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THE KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Mr Sihle Zikalala has expressed his full confidence in the newly appointed board of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife – saying that it was made up of trusted members of the society.

At its ordinary sitting held on the 20 June 2018, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Cabinet approved the appointment of the new board members to serve for a period of three years.

Welcoming the new board, Mr Zikalala said: “This board is made up of trusted members of our society. These are people who are bringing to this strategic organisation a wealth of combined technical and administrative skills and experiences hence we are confident that they will hit the ground running especially in dealing decisively with all the challenges that Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife faces.

We want the board to ensure that we continue to protect our environment and biodiversity capital by employing strategies that would amongst other things curtail the scourge of rhino poaching. More importantly, we are expecting that they would influence turnaround strategies that would guarantee effective utilisation of the organisation’s assets for the generation of sustainable income.”

All board members have been appointed through a process which has been transparent, credible and legally sound. “We know that there are always attempts by certain political parties to try and politicise the process of appointing Ezemvelo board with a sole purpose of scoring cheap political points. While this behaviour helps political parties, it unfortunately has negative impact on staff moral and the general health of the organisation. We therefore call for the end of politicising administrative processes at Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife,” added Zikalala.

The new board will be chaired by Doctor William Mngoma who has extensive experience in environmental management. Dr Mngoma worked for the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs for many years and rose through the ranks until he became the General Manager responsible for biodiversity management before retiring in 2017.

Continuity within the membership of the board is very important for stability and effective activation of the organisation’s mandate and therefore Mr Zikalala, after consultation with other stakeholders, opted for the retention of five of the previous board members.  These include Mr Bonginkosi Mthembu, Mr Thulisa Ndlela, Mr Vusi Mvelase, Mr Sipho Mtolo and Ms Seeng Lebenya. Besides Dr William Mngoma, the MEC appointed Ms Thandeka Ntshangase, Mr Ian Wing, Mr Sihle Ndlovu, Mr Robert Haswell, Ms Diana Hoorzuk and Ms Sinegugu Ncube as new board members.

Issued by the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs