A Community Divided Over the Environmental Impact of Sibebe Resort in Pine Valley
By Lizete Dos Santos
Mbabane, December 8 — On a quiet Sunday afternoon drive up to the remote Sibebe Resort, a location advertised as where nature and humankind live together in peace and tranquility, two large subwoofers are blaring the latest house music hits from behind the drinks bar. A few yards away from the edge of the infinity-ledge swimming pool, three emu are eating grass next to a mound of dug up earth and broken pieces of glass from beer bottles. While some visitors enjoy the scenic views, others pose for selfies with cocktails in front of the pool’s waterfall. Just as the resort, which is located 8km outside of the Mbabane city centre, straddles the Mbuluzi and Dlangeni communities, it straddles the demands of protecting the environment and the growing appetite for Sibebe tourism.
Liberty Dube, an environmentalist by training, was hired by the resort when it first opened in April 2018, as the ecotourism consultant to reconcile the environmental and social impacts. Dube, wearing a light blue polo shirt, steel-toed shoes and a large gold watch, explains that the Sibebe ecosystem is one of the most threatened ecosystems in Eswatini. The area is home to a high number of indigenous plant and animal species, including the endangered blue swallow. Although Sibebe has always been considered a unique and pristine environment, attracting local and global tourists, it is not yet a formal conservation site. Within this large grey area of formal designation, differing opinions from the community have clashed over whether it should remain pristine, or capitalize on the development opportunities.
“Someone was always going to build something on Sibebe,” said Dube, “Whether it was local homesteads or the Resort, the challenge is now to figure out the best way to manage the area.”
Before the arrival of the resort, the Sibebe Community Trust, a local agency, was solely in charge of preserving the area. Dube has been part of the negotiations between the Resort, the Community Trust and the Eswatini National Trust Commission to formally designate Sibebe as a conservation area with the hopes of one day becoming an established UNESCO World Heritage Site.
However, two years after the initial opening of Sibebe Resort, environmental impact questions and concerns continue to linger. The resort is located just three kilometres away from the exposed Sibebe Rock face. Sibebe Rock is the second-largest monolith in the world, after Uluru in Australia, and is the world’s largest exposed granite dome. The immense, 2.6 billion year-old volcanic slab, rises to a height of over 1,400m and covers some 16,500 hectares. The site is a popular hiking spot and takes about two to three hours through steep uphills and across the mountain plateau to reach the summit. In August 2016, ground on top of Sibebe had already been cleared and levelled to begin preparations for building the resort. More heavy-duty construction began in early 2017, but the resort had failed to conduct a legally-required Environmental Impact Assessment study (EIA).
Local residents reported the illegal building activity to the Eswatini Environmental Authority (EEA) and Sibebe Resort was forced to stop construction until the impact study had been conducted. On the 10th of July 2017, the resort was also fined E50,000, on the lower end of the environmental fine maximum of E250,000. A petition was signed by local Pine Valley residents who felt that the construction and plan for the resort was incompatible with the pristine beauty of the surrounding area. The EEA gave the area a Category 2 development project listing in July, meaning that construction could only continue after an environmental impact study was completed and released for public review, in order to include comments and opinions from affected and interested parties.
“The challenge is that when the environmental impact study was conducted, it was assessing an area that had already been disturbed by construction,” said Belusile Mhlanga, the Information Officer at the EEA. “This makes it difficult to know what flora and fauna had been there before that were possibly damaged.” The results of the EEA study received over 25 response letters from affected and interested parties, many nearby residents, who still had remaining environmental concerns and suggested a further, more comprehensive impact study be undertaken and wanted clearer action regarding their concerns. The letters outlined concerns specifically around water pollution, erosion, waste management, noise and light pollution.
Despite the unease from local residents, two months later the EEA study still deemed that construction could continue given that all the legal requirements had been met and the fine had been paid. Since the completion of Sibebe Resort, environmental compliance inspections are only conducted on an ad-hoc basis and given the remote location of the resort, the EEA heavily relies on reports from local residents on continuing environmental impact violations. Environmental concerns, noise pollution, health code violations and alcohol licensing codes are all managed by different governmental departments making it difficult to consolidate information in one place. “Things end up falling through the cracks,” said Mhlanga, explaining the challenge of keeping Sibebe Resort environmentally accountable.
