Oh, bugger the environment

A general election is scheduled in Zambia for September 28. From all the accounts I’ve received, it seems that veteran politician Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front may win it. If so, goodbye current president, Levy Mwanawasa.

Sata’s arrival in Lusaka’s State House will usher in yet another new broom – he’ll be the third since the ruling United National Independence Party, led by Kenneth Kaunda, was dumped after 28 straight years in power back in 1991.

And, among Sata’s immediate problems will be what to do about a proposed tourism development planned for the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. This may sound as though it is a storm in a teacup ─ but it has the potential to develop into a right royal diplomatic dust-up.

The Park abuts the Victoria Falls National Park, one of the world’s seven natural wonders and both Parks were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1989. The Park comprises the left bank of the Zambezi River above the Falls and a series of deep gorges below the Falls.

SA-based Legacy Hotels & Resorts, led by Bart Dorrenstein, intends to construct an 18-hole golf course, build two five-star hotels, a country club estate with villas and, in total, add almost 1 800 rooms to the existing bed capacity ─ all within the confines of the Mosi-oa-Tunya Park. The project is to be undertaken by Legacy’s Zambian subsidiary, Legacy Holdings Zambia and the intention is to begin construction next year with completion scheduled for 2010, ahead of the World Soccer Cup and its expected tourist influx.

And the project has sparked fierce opposition. The National Movement Against Corruption has threatened to obtain a judicial review unless contentious issues are addressed. The Zambian Wildlife Conservation Society has described the plan as a “sanctioned desecration,” and is canvassing vigorously to stop the scheme in its tracks.

Legacy grew out of Stocks Hotels & Resorts which was suspended from the JSE in November 1999. A consortium led by Dorrenstein and Bruno Corte purchased the company for R98m with backing from Beirut-based investment holding company, Ensemble Hotel Holdings.

A major problem with the development ─ aside from the fact that it is located inside an area on which no development is supposed to be permitted ─ is that it carries all the hallmarks of having been created in secret. It seems that a private company, Tourism Investments Ltd (Zambia) originally sought and was granted a 4 hectare plot in the Park. It then asked for more land ─ which was granted. Then it entered into partnership with Legacy which expanded the idea and demanded more land ─ and has been allocated something of the order of 200 hectares.

It is alleged these demands were channelled to “higher offices” [by which is meant, I presume, Cabinet Ministers and the State President], bypassing the Zambian Wildlife Authority.

As one observer has commented: “Zambia is a signatory to several international conventions ─ once you join the “club” you can no longer do whatever you choose. The development is in flagrant disregard of the conventions.

“Legacy, with several influential people in government, is determined to go ahead with the development despite local and world-wide opposition. There is no concern for the impact this project will have on the environment. The inhabitants of Livingstone [the nearby town] have not been consulted and there is overwhelming support for the project’s rejection.”

According to a report in the Zambia Daily Mail (September 1), Legacy has submitted a draft Environmental Impact Assessment. The final document needs to be made available for public comment but despite this, the Zambian President has very publicly laid a foundation stone commemorating the Legacy project (July 28). If nothing else, this certainly seems to suggest that the decision to permit the development is done and dusted.

Meanwhile, Dorrenstein has told the Daily Mail that expressions of interest have been received from the European Investment Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa to finance some of the required $200m.

Extraordinarily, this appears to fly in the face of a warning delivered by a Zambian Heritage Conservation Commission director, Francis Shalwindi, who said the UNESCO World Heritage Centre said it might withdraw Heritage status on the Victoria Falls and the surrounding area if the project proceeds. Shalwindi said his Commission had received a letter from UNESCO asking why Zambia was abrogating international and regional conventions.

What a dreadful farrago this has turned into.

David Gleason...Gleason Torque, Johannesburg. gleasontorque.com