STATUTORY BODIES

SA Tourism is the official nationalagency responsible for themarketing of South Africa as apreferred tourist destination ofchoice.

Its task is to increase the numberof international and domestictourists, grow tourist spend andlength of stay, promote a geo-graphic spread of tourism growthbenefits, and address seasonality.In this respect, it is required toimplement the InternationalTourism Growth Strategy andDomestic Tourism GrowthStrategy

SA Tourism participates in majortravel shows, presents workshopsfor members of the travel industry,and coordinates media and public

relations campaigns.

New Growth Strategies

SA Tourism has reached a newlevel of maturity following thelaunch of the Tourism GrowthStrategy at Tourism Indaba 2002.For the first time, the organisationmoved from broad marketing tocarefully targeted tacticalcustomer-focused campaignsinformed by market intelligence.

The same year, saw the launch ofthe organisation’s four integratedglobal marketing campaigns,featuring value-for-moneypackages. The campaigns werenamed ‘My South African Story’ forthe US market; the ‘Live theMoment’ campaign in India; the

‘Great Urban Getaway’ in Kenyaand Tanzania; and the ‘Sunsation’campaign in the United Kingdom.

The campaigns were designed toaddress SAT high-level objectivesof reducing seasonality, increasingtourist volume and spread, opti-mising length of stay, improvinggeographic spread, and promotingtransformation.

During 2003/4, the campaignshave been extended andexpanded to other core marketsincluding Germany, France andIndia.

The international Tourism GrowthStrategy has been designed toprovide SA Tourism with the optionof quickly shifting focus and

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South African Tourism

leveraging new opportunities, inwhat is an ever-changingenvironment, allowing it to ‘playsmarter’ than in the past.

Africa and The Middle East: Giventhe high market share that SouthAfrica has in many Africanmarkets, the strategic focus is notsimply on growing volume, butrather on extracting further valueby ‘up-selling’ and ‘cross-selling’into other product areas.

The international Tourism GrowthStrategy identified Kenya,Tanzania, Nigeria, certaincountries in West Africa, the IndianOcean Islands and parts of theMiddle East as being of tacticalimportance in increasing tourismto South Africa.

Asia and Australasia: SouthAfrica is already seeing the resultsof the Memorandum ofUnderstanding signed in 2002between South Africa and the

Peoples’ Republic of China, whichaccorded South Africa muchsought-after Approved DestinationStatus. This entitles South Africa tomarket group leisure activities inChina, and contributes to thesimplification of tourist travel fromthe Chinese mainland to SouthAfrica.

The 8th ICC Cricket World Cup inFebruary 2003, provided anunprecedented opportunity tomarket South Africa to thecricketing nations of the world,including India. There was anenormous surge of Indian visitorsas the country progressed to thefinals – a 147.7% increase inarrivals from India, compared tothe same period in 2002. Indiantourism to South Africa was furtherenhanced by the organisers of theInternational Indian Film Awards(IIFA) deciding to relocate the2003 Awards to Johannesburg.

Europe Portfolio: Germany has

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continually proved to be one ofEurope’s leading source marketsfor tourist arrivals to SA, closelyfollowed by France, theNetherlands and Italy. These havetraditionally proven to be importantcore markets for South Africa, andvisitor numbers continue to postgains.

America and the United Kingdom(UK): Of all overseas visitors, thegreatest numbers originate fromthe United Kingdom. Of the coun-tries comprising North and SouthAmerica, the United States,Canada and Brazil have proventhe most promising in terms ofattracting long haul visitors.

MMIICCEE

South Africa is Africa's leadingconference destination attractingmore than 63% of the continent'stotal conference market. Accordingto the International Convention

and Conference Association(ICCA), South Africa is placed22nd on its World Top ConventionCountry ratings. However,Meetings, Incentives,Conferences, Events (MICE)research commissioned by SAT in2002 shows that SA was ranked10th as an incentive destination,moving up from an average 12thposition ranking in previous years.In the UK, SA has been rankedsecond in the world as a long-haulincentive destination, with CapeTown named as the country's mostpreferred city.

The country’s reputation has beenconsiderably enhanced by thehosting of a number of high-profileglobal gatherings in recent years,including the UN’s World Summiton Sustainable Development (thelargest ever gathering of its kind)in Johannesburg during 2002; theWorld Parks Congress in Durbanduring 2003 and sporting eventssuch as the 8th ICC Cricket WorldCup in 2003.

South Africa boasts around 1 700conference venues ranging fromsafari, mountain and coastalhideaways, to state-of-the-artinternational conference facilities.The country hosts approximately 1500 conferences and exhibitions ayear.

Its popularity as a preferredconference destination has beenfurther enhanced by thesuccesses enjoyed particularly bythe Cape Town, Durban, Sandtonand Gallagher internationalconvention centres. The CapeTown International ConferenceCentre, which opened in July2003, hosted over 290 000 visitorsat 196 events during its first fourmonths in operation, includingsixteen international and twelvenational conventions. TheInternational Conference Centre inDurban received ‘Africa’s LeadingConference Centre’ Award fromthe ‘World Travel Awards’ for thethird consecutive year.

