Holiday Home Eviction Order in World Heritage Site

On Thursday 9 February The Mercury newspaper printed an article about a Mr van Tonder who was last year ordered by the wetland park authorities to “stop construction, remove his holiday cottage at Bhanga Nek and rehabilitate the area to the state it was in prior to construction”. The newspaper article goes on to say that the park authority “secured the order after launching eviction applications against both van Tonder and his neighbour Cules Hamman...” 
Hamman opposed the application but van Tonder incorrectly believed that his neighbour was opposing the appliction on behalf of both of them. It was this incorrect assumption on van Tonder's part which led to his not opposing the eviction application and secured Isimangaliso a default judgement to evict him. It is now the job of van Tonder's attorneys to file court papers opposing this eviction. These papers must be filed by 21 February.

Since this story came to light, St Lucia News has tried to gain further information and updates on this case from Mr van Tonder's attorneys who are not available for comment.

Mr van Tonder says he has been occupying the site with permission of the local tribal authority and has been accepted as part of the community . He believes, however, that the wetland park authorities wish to evict him from his property as they plan to build a holiday resort 1.2km away, although this theory cannot, at this stage, be confirmed.

This isn't the first rumour of a holiday resort in the World Heritage Site; there has been ongoing speculation over the past few years of a proposed holiday resort on the Cape Vidal site. St Lucia News has contacted the holiday company central to these rumours and awaits a response.