Parks important to communities

By Tsietsi Msimanga

Mamafubedu – The past few days have seen temperatures sky rocketing and bringing unpleasant scorching heat in the Free State province and across the country.

Parks are ideal places to be at this summer and people are visiting the award-winning Rhino Heritage Park in Mamafubedu. It was the Persian Kings and Greeks who first to developed the concept of parks. Kruger National Park is South Africa’s most well-known and frequented park, established in 1898 and named after the Boer leader Paul Kruger.

But why are parks so vital and relevant in today’s communities? Parks make areas safer, encourage children’s activity, increase property values, promote mental health, foster cohesive communities, and even help the local economy. Parks also serve a variety of purposes, including providing healthy exposure to outdoors, green spaces, biodiversity conservation, and improving community sense of belonging.

Rhino Heritage Park is a park in Mamafubedu originally known as Petrus Steyn, which was established in 2015 by Twin Mawela Mosia. With a handful of volunteers, Mosia has managed to develop a 12-hectare community park from scratch on abandoned land that was nearly turned into an illegal dumping site. The park is named after the river, which, according to Mosia, runs up to Koppies and was known as “Kwakwatsi” by the early inhabitants of Mamafubedu.

“Parks are beneficial to humans for many reasons, not excluding native plants and animals.” stated Mosia, a historian, heritage campaigner, museum curator, and chief ranger at Rhino Heritage Park.

“They offer the opportunity to be healthy, simulate the local economy, and protect the natural environment. When I arrived here, I began planting trees, cleaning and working on the landscapes, and many community members laughed me off, but I was more concerned about creating a green space for all, and COVID-19 was a blessing in disguise simply because many people realized just how badly we needed this kind of the natural environment and space for our well-being.

“It’s not on a daily basis that you walk through a township and come across a lovely park where kids can run around, relax, or read a book.

“Every street corner is littered with rubbish, unemployed youth, untreated waste flowing into our dams and rivers, and this is so normal to our people! This is something that really bothers me and its happening everywhere in the Free State. Its now some sort of a culture,” continued Mosia.

In 2017, Mosia won the Kudu Award from the South African National Parks for his work in Mamafubedu; he subsequently gained the Eco Logic Award in 2018, adding to his already full cabinet of multiple national accolades, notably being counted as one of the Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans for 2017. Golden Shield National Heritage Award 2016, Heritage Association of South Africa Gold Medal 2016, News24 100 Young Mandelas 2018, 100 Presidential Award 2018, 100 Top Young Independents SADC Region 2018, and Inside Education 100 Shining Stars 2020, to mention a few. Between 2018 and 2019 he travelled extensively to European countries like Belgium, The Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland and Kenya where he honed his skills and got more experience from around the world.

It’s the privileged few, not everyone gets the opportunity to go to Kurger National Park in their lifetime from this area. “But what are the challenges as well as the opportunities associated with working in such a space? We asked.

“Seeing less pollution and dumping is extremely rewarding, but it’s unacceptable that although there is a parks and cemetery department in Nketoana Local Municipality, I have yet to see them acknowledging the park or at least collaborating with us. The mayor has not visited this park since it’s establishment, although it has won multiple national awards and attracted considerable visitors as well as positive media attention for this town amidst the negative reports and scandals of corruption in the municipality. We struggle with equipment and machinery to mow the grass and maintain the park.

“It’s also regrettable that the municipality is using the sports ground intended for sports to host social events instead of utilizing the award-winning park, which could at least improve the space. A good example is a two-day event scheduled to take place just before the new year, I also believe this is one of the reasons why we don’t have teams competing professionally. “concluded Mosia.

Mosia has said that he contacted to the Free State Sports, Arts, and Culture MEC to express his concerns, and that he also intends on escalating the matter to the Minister, Gayton Mackenzie.

The park is equipped with a museum and an art galley which are a first in this area. Mosia hopes to add sculptures and more art works to the park in collaboration with local artists from the area. Visitors are welcome to use the first phase of the park which has picnic facilities ,an amphitheater, outdoor museum, orchard,campsite,canoe club and walking trails.

“This park can open many opportunities for the locals and the youth in events, environment conservation, recycling, research sectors to mention a few, as long as the relevant stakeholders could come on board. The Free State government is also invited as this is a challenge in every community.” Said Mosia.

After all the achievements that Mosia got, Nketoana Local Municipality as well as the Free State government are yet to recognize or honour him. Our efforts to get comments from Nketoana municipality were fruitless.