Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has gazetted a declaration that sections of adjoining land become part of five South African national parks, effectively enlarging these parks.

The five national parks benefitting from the declaration included the Agulhas, Addo Elephant, Mokala, Tankwa Karoo and Namaqua national parks.

Molewa published for comment the intention to declare land as part of the national parks whereby members of the public were invited to submit comments before July 15.

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) said 278.16 ha would be added to the Agulhas National Park in the Western Cape.

Three portions of land would be included in the Namaqua National Park, increasing the size of this Northern Cape park by 5 763.40 ha.

The Addo Elephant National Park, in the Eastern Cape, will be expanded in the Jansenville registration division, as well as land within the Uitenhage registration division, adding 5 791.72 ha to the park.

Further, Molewa gazetted 2 894.31 ha of additional land for the Mokala National Park, in the Northern Cape, while the Tankwa Karoo National Park, also in the Northern Cape, was now extended to include 22 501.40 ha of additional land.

“As part of the consultation process, the Ministers of Public Works, Rural Development and Land Reform and Mineral Resources were invited to indicate whether they agreed with the proposed declaration of the listed land. Where applicable, members of executive councils across a number of departments were involved, including mayors, to indicate whether they agreed with the proposed declaration of the listed land,” the DEA said in a statement.

Comments received were reviewed and the draft declarations were revised and published on March 2.