #sustainabledevelopment #gwegwebeachlodge #gwegwelodge #pondoland #racism #humanrights #hiking #mkambathi #warriors #tourism #conflict #conflictresolution #nature #natureconservation #amampondo #amadiba #mtentu #mzikaba #ecpta #land #waterfall #trails #southafrica #mzansi
00:00 Introduction
03:51 The Amampondo perspective
06:06 Hiking the Wild Coast
08:50 The waterfalls
10:04 The Homestay Mothers
11:49 Customary law
13:00 The developers disagree
13:53 Walking through Gwe Gwe Lodge
14:39 Customary rights VS commercial rights
16:12 Alternative hiking route
18:14 Mtentu Lodge guests
19:56 Booking the waterfalls
21:39 Lack of respect
26:30 Racism
29:11 Clashing economies
31:08 Constitutional VS customary law
32:38 Land ownership
35:44 Greedy liars
38:48 Conclusion
The section on lack of respect hits hard. To have another person arrive where you call home, decide the way it should be, and set that vision in motion without even a simple conversation is just heart-breaking.
Exactly.
I can't believe in today's world we still fighting such Oppressions. Money really rule the world. WILD COAST is one of the most amazing places to visit in RSA but with this today's tourism, soon we will be singing history and what the place used to be. Local communities involvement in decision making has taken for granted for many years. I grew up in there and I decided to embark on tourism and conservation career because of these issues. We will rise!!! No one will destroy how we do things in wild coast. Let them build the lodge and they will find out more about tourism amd hospitality. We the locals rule the land and we don't care about them and their money
Tourism has massive potential in the Eastern Cape. 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
They stole our paradise out from under us, i grew my children up dreaming of one holiday a year that we,my parents,family grew old together visiting gwegwe, the reserve and its surrounding communities. Thank you Siyabonga,son of Vuyani and everyone else. We are proud of you all for standing up for what you believe in. They have really sent us far away from the community we love. This high end clients are not clients, they are colonialists. Foreign tourists are not fools. They do not come all the way here, to see the same things they see at home. Gwe gwe was stolen to give to am elitist community. Give it back. We are not rich, and the little joy we had os stolen
@@nashirdmohamed6200 Your testament is heart breaking.
As a South African, I'm grateful I got to come here early in Jan. Would've never afforded this trip with these new prices. Capitalism is a problem.
R300 is a lot to visit a waterfall. Thanks for engaging! 🙏🏼
Excellent, thoughtful presentation of a tricky problem.
Thanks! Much appreciated. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Its such a joy to see how the locals are fighting this development from fencing off the development and not being suckered into believing the absolute nonsense that you need to have high end tourism at the wild coast. I will never believe this. If a high end tourist wants to visint, the facility can be there, BUT not with exclusivity and trespassing on the locals land by excluding them rigght of passage. You visit an area to experience is as it is there, you don't try and change the experience. There are more than enough areas across the world for this.. I believe him and her that the land is not legally awarded by the court and also that "consultation" with limited persons, is not public consultation. I grew up along the wild coast areas and it's preposterous to believe that changing this area is in anyone's interest other than the money grabbers.
Fabulous documentary Ben. Will show folks here in Scotland as this is a global and incredibly nuanced phenomenon.
Thank you!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I stand with the community.
Two ears and one mouth. A well done piece which isn't taking sides. Commendable. But my gosh, the western model of business has NO EARS, considers nothing but money, and we are worn out. I pray that humanity is found in this situation. This area is unique in the fact that indigenous people have retained their land and culture. By huge effort. Western blunt objects can learn some refinement here. I pray for long generous communication, where hearts open and are heard.
Well said!
Disgraceful. I am with the locals. Sadly greed and corruption is what allowed the disrespect to happen
The way Thonga Lodge was built in KZN with the Mabibi community lives is a great example that works. The community has 51% ownership. iSibindi found a model that works and their clients have an exclusive experience. Both parties win.
Super interesting. Thanks for that lead.
I think the compromise here is to have a very inclusive design of the area. High end, middle and low end and figuring out how those can exist. But I think the investors need to be culturally aware and sensitive to what locals are saying and locals need to understand that development means their kids do not have to move to Cape Town or Durban to be workers in those areas without a real benefit (shacks in Cape Town, e.g.). I think all of them, investors and locals are looking at this from the ground up instead of elevating their vision so they can see the big picture and how they can fit this puzzle. There is a level of selfishness on both sides to be honest. I just hope also that the government officials aren't corrupt that they'll accept kickbacks from investors to stifle locals. So, a good balance is needed.
One more thing, there is a lack of infrastructure in the wild coast that is badly needed and this hinders the tourism business and really puts tourists and people in danger. This can be the value that big investors bring. But, I will re-iterate, they need a big picture of how the puzzle can fit.
I'm just so grateful for all the times I have had the privilege of visiting the Mkambathi reserve, before it becomes "exclusive". By sharing the joy, we are all enriched, no matter how rich or poor we are.
Beautiful words.
I certainly would not come there at those prices! Why can the people share in the rivers water up from the falls? Dont understand?
The whole of South Africans must take up this battle on behalf of the village communities in that pristine part of the world... They need to be protected like the real royals they are... They are indeed wealthy, maybe not by having huge purse or bank accounts, but more wealthy than than that... We have had and seen enough of the Western way of Big Commerce imposing its ways on the land of indigenous people for centuries, and now, the last few people who managed to preserve their way of life and their ownership to their forefather's land are still being threatened by outside arrogance and dominance... We need to amass a nationwide petition, that must be drawn up 100% from the perspective and wishes of the local people there - and such petitions must be used to take the matter back to the courts and all the irregularities expressed and exposed must be the basis of making that court finding null and void and even that 'developers' must be cornered with that petition into realizing that those communities has a nation behind them, which is much more powerful than their big purses.
Flatten it!!!!
PS disallow the private lodge access to Swallowtail Falls 😅
I’ve been wondering what the deal with Swallow Tail will be.
The waterfall is not even close to the lodge.
There was always an agreement that there would not be any development within 1km from the coast.
It is pristine because there was a lepper hospital in the area.
The waterfalls are a 20 minute walk from the new lodge. The Decree 9 legislation restricting building in the 1km does not apply to privately owned land which is what Mkambati is. And yes, the original inhabitants were moved off the land to make way for the Lepper colony, which was then followed by a series of conservation ventures. The Mkambati Land Trust, representing 40000 people living to the West of Mkambati won a land claim to Mkambati in 2000, and are now the lease holders.
It's is their choice as the Mkhambati Commuties failed to unite and instead chose to sell each
This is the part of the story that is still missing. I’d like to do an episode from the perspective of the land owners.
I feel many conversations in South Africa are difficult for the same reason this one is, would have been easier if it had started off in a healthier way
So true!
When this “exclusive contract”was negotiated how many tours were being conducted, how many home stays were there, how many non-resort Transkei tourism ventures were successful? I think very few. Today we have a different situation. While the one side of this conflict has walked a long and difficult road to get to bricks being laid the other side has developed and co-developed another low impact tourism solution. They need to find a way to walk forward together. In this world of social media you do not want to be trying to full a high end lodge that is seen to be anti the indigenous people of an area. High end tourists are not titanium, they care about what other high end tourists think about them. At the same time “poorer” tourists wanting to experience the Wild Coast do not want their hiking holiday to be about conflict and to feel unsafe. Tourism is a fragile resource that redirects itself very quickly.
Absolutely. A middle ground that benefits everyone will be found.
This must not be allowed through land belongs to the people just another case of theft
sanuba weak
alternatively let them win, but make sure that the reserve is protected by the army otherwise the gates of every homestead will be decorated with the tourist heads,, mark my words
Let's all hope it doesn't come to that. I don't think it will. There is a common ground that will be great for everyone.
Ben.,. And I'm admittedly uninformed so emotionally responding and please accept the context. First of all I love these clips, while I'm torn between this and you going home to Sammy. Who we both know has some craziness
You know this is public, right? 🤣🤣🤣
Sadly or positively CZcams is a public space. Have not checked in for a bit Ben. Really digging the citizen journalism on this one. Kudos.
@@thebuxtstopshereThanks Stephan!! Very encouraging!
This Community has been sold by just one man who is not even a beneficiary
Interesting.
I have never, in all the times Ive been there, seen "too many people" at any of the falls. Thats absolute rubbish.
Siya and I were there with a group of 20 hikers. We didn’t even notice them leaving.
To create employment for you people otherwise there would have been nothing... Use your initiative..
Employment is great, but employment alone will not create a sustainable future. We've seen that in the extractive mining industry. It has done very little to lift people out of poverty. Economic growth needs to be balanced by human rights & conservation. We need a new kind of economy that takes everyone's needs into consideration. We need to be very creative.
10% is a ridiculous amount to give to the locals...it should be more.
It’s 9% of turnover… which is much better than 9% of profit. But still, only time will tell if it is enough or not. Thanks for engaging! 🙏🏼
eat the rich.
😅