Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
history. Additionally ZAR,206,695 was invested in the ranger facility which allows
the Makuleke community to engage in anti-poaching patrols and general ranger
activities.
Lessons learned at Makuleke
Fame and fortune?
While it was a pleasure to be associated with a success story, it was also a curse.
Once the Makuleke became famous and started travelling the world it put
additional pressure on them and their donors. It also took leadership away from
the community and shone a light on the project as many communities, local and
foreign government officials, NGOs and academics come to see Makuleke for
themselves. It is the kind of pressure that destroys community organization by
creating infighting. It is testimony to the few consistent executive members and
the full-time staff that the Makuleke continue to make progress.
Traditional and democratic institutions
One of the most difficult tensions to deal with in many communities is the tension
between the role of traditional structures and new democratic CPAs/trust and the
local councils. Makuleke has not been an exception and conflicts between the
aspirations of the chief, who played a vital role in lodging the land claim and
asserting Makuleke culture, and the CPA leadership has been an ongoing
problem. In essence this tension is a result of easily confused roles between the
CPA, which is the new democratic structure that is the formal land owner of the
restored land, and the traditional authority which is the land manager of the
communal land excluding the restored land. On top of this you have the local
municipality which has a duty to deliver services to the communal land and
villages. Unfortunately the different family and political differences play
themselves out by using these 'overlapping' development roles to suit different
individual agendas.
As project implementer and manager, one has to be careful about assuming
that democratic systems and institutions will reject the traditional authority and it
was tempting to condemn the amount of money and benefits going to the royal
family. It was clear, however, that the leadership and community supported the
royal family getting a disproportionate amount of the benefit flows. The CPA
executive committee decided to hand over a legal proportion of the hunting fees
to the royal family. These were used to build a new house for the royal family, buy
a car and as a bursary for the education of the chief 's son. In the end after
TRANSFORM's projects started becoming affected by the tensions between the
chief and CPA leadership, we asked the Department of Land Affairs to run a
workshop and clarify the different roles and responsibilities. They asserted that
the chief could not be the chairperson of the CPA executive because at times there
will be a conflict of interests, for example, when the Traditional authority applies
for money from the CPA. There is now a process being monitored by the DLA
which will replace him with an elected chairperson.
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