Visitor Statistics

Tourist arrivals have grownconsistently over the last fewyears. In 2002, overseas touristarrivals grew by an enormous11.1% to 6.4 million tourists.Numbers arriving from outsideAfrica grew by 20.3%.

In 2003, overseas arrivals grew by4%. This is over and above thephenomenal growth achieved in2002.

This growth is clear evidence ofthe effectiveness of the focusedtourism marketing beingundertaken by SAT.

Emerging Tourism

At Indaba 2001, SAT launched thefirst Emerging TourismEntrepreneur of the Year Award(ETEYA) competition.

Since then, the award has gonefrom strength to strength,attracting increasing numbers ofquality entrants and impressingjudges with their high standardsand creativity.

Entry into the ETEYA competitionis open to black (as defined in theconstitution) entrepreneurs,operating small, micro andmedium level tourism orhospitality-related businesses. It is

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limited to businesses that havebeen operating for less than threeyears and that employ less thanfifty people. Annual turnover mustnot exceed R3 million and, wherea partnership exists, the blackpartner should be an equal ormajority shareholder.

Calls for entries are issued in Aprileach year, following which twentyseven semi-finalists are shortlisted(three from each province), and in-depth site visits undertaken. Inconjunction with the provinces andthe Tourism EnterpriseProgramme - and after furtherinspection of business plans - ninefinalists are eventually chosen.Further judging takes place duringWorld Travel Market in London inNovember where the overallwinner and runner-up – receivingR50 000 and R30 000 prize moneyrespectively to go towards theirbusinesses – are announcedduring a special media event.

South Africa Online

Visitor hits on www.southafrica.net- SAT’s website platform - rosefrom an initial 3 000 hits a month inMay 2002 to 1.5 million a monthduring 2003.

The website’s ranking, among thetop 1 percent in the world, is fur-ther evidenced by its Number 1position on leading Internet searchengines (Google, Yahoo andHotbot) when Internet userssearch for ‘South Africa’.

Besides disseminating informationabout South Africa, southafrica.nethas been invaluable and cost-effective in encouraging travellersto book holidays with identifiedtrade partners.

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Tourism Grading Council ofSouth Africa

The Tourism Grading Council ofSouth Africa first launched aNational Grading Scheme for theaccommodation sector inNovember 2001. This schemehelps visitors to compare andbenchmark establishments, toknow what to expect in terms ofquality – and where standards arenot met, to be able to givefeedback based on objectivecriteria.

Operators can apply for gradingin nine categories: Hotel, Bedand Breakfast, Guest House,Country House, Lodge and Self-catering, Meetings, Exhibitions,Special Events, Backpacker &Hostelling and Caravan &Camping.

Plans to extend Star grading toother sectors of the industry arealso at an advanced stage. Thiswill include tour operators, foodand beverage establishments andtourist transport service providers.

Since 2001, 2 000 accommodationestablishments have been graded,making this system the fastest-growing quality assuranceprogramme in the history of SA’stourism industry.

STATUTORY BODIES

South African National Parks(SANParks) is the leadingconservation authority in allNational Parks around thiscountry, responsible for 3 751 113hectares of protected land in 20National Parks.

Its focus in the first decade ofdemocracy has been to makeNational Parks more accessible totourists in order to ensureconservation remains a viable con-tributor to social and economicdevelopment in rural areas.

SANParks, as the conservationagency of the DEAT, has alsoincreased the area of land underits protection by 360 000 hectares

in this time.

The management of research andthe monitoring of programmes isstructured around the study ofSouth Africa’s key biomes –Grassland, Forest, Fynbos,succulent Karoo, Nama Karoo,Savanna and Thicket.

To date, the savanna ecosystem isthe most understood and the bestconserved – the Kruger NationalPark is an example. The latestbook to tackle this subject is onethat was launched in March 2004,titled ‘The Kruger Experience:Ecology and Management ofSavanna Heterogeneity’, a collab-oration between SANParks

scientists, SouthA f r i c a nacademic scien-tists and interna-tional scientists.

Some nationalf o r e s t s ,p r e v i o u s l ymanaged by theDepartment ofWater Affairsand Forestry, arenow comingunder the man-

agement of SANParks, offeringchallenges for restoration ecology– the systematic attempt to returnforest landscapes to their ‘naturalstates’.

In short, the organisation hasmanaged to transform itself,continue its high research andmanagement standards, expandthe land under its protection at anentirely unprecedented rate, andhas also begun to generate up to75% of its own operating revenue.This last point is a remarkablefinancial achievement comparedto most conservation agencies inthe world, including those indeveloped countries.

Land Acquisition

The area of protected landmanaged by SANParks has beensteadily expanded through severalinnovative initiatives, includingcontractual parks, public-privateinitiatives as well as the traditionalmeans of purchasing identifiedland important for biodiversitymanagement.

Since 1995, 360 000 hectares ofland have been added to the

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South African National

Parks

National Parks system, exhibitinga level of commitment toconservation never beforeundertaken by previous SouthAfrican governments.

In ten years, four new NationalParks (Agulhas, Namaqua, TableMountain and Mapungubwe) havebeen proclaimed. At the sametime, existing National Parks suchas Addo Elephant, AugrabiesFalls, Karoo, Marakele, MountainZebra, Tankwa Karoo, West Coastand Wilderness Lakes have beenexpanded.

Almost 6% of South Africa is nowunder formal state protection, 60%of which falls under themanagement of SANParks. Thestate plans to increase this amountto 8% by 2010, and later to 10%, inaccordance with IUCN (WorldConservation Union)recommendations.The land added so far has beenthrough the organisation’s ownfundraising efforts, donors and

major contributions from the SouthAfrican Government.

The Minister of EnvironmentalAffairs and Tourism recentlyannounced the addition of five newmarine protected areas. It isexpected that, once theproclamation process has beencompleted some of these marineparks will be transferred toSANParks.

People and Parks

South Africa historically inherited aEuro-centric model of parkssystem that is suited to therelatively wealthy urban societies.However, the last part of the firstdecade of democracy was stronglyinfluenced by the latest WorldParks Congresses in 1992 and2003 with their themes of ‘Peopleand Parks’ and ‘Benefits BeyondBoundaries’. Over the past tenyears, SANParks has exploredways and means in which theSouth African community, espe-

cially theNational Parks’neighbours, canreap benefitsfrom biodiversityand champion itsprotection.

SANParks hasfocused its firstphase ofcommunity pro-gramme onaddressing theissues of poverty

alleviation and empowerment ofordinary citizens in villagesadjacent to the National Parks.The community programme todate, has focused onenvironmental awareness,primarily amongst school children,developing entrepreneurial skillsand sustainable employment. Withthe formation of the Directorate:People and Conservation in 2003it is expected that the programmewill start expanding further into thecommunities and building animproved stakeholder liaisonstructure.

At present, park neighbours areable to benefit in a number of waysfrom the National Parks. Theseinclude the clearing and re-use ofexotic alien vegetation, limited andcontrolled harvesting of certainresources within parks (includingmopane worms, firewood,proteas), and sustainable use ofvarious plants, especially thosethat have medicinal properties.

DEAT and Tourism has identifiedSANParks as one of its drivers forpoverty alleviation and has such,contributed considerable amountsof money through the PovertyRelief Programme.

In the past three years an amountof money in excess of R270 millionhas been dedicated to thisprogramme. These funds are used for the improvement of bulkinfrastructure in the parks. Theprogramme covers rehabilitation ofarchaeological sites, upgrading

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and maintenance of roads, newtourism accommodation, newtourism product development,removal of unwanted structures(such as internal fences, buildingsand windmills), erection of newtourism infrastructure andmaintenance, and construction ofnew gates. The main focus of theprogramme is to impart skills tolocal communities and to facilitatethe creation and development ofSMMEs in those communities.

Tourism Development

The key focus for the developmentof tourism in the National Parks inthe last ten years has been toincrease the number of tourist vis-its to parks by ensuring that serv-ice levels are of good standard.

It is a little-known fact thatSANParks has the highest numberof owner-managed hospitalitybeds in SA – 5 619. Occupancylevels remain high and impressive,but the organisation recognisesthat there is still a low responsefrom people historically excluded

from the National Parks.

Strategies are being designed toattract black tourists. In the year2002/3 this market accounted foronly 10% of the overall number oftourists to the National Parks, andSANParks is determined toincrease that figure.

A daily conservation fee per visitorper day was introduced from June2003 with differential pricing ondaily park use between the SouthAfrican nationals and residents,SADC nationals, and theinternational visitors.

In order to further encourage localvisitors, the WILD Card was alsolaunched in 2003. This is a smartcard giving access to all or someof the parks for a predeterminednumber of people (individual, acouple or a family) over a year.The card gives unlimited free entryto these parks. In addition, theWILD card rewards visitors, givingpreferential rates for airlinebookings and discounts atrestaurants or other WILD Cardpartners.

In recognition of the contributionsof its international visitorsSANParks also introduced theWild Pass in September 2003.This card benefits thoseinternational visitors who spend atleast a minimum of ten days in theNational Parks. The internationalWild Pass reduces theconservation fee on the ten dayperiod by almost 50%, and there isno limit on the number of parksthat can be visited within thepurchased time period.

Since the inception of the WildCard and the conservation fee,SANParks has generated anadditional income of R19 millioncompared to the previous year’sgate entry fees. So far SANParkshas also sold in excess of 80 000wild cards, far surpassing theinitially estimated 50 000 cardstargeted for the end of the 2003/04financial year.

It is also well worth noting that forthe first time in recorded history,Kruger National Park hosted onemillion visitors in a single financialyear – that of 2002/3.

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Commercialisation

In 1999, SANParks adopted astrategy termed‘Commercialisation as aConservation Strategy’ whichinvolved the concessioning ofcarefully chosen sites within theNational Parks for private lodgesand the outsourcing of certaincommercial operations like shopsand restaurants.

