iSimangaliso Wetland Park authorities confirmed on Thursday that 71 people had been arrested after they allegedly began occupying land in the Futululu forest adjacent to Lake St Lucia earlier this week. 

Futululu is the largest remaining patch of indigenous coastal lowland forest in the country after the adjoining Dukuduku forest was occupied in the late 1980s and progressively destroyed by subsistence farmers. The park is also South Africa’s first World Heritage Site, designated for global protection because of its outstanding international conservation value. 

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority said in a statement that the most recent land grab attempt started on Tuesday when a group of people invaded the Futululu forest, demanding the land for farming purposes and some stands were also being sold for residential purposes. 

iSimangaliso Wetland Park, the UNESCO World Heritage Site in KwaZulu-Natal. (Photo: Twitter / @iSimangalisoZA)

“SAPS was called and a large number of people estimated to be about 71 were arrested. 

“The first wave of illegal invasion started on 21st of March 2022 when approximately 100 people invaded the Futululu forest using the access point opposite the entrance of the South African [National] Defence Force (SANDF) base known as 121 Battalion. 

“The number of the invaders kept growing and was estimated to be about 300 people at some point. iSimangaliso brought an application to the Pietermaritzburg High Court seeking court intervention as efforts to engage the community and the invaders through dialogue and meetings were not yielding positive results as some community members continued with the invasion and were destroying park infrastructure.” 

The Pietermaritzburg High Court granted an interim interdict on 11 April which stated: “The respondents and anyone acting through or with the respondents are interdicted from entering or invading, occupying and/or removing any vegetation and/or erecting any structures on the area known as the Futululu.” 

On 23 June, the court handed down a final order that interdicted anyone “from entering or invading, occupying and/or removing any vegetation and/or erecting any structures on the area known as the Futululu Forest, within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, without the permission of iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority”. 

“iSimangaliso would like to express its disappointment that despite the instruction of the court there are some elements of the community who have decided to again embark on unlawful activities and trespassing while the engagement with communities is still in progress,” said the Park Authority. 

“Since the start of these unlawful activities, the Park Authority has held several meetings with community leaders in an attempt to find an amicable solution. Meetings involved structures such as the leadership of the Traditional Authority, municipal ward councillors, land claimants’ leadership, Dukuduku resettlement trust committee, farmers’ representatives, and representatives from People and Parks structure, amongst others.” 

Park spokesman Bheki Manzini said the authority urged people not to be lured into buying stands and trespassing in Futululu forest as such actions would be in contravention of the Pietermaritzburg High Court order and may lead to an arrest. 

A duty spokesperson for the SAPS had not responded to requests for further information, but it is understood that the suspects have appeared in the Mtubatuba Magistrates’ Court. DM