Sibebe Resort currently covers about one hectare of land on Sibebe, not including the road up to the resort. Located right next to the large car park, there are 24 rooms in rondavel buildings with thatched roofs. The smells of barbecued meat and clinking glasses from the bar emanate from the restaurant and bar. There is also a conference centre equipped for hosting weddings and other events. The two swimming pools, one complete with an infinity ledge and water slide provide a favourite location for visitors to take pictures overlooking the scenic mountain views across the Mbuluzi valley.
“The vision is much bigger than what is already here,” said Themba Thwala, one of the managers at Sibebe Resort. “Over the next five to ten years we hope to expand construction even more including a new conference centre and cultural village,” he said. When asked about the environmental impact concerns of the resort from Pine Valley and Mbuluzi residents, Thwala responded, “I don’t like to speak about that, everyone has their own opinion about how things should be done but ultimately this is a business and I think we are protecting the environment and helping the local community.”
According to the Resort, around 80% of the 50 employees are hired from the local community. Thwala said that the Resort is working together with the community to remove invasive species such as the wattle tree and conduct a weekly litter collection. The Resort said they are working in partnership with the Sibebe Community Trust to help manage the area. As part of the ecotourism plan designed by Dube, the Resort also introduced blesbok and emu to try and enhance the attractiveness of the natural environment. “There is an environmental footprint to Sibebe Resort,” said Dube, “But we also need to consider the positive social impact of the resort to the surrounding area and try and mitigate the negative impacts as best we can.”
Some local residents remain unhappy with the environmental impacts of the resort, citing main concerns around water pollution, erosion as well as noise and light pollution. Local resident Lucas Deb said that the water boreholes from the resort had impacted the already low water table in the area, further depleting water supply. Deb also said that the noise and light pollution from loud music and quad bikes were also negatively affecting the community. Because of the wind at the resort, residents living at the bottom of the mountain can hear a quad bike being started 3km away, he adds. A Times of Swaziland article reported that at the beginning of November, the Swazi government banned Sibebe Resort’s from hosting and organising any arts or entertainment events. The ban came after the resort leased out the venue for a music concert which did not adhere to the coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
Paul and Lyla Chasusa, two Pine Valley residents who often hike in the Sibebe area, said that they were especially concerned about the erosion caused by the road, where large parts of the mountain had been cut away to clear space. Heavy rains on top of the mountain send rivers of red earth running along the road, carving gulleys into the cliff sides. “The road is also a winding single lane, which if people have been drinking at the resort presents more danger from drunk drivers to those in the community,” said Paul Chasusa. Since the resort lies outside of the capital city’s urban boundary, there are fewer police patrols and checkpoints.
Thokozani Lukhele and Thandekile Zodwa Dlamini, both Mbuluzi residents in the nearby area, said that they were excited when they first heard about the project as they were hopeful for the jobs the resort could provide. However, they are still concerned about the impact of the probase road leading up to the resort which funnels run-off water into surrounding streams which residents use for drinking water. “The local community is divided in two,” said Lukhele, “Some are happy about the resort because they’re benefiting from it but others don’t care or don’t want any changes in the area.”
These conflicting concerns are the crux around the Sibebe Resort development, opportunities faced with the challenges of responsible environmental management. “I’m tired of writing environmental proposals,” said Dube, who said he was specifically worried about waste management. The resort said it has a septic tank to deal with solid waste, but safely disposing of glass and plastic products from the resort is still an area that needs improvement. More traffic up to the resort also means more litter prevalent along the road. Dube hopes that better environmental awareness and education campaigns will improve the situation.“We need an environmental win and we also need a social win,” said Dube. “We’ve worked hard to unite the Mbuluzi and Dlangeni communities around the resort and the conservation projects, but there’s still more work to be done.”