SANParks specifically choseareas in its parks for lowvolume/low impact/high revenue.As a result, the organisation cannow depend, with a degree ofcertainty, on a guaranteed incomestream over the 20-yearconcession period. This makes amajor contribution to the futurefinances of the organisation.

The commercialisation of shopsand restaurants successfullyconcluded in 2001, has resulted ingross turnover from these facilitiesincreasing by 33%. Importantly,income to SANParks has

increased by 88%,from R12.27 mil-lion to R23.07 mil-lion.

Kruger NationalPark, the TableMountain NationalPark and Tsitsi-kamma, remainthe principalsources of

revenue for SANParks.

Transfrontier Parks Initiatives

The biggest challenge andachievement for the South AfricanGovernment in the last decade onconservation related matters, hasbeen the formation of the trans-boundary parks. This initiative hasseen negotiations between SA andall its neighbouring countries toform six transfrontier parks. In fiveof these Parks, SANParks is theSouth African Government’simplementing agent, rendering allthe professional and logisticalsupport to these projects.

Southern Africa's first transfrontierpark, the Kgalagadi TransfrontierPark, was formally opened on 12May 2000 by the presidents ofBotswana and South Africa. Thesecond transfrontier conservationarea, the Great LimpopoTransfrontier Park, came intobeing when the three heads ofstate of Mozambique, South Africaand Zimbabwe signed aninternational treaty in December

2002 at Xai-Xai, Mozambique. Thetreaty on the !Ai-!Ais/RichtersveldTransfrontier Park was signed inAugust 2003 between Namibiaand South Africa.

The two other possibletransfrontier parks involvingSANParks will include thegovernments of Botswana,Zimbabwe and South Africa on theformation of Limpopo/ShasheTransfrontier Park, and theLesotho government and SouthAfrica on the Maloti/DrakensbergTransfrontier Park.

TTRRAANNSSFFOORRMMAATTIIOONN

In the past decade of democracySANParks has evolved from beinga white-dominated institution toone that has embraced thedemographics of the country. Moreblack people have been employedin management positions,changing the face of theorganisation.

Many resources have also beeninvested in the training of staffmembers. People who had beenwith the organisation for asubstantial number of yearswithout ever receiving training,thereby reducing their chances ofpromotion have now been trainedin anything from computer skills toskills directly related to theexecution of their jobs.

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This organisation became DEAT’snewest statutory body in 2003. Itprotects one of South Africa’sgreatest biological treasures.

Contained within it, is the old StLucia Park, Africa’s oldestprotected area, declared 105years ago – only three years afterAmerica’s Yellowstone NationalPark, the first such protected areain the world.

The Park’s importance

The Greater St Lucia WetlandPark contains extraordinarycultural and ecological treasures.It has 220 kilometres of coastlineand beaches; 100 species of coral;eight inter-linking ecosystems; theonly major swamp forests left inSouth Africa; three major lakesystems, including Kosi Bay, LakeSt Lucia and Lake Sibayi; andeight major game reserves withinthe broader Maputaland.

It is in the process of becomingpart of a transfrontier park,incorporating conservation land inMozambique and Swaziland. Thisis one of South Africa’s WorldHeritage Sites, and includes fourRamsar wetlands of internationalimportance.

The Park also incorporates a largemarine protected area, part ofwhich is home to at least eighteenprehistoric coelacanth fish.

In addition to these ancient fishthat evolved 400 million years ago,the Great St Lucia Wetland Parkhas the highest global number anddensity of black rhino anywhere in

the world; five species of turtles;the highest number of frog speciesin southern Africa (thirty five); thirtysix species of snakes; 526 birdspecies (the greatest avifaunadiversity in Africa, with half ofSouth Africa’s bird species and25% of Africa’s); more than 2 000species of flowering plants; all fiveof South Africa’s mangrove treespecies; 25 000-year-old coastaldunes; and five cultural groups(Zulu, Swazi, Shangaan, Tongaand a relict group of Gonda speak-ers).

This fragile combination of naturalbeauty and socialdiversity, has ele-vated the St LuciaWetlands to thestatus of an icon inthe history ofe n v i r o n m e n t a lstruggle in SouthAfrica.

History of theStruggle

During the late1980s and early1990s, thestruggle for thefuture of the StLucia Wetlandsreached feverpitch when abroad coalition ofSouth African citi-zens and organi-sations resistedplans by a multina-tional company tomine the dunes ofSt Lucia for titani-um and other

heavy minerals. Half a million citi-zens signed a no-mining petition,including President NelsonMandela and the former Ministerof Home Affairs, MangosuthuButhelezi.

After an epic battle, South Africa’snew democratic government ruledthat mining be prohibited and thearea’s fragile beauty and sense ofplace be protected for futuregenerations by more benignengines of economic growth – forexample, ecotourism.

Despite the urgency to deliver

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The Greater St Lucia

Wetlands Park

Authority

proof that tourism andconservation could work, littlehappened until 1998 because ofbureaucracy and local dynamics.Then, through the LubomboSpatial Development Initiative, oneof Government’s macro-economicinitiatives, and all levels ofgovernment committedthemselves to the emphasis onnature tourism as anenvironmentally-friendly industrythat would lead to economicgrowth.

As Deputy President Jacob Zumaexpressed it: “It is the co-existenceof beauty and poverty thatconstitutes the great challenge ofMaputaland: to use the naturalbeauty of the place to bringreconstruction and development tothe people of the region.”

The Authority’s origins

In November 2000, regulationsunder the World Heritage Act were

gazetted, proclaiming the GreaterSt Lucia Wetland Park. Thiseffectively consolidated sixteenparcels of land and a patchwork ofearlier proclamations to create anintegrated park of over 300 000hectares stretching 220 kilometresalong the Indian Ocean coast. It isone-third the length of the provinceKwaZulu-Natal.

The regulations also established adedicated management authorityto manage the site according tothe World Heritage Conventionand South African legislation. TheMinister of Environmental Affairsand Tourism considered St Luciato be such a special case that itbecame the first World HeritageSite in South Africa to be entrustedto a dedicated Authority.

The board is made up of all majorstakeholders, and includes localcommunities. This is the first timein SA that local people andtraditional leadership living in and

adjacent to a park of such nationaland global significance, are fullyrepresented in the park’s highestdecision-making body.

Functions

The Wetland Authority deals withthree broad areas: Themanagement of the wildlife andecological systems of the area;commercial activities that includethe development of nature-basedtourism businesses andassociated infrastructure in thepark; and improvements in thesocial and economic condition ofpeople living in the area.

A management agreementbetween the Wetlands Authorityand Ezemvelo KwaZulu-NatalWildlife ensures that the day-to-day management of the wildlifeand natural systems in the Parkwill continue and benefit from theconservation organisation’sexpertise.

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Achievements

The Authority has launched amajor system to support and buildthe existing tourism market, toattract new investment into arange of lodges and hotels in thearea, and to create opportunitiesfor new nature tourism activitiessuch as boat concessions, gamedrives and other appropriatetourism.

A drive to improve and upgradethe roads, fences, health and otherinfrastructure that will make theWetlands Park a world-classtourism destination is also at anadvanced stage. This includesunprecedented regionalcooperation between South Africa,Mozambique and Swaziland,including a push to reduce levelsof malaria affecting the health ofinhabitants. Lake St Lucia is nowmalaria-free for the first time inhistory, and the incidence of thedisease in other areas is low.

Other examples of regionalcooperation include the building of

the new Hluhluwe to Maputo road,the opening of border posts andthe protocol that lays the basis forthe Lubombo TransfrontierConservation Development in theregion.

The Wetlands Authority hasalso:

• Facilitated the settlement ofthree major land claims about60% of the St Lucia Wetland’sarea in a manner that safe-guards the physical and institu-tional integrity of the Park;

• negotiated the removal of over12 000 hectares of alien plan-tations which negatively affectthe hydrology of the Lake sys-tem from St Lucia’s Easternand Western shores. This islinked to a major Landcareprogramme which includeswetland rehabilitation, dunerehabilitation and alien planteradication that is community-based and job-intensive;

• developed a land inclusionpolicy that eases theincorporation of private and

communal land on its fringes;and

• helped to prepare a cutting-edge Integrated ManagementPlan as well as a StrategicEnvironmental Assessment.The IMP sets the scene for theredevelopment of the Park asa world-class conservationasset. It contains a detailedzoning scheme, sets carryingcapacities and puts in placevarious monitoring systems.Part of the plan calls for thereintroduction of endemicgame such as elephant aftermore than eighty years ofabsence.

Objectives

The Wetlands Authority’s majorobjective is to ensure that theWorld Heritage Site is developedin a way that ensures localresidents, benefit from the Parkand have access to it. New tourismfacilities are being created forpeople who, under the apartheidregime, never considered visiting agame park because these were

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seen as places where animalswere more important than people.

The Wetlands Authority includes aspecialised division called social,environmental and economicdevelopment (SEED) to carry outwhat is probably its most importanttask: the alleviation of poverty topromote development in thevillages. A core func-tion, is to ensureempowerment activitiesin the park across awide spectrumincluding ownership,job creation, procure-ment and training.

Nature-based tourismdevelopment includingthe current investmentopportunities, is alsobeing used to broadenownership patterns.Communities livingadjacent to theWetlands Park andlandowners, aremandatory partners inthese developments.

Review

At the 2003 World ParksCongress, the Greater St LuciaWetland Park was presented as amodel of protected areamanagement that balancesconservation and development ina sustainable framework.

During the Congress, the UnitedNations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organisation (UNESCO)cited South African legislation as amodel of the implementation of theWorld Heritage Convention, andthe Greater St Lucia Wetland Park,as an icon of how the Conventioncan be applied in practice.

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The South African WeatherService predicts the weatherthrough various instruments,human expertise and complexcomputer modeling systems. Itprovides weather information andwarnings to the public throughradio, television, newspapers, itswebsite and cellular telephonetechnology.

It also provides weather informa-tion to industries affected by theweather, for example, the aviation,maritime, construction andagricultural sectors.

Activities during 2003/4

Drought Conditions andSignificant Weather Events:SA was hard hit by a droughtthroughout the whole country andthe expertise of the WeatherService was used in disaster man-agement planning throughout theyear. Daily and seasonal fore-casts, as well as ten-daily, monthlyand seasonal rainfall maps werepublished on the website

www.weathersa.co.za to assistauthorities in monitoring the devel-opment of the drought situation inSouth Africa from the onset of thesummer-rainfall period.

Intense cold fronts swept over thecountry in mid August,accompanied by gale force winds,stormy seas and heavy snowfallsand high fire danger indices. Manyminimum temperature recordswere broken on 22 August 2003.The container vessel SealandExpress ran aground in Table Bayduring this period, requiring dailyweather forecasts to prevent apossible oil-spill.

Forecast Services Public forecasts, supported by aspecial web page, were suppliedon a daily basis. Special forecastswere also done for the World CupCricket event, ComradesMarathon, the Vasco da Gama andLipton Cup races.

A Northern Region Office,providing forecasting services for

Gauteng, Mpumalanga andLimpopo was established.

Prediction Research andDevelopmentFor seasonal predictions, a newforecast scheme based on climatemodels, was developed andimplemented, contributingsignificantly to seasonal forecasts.The first probabilistic forecastswere issued at the end of the year.

In terms of numerical predictionmodels, the quality of forecastsfrom the Eta model running on theCray SV1 supercomputer andused daily by forecasters, wasenhanced, by increasing itsresolution from 48 km in thehorizontal and 38 layers in thevertical, to 32 km and 45 layers.This considerable increase inaccuracy stands to benefit clientsof the operational weatherforecasts.

New Meteosat SecondGeneration GeostationerySatelliteSouth Africa was selected as a testsite for the dissemination of datafrom Meteosat 8. A satellite dishfor the reception of the newMeteosat Geostationary Satellite(MSG) was donated by Eumetsatand has, since December 2003,provided considerably moredetailed imagery and morefrequent updates.

Metsys Radar TechnicalActivitiesThe annual maintenance of alleleven radars in South Africa wascompleted by January 2004.Innovative radar inter-networkcalibration and enhancementcontinued on a budget 90% belowthe universal norm for radar

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South African Weather

Service

maintenance. The East London,Polokwane and Ermelo radarswere supplied with more efficientuninterruptible mains powersupplies (UPS), as well as simpli-fied, cost-saving operatingconsoles.

Automatic Weather StationNetworkMajor changes to enhance the effi-ciency of the Automatic WeatherStation (AWS) network, weremade. Three new AWS’s wereinstalled.

The Namibian Weather Servicewas supplied, on a commercialbasis, with ten fully functioningAWS’s.

Glidersonde/ PowersondeProjectA single multipurpose logger wasdeveloped to fit inside relativelysmall remote-controlled planes.

Weather Observations andNetworksThe comprehensive observationalnetwork consisted of 1 600 rainfallstations, 49 first order, 15 secondorder and 62 third order stations,130 Automatic Weather Stations,weather stations on Marion andGough islands and a mannedstation at Vesles in Antarctica,twenty weather offices around the

country, one Global AtmosphereWatch Station in Cape Point, and asupporting mechanical workshopin Pretoria. Maintaining oldautographic instrumentation hasbecome very costly and suchinstruments are being replaced byelectronic sensors.

Upper-air ascents were done atten stations and Marion andGough islands. The UKMeteorological Office supportedthe full upper air programme forGough Island and providedfunding for one AWS station inTanzania.

Forty-one weather buoys weredeployed in the South AtlanticOcean and nine in the TropicalIndian Ocean to monitor themovement of tropical cyclones. Anemployee of the Weather Servicewas elected as Vice Chairpersonof the Data Buoy CooperationPanel, responsible for thesouthern hemisphere and Africa.The Port Meteorological Officers inCape Town and Durban continuedto give support to the marinecommunity.

All important greenhouse gasdatasets of the Global AtmosphereWatch programme weremaintained and accepted at WorldData Centres for 2003. Weather

Service personnel assisted withthe establishment of an OzoneMonitoring Station in Maun,Botswana, when a DobsonSpectrophotometer was installedon World Ozone Day (16September).

Climate SystemsA new method was implemented,to store data and maps usingdigital photography of documentsand storing these on CD-ROM.The Norwegian Governmentcontinued to support the upgrad-ing of the climate database andprovided additional funding for theproject to increase climatemonitoring in the southern Atlantic,as well as the inclusion of WeatherService aircraft in pollutionmonitoring over South Africa.

Climate Information andPublication ServicesApart from commercial climateservices, daily rainfall, as well asmaximum and minimumtemperatures, were published.Two monthly publications, theDaily Weather Bulletin and theClimate Summary of South Africawere published, as well as two sci-entific publications, “Climate ofSouth Africa, Climate Controls”and “Climate of South Africa,Climate Regions”.

World MeteorologicalOrganisation (WMO)Commitments and InternationalRelations• The Chief Executive Officer of

the Weather Service waselected to the ExecutiveCouncil of the WMO during itsfifty-fifth session.

• An AMDAR Workshop, hostedin Benoni in October 2003,dealt with the promotion ofweather observationinstrumentation aboard aircraftflying over SADC countries.These observations willultimately improve weatherforecasts for the aviationindustry.

• A GOOS-Africa Workshop

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held in October 2003 inBenoni, dealt with themobilisation of resources foran ambitious African Oceanobservations network,benefiting especially themaritime and relatedindustries.

• A WMO Hydrology Workshop,held in November 2003 inCenturion, reviewed progresson regional flood managementprojects.

Cost Recovery and CommercialIncome Generation

Cost recovery: Despite notearning its full income for theprovision of aviation meteorologi-cal services, the JohannesburgAviation Weather Centre was ableto maintain all services andimprove others. A dedicatedaviation website was launchedand more than 90% of allscheduled flights received flightdocumentation from this source.In cooperation with the Air Trafficand Navigation Services (ATNS)the South African Weather Servicebegan implementing a plan toincrease the number of routineaeronautical weather reports in SAfrom eleven to twenty five.

SA continued to comply with therequirements of the InternationalCivil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Commercial service delivery: Thepricing policy for climate andforecast products was finalisedand implemented. More than 60%came from the industry andinsurance/ attorney fraternities.

Commercial contracts weresecured with Multichoice and theSouthern African Large Telescope(SALT) project. The Weatherlinecontract with service provider,Cointel, continued.

A contract with the Koeberg PowerStation to deliver meteorologicalobservation and forecastingservices was successfullycontinued, while the WeatherService provided information tothe court cases into the StormsRiver rafting tragedy whichoccurred in March 2000.

A contract was signed with NgquraHarbour Contractors in theEastern Cape for the installation ofan automatic weather station atNgqura for the Coega project.

Marketing the Weather ServiceThe Weather Service brandingexercise was completed early inthe year and implemented widely,

most notably by the SABC and e-tv.

Publicity for the Weather Servicewas enhanced by participation inthe World Park CongressExhibition in Durban, the SasolSci-fest Exhibition inGrahamstown, the BloemfonteinPresidential Air Race and theUniversity of Fort Hare CareersDay.

Creating Weather AwarenessAgricultural extension officers inthree provinces were trained,bringing the number of provincesreached to eight. Regionalweather offices hosted visits byschools where weather-relatedtalks, linked to school curricula,were presented. Severalexhibitions were mounted atspecial public events.

Knowledge CentreThe knowledge centre providedrelevant research information tostaff, meteorological students andthe public and maintained theNational Meteorological library.Information is available not only ontraditional printed publications, butalso on e-journals, CDs, videosand DVDs.

Information Technology (IT)A new IT policy was approved bythe Board and the local areanetwork in the new WeatherService Head Quarters at BolepiHouse, Erasmusrand wasupgraded. Critical operationalsystems were migrated to IBMservers and Internet linesupgraded to 256 Kbps.

The new data capturing system(METCAP) was developed andimplemented and the Wide AreaNetwork upgraded by implement-ing Channel E1 technology.

Locating To New PremisesAfter nearly forty years’ “tempo-rary” residence in the Pretoria citycentre, the South African WeatherService relocated to new premises

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in Erasmusrand, Pretoria, in May2003.

Highlights over the Past TenYears

1994

• South Africa was welcomedback into the internationalarena and the WorldMeteorological Organisationrequested the WeatherService to be responsible forthe Regional Telecommuni-cations Hub (RTH) and theRegional SpecialisedMeteorological Center(RSMC) in southern Africa.

• The International SouthAtlantic Buoy Programme(ISABP) became a reality.

• The first official seasonalforecasts were issued.

• The National Weather Watchwas introduced.

• Charges for scientificpublications were introducedwith permission from Treasury.

1995

• The Chief Director of the thenWeather Bureau was electedas member of the ExecutiveCouncil of WMO.

• Meteorological services per-formed in the former Transkei,

Ciskei, Bophuthatswana andVenda were integrated into theorganisation.

• Upper-air stations werechanged from Omega toGlobal Positioning Systempositioning systems.

• A web homepage was started.

1996

• Phasing out of mechanicalrecording instruments wasstarted.

1997

• The Global Atmosphere Watchstation in Cape Town wastransferred to the WeatherService from the CSIR.

• The South African RainfallEnhancement Programmewas declared as the first realbreakthrough in many years inthis field.

1998

• An international reviewdeclared the Service one ofthe best of its size in the world.

• A specialised BaselineSurface Radiation Station(BSRN), the only operationalstation in Africa, was estab-lished at De Aar.

1999

• The Chief Director of the thenWeather Bureau was re-elect-ed as a member of the WMOExecutive Council.

• Tornadoes over the CapeFlats and Cyclones Eline andGloria brought misery to manyparts of South Africa.

• The Severe Weather Watchfor emergency services wasintroduced.

• The Radar Rainfall Network,tracking storms, tornadoesand cyclones, was developed.

2000

• The Johannesburg AviationWeather Centre was estab-lished.

2001

• The organisation became aparastatal on 15 July 2001when the Act on the SouthAfrican Weather Service, ActNo 8 of 2001, waspromulgated.

• The interim CEO of the SouthAfrican Weather Service waselected as acting member ofthe WMO Executive Council.

2002

• Aviation meteorological usertariffs were announced in theGovernment Gazette and theService started to earn incomefor these services.

• The new Climate database,funded by Norwegian donormoney was implemented.

• The Weather Service partici-pated in the World Summit onSustainable Development.

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South Africa has a particularly richbotanical heritage. Although thecountry represents only 2% of theEarth’s land surface area, 7.5% ofthe world’s vascular plants growhere, and nearly sixty entirely newspecies of plants are discoveredevery year.

The National Botanical Institute(NBI) does ongoing research onthe country’s plant riches, and alsocreates and administers NationalBotanical Gardens likeKirstenbosch. In this way, it helpsto conserve our many plantspecies.

NBI works outside South Africa’sborders too, helping to strengthen

the levels of botanical expertisethroughout the sub-continent. Thesouthern African region, with 24000 plant taxa, is particularlyspecies-rich in terms of speciesper area. It has 0.0081 species persquare kilometre, almost doublethat of Brazil (0.0044) and Asia(0.0041).

Some of the most significant workNBI has done in the past ten yearshas been through the SouthernAfrican Botanical DiversityNetwork (SABONET).

SSAABBOONNEETT

SABONET was established in

1996 as a regional network aimedat building capacity amongstbotanists within southern Africa. Itsmain objective was to develop astrong core of professionalbotanists, taxonomists, horticultur-ists and plant diversity specialistswithin the ten participatingsouthern African countries. Inaddition to South Africa, thesecountries include Angola,Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi,Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland,Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Since its inception, the SABONETproject has successfully estab-lished a network of cooperatingtwenty-two botanical gardens andseventeen herbaria in the region.

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By enabling the staff of the variousherbaria and botanical gardens insouthern Africa to share theirexpertise and skills with oneanother, SABONET hasdeveloped the region’s capacity toconfidently undertake futurenational or collaborative sub-regional plant diversity projects.

Training: With logistical andfinancial support from SABONET,twentysix professionals from theten countries obtained one techni-cal Bachelor degree, fourteenBachelor of Science Honours, andtwentyone Master of Sciencedegrees. SABONET has heldtwentyfive regional courses andtrained 198 botanists in varioussubjects. Training interventionshave included courses onherbarium management, plantidentification, database manage-ment, botanical art, cycadconservation and EIAs

Publications: SABONET News isdistributed free of charge to 2 000subscribers in seventy four coun-tries. It is a forum for participatingcountries and it gives news andupdates. Occasional publicationsare also produced. Those out ofprint have been scanned andmade available as pdf files on thededicated SABONET website.

Computerisation: SABONETprovided participating herbariawith the opportunity of using thedata system PRECIS, which wasdeveloped by NBI. A total of 1 335761 (about 50%) of the specimensincluded in the collections of thesixteen participating herbaria werecomputerised.

Field Trips : A total of 101 nationalcollection trips and two regionalexpeditions were organised andcarried out, resulting in thecollection of 19 696 specimens toexpand herbarium collections.

Conservation aids: Plant RedData lists for each of theparticipating countries have beenproduced and published. Twothreatened plant workshops wereheld and thirty five plant speciesidentified for off-site conservationin Threatened Plant Programmes.

Botanical GardensAs embassies of biodiversity andculture, South Africa’s botanicalgardens have attracted close tonine million visitors during the pastdecade. Of these, Kirstenboschusually receives about 650 000visitors, with the remainder spreadamongst the other seven regionalgardens.

The new millennium saw asignificant shift in focus andsupport for infrastructuraldevelopments from Kirstenboschto gardens situated in Gauteng,

Mpumalanga and the Free State.These developments have

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included the construction of income-generating visitor facilitiessuch as restaurants, visitors’centres, gift shops, concertstages, plant sales areas and teagardens. Basic infrastructure likeparking areas, toilets and signagewere also improved.

These in turn created employmentopportunities, both during theconstruction phase and throughthe outsourcing of the newfacilities, for small businesses andindividuals within the localcommunities.

Over a period of ten years,admission fee income from all thenational botanical gardens hasincreased 10-fold, from R1.1 mil-lion in 1993/4 to R10.6 million in2003/4. Rental income fromoutsourced facilities in all thegardens has also increased 10-fold from R362 900 in 1993/4 toR3.25 million in 2003/4.

New SpeciesResearch staff at the ComptonHerbarium in Cape Town havedescribed more than 150 newspecies of plants during the lastdecade – which translates into anaverage of two new species perresearch member per year. Thisextraordinary rate of discovery isa vