Councillor Keith Powell and Barbara Chedzey step out onto the new boardwalks through Mtunzini's swamp forest.

HIKING TRAILS GET A FACELIFT
The boardwalks through the raphia palm natural monument and Mtunzini’s beautiful swamp forest have been completely rebuilt! This project which replaces the original boardwalks established more than 25 years ago, has restored Mtunzini's trail system linking the swamp forest in the municipal area with the dune forest in the Umlalazi Nature Reserve. Residents and visitors now have several kilometres of beautiful boardwalks and trails on which to explore the various habitats that Mtunzini has to offer. The project has cost R400 000 and has been financed by the national Department of Environmental Affairs and channeled through uThungulu Regional Municipality’s Coastal Working Group which is chaired by Ward 19 Councillor Keith Powell. Barbara Chedzey and Mtunzini Residents Association chairperson Wendy Forse are members of the Coastal Working Group. The project manager has been Blessing Sikakhani who has supervised the contractors on behalf of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife who implemented the project.
Councillor Powell, long-time resident and champion of Mtunzini’s natural areas, is very impressed with the rebuilt boardwalks and is sure that they will last at least another 25 years. The wood has been both pressure treated and impregnated with carbolinium.
There is new signage at the entrance to the boardwalks and you will be delighted with your expedition through this special piece of paradise.

Stan Whitfield and Barbara Chedzey raise their concerns about the proposed
Exxaro mine at Fairbreeze with the deputy minister of Mineral Resources,
Mr Godfrey Oliphant, at Esikhawini this week.

Mtunzini Conservancy explains
mining concerns to Deputy Minister
The Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources, Mr Godfrey Oliphant, has called on communities living in mining areas to get actively involved in the negotiations and discussions relating to the mining sector - whether they be issues of health, safety, the environment or compensation.
Speaking in Esikhawini on 11 April as part of a national tour of the mining industry and communities affected by mining, Mr Oliphant called for transformation in the mining sector and said that input from communities was essential to amend and improve legislation as well as mining practices.
He expressed concern about the environmental impact of mining and said that bad laws in the past 100 years had left South Africa with thousands of abandoned and derelict mines which would cost the country billions of rands to rehabilitate.
Oliphant stressed that the government takes environmental issues seriously, but that it is their responsibility to strike a delicate balance between conservation and taking care of the needs of the country.
More than an hour of the meeting was set aside for members of the public to raise their concerns with the deputy minister and this included a presentation by Stan Whitfield of the SOS Campaign and the Mtunzini Conservancy, who asked for a full Environmental Impact Assessment to be conducted into the mine and by Steve Untiedt of Twinstreams Environmental Centre which borders on the proposed Fairbreeze mine. WESSA runs the environmental centre and believes the mine will destroy the area's potential as an eco-tourist destination and that the impact assessment into the proposed mine is 'fatally flawed'.
Several other members of Esikhawini civic associations and traditional authorities bordering on the Hillendale mine presented an extensive list of complaints arising from living next door to a mine.
The CEO of Exxaro, Mr Sipho Nkosi, and other senior Exxaro executives were present but declined the offer to publically address the issues raised.
The deputy minister indicated he was concerned by the matters raised and promised to return by the end of May.

The SOS Mtunzini campaign has released another artist's impression
of how the Fairbreeze mine will impact visually on the entrance to Mtunzini.
In the foreground - inland from Bridge 5 - is the 560-hectare Megasabeka
slimes dam, the walls of which will be 30m high and 160m wide.
A smaller dam will be sited opposite Bridge 3.

• SPECIAL REPORT: How mining will change Mtunzini