Fedhasa welcomes iSimangaliso Wetland Park's plan to seek commercial partners, accommodation costs may rise
Cape Vidal beach in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. The eco-tourism facilities at the park will no longer be managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.
Image: iSimangaliso Wetland Park
Tourists looking to visit the world heritage site, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, could soon pay more for their stay as the accommodation facilities are set to be managed by commercial partners.
The management of iSimangaliso is currently looking at public-private partnerships for those who can run the eco-tourism facilities.
The facilities had previously been managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. In a statement, Ezemvelo said they will now only manage the conservation efforts. The move has been welcomed by tourism organisations, who said they have been calling for KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife to privatise the hospitality facilities.
Ezemvelo spokesperson Musa Mntambo said the management of the eco-tourism facilities at the site resulted from the agreement between the two parties.
He said that while by law KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife was the only authority in the province in charge of managing conservation in and out of game reserves, after iSimangaliso became a World Heritage Site, the authority fell under the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
“We had continued to manage the eco-tourism site in iSimangaliso as we were already managing other sites in the province. The agreement was that when they finally had the capacity to manage the eco-tourism site, we would hand it back to them.”
He said a conversation started recently about the site being handed back to iSimangaliso, stating, “They said they are ready to manage the site and they are looking to commercialise the site by bringing in commercial partners.”
“They are looking to bring in partners as, for the moment, they do not have the capacity to manage the site themselves, and there is a possibility of price increases because once a private partner comes in, they will be charging their prices.”
He said that access for the community visiting the site for legitimate reasons was unlikely to be affected. “There are arrangements in some of our parks that, for instance, the community that lives close to them can visit during this period for free. This might be the same here, where the community would be allowed to enter as iSimangaliso would keep control of the management of the gate,” he said.
Brett Tungay of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (FEDHASA) said, “We have been advocating for a number of years that KZN Wildlife should privatise the hospitality sector within the reserve. Their specialty is environmental management within the reserve, and that is what they do, leaving the hospitality aside to the private sector.”
“In terms of cost, yes, it will ramp up costs, we know that, but at the end of the day, I guarantee that we will have a much better tourism product. It’s a give and take; if I look at their tourism package, there is a lot to be desired. I’d rather have the private sector come in; it will increase the prices, but the product will improve,” he said.
A statement from Ezemvelo and iSimangaliso said Ezemvelo will cease to manage the eco-tourism facilities and its related functions effective from February 28, 2026. Therefore Ezemvelo’s booking platform for iSimangaliso will close on February 28 and the booking platform will be transferred to iSimangaliso from March 1, 2026.
Ezemvelo will also not take bookings beyond February 28 and bookings beyond this date will be done via iSimangaliso’s platform.
Regarding staff, the organisations said a consultation process is currently underway with Ezemvelo employees working within iSimangaliso’s eco-tourism facilities.
However, no jobs will be lost due to this transition as existing Ezemvelo employees will be transferred according to relevant legislation and internal policy and allocated to similar grades.
Bheki Manzini from iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, said they want to commercialise some of the facilities. “We do not want someone who is going to run them; we want someone who is going to improve them.
“We have put out one of the properties for advertisement, and based on the responses that we get, it will then follow the normal tender process.” Touching on the issue of a price increase, he said it must be a balancing act between the improved quality of service and the price that is paid.
“It is not the intention of us to price normal people out; there would be people who will say, ‘We love your park, but the facilities are not up to standard,’ so we must balance this,” he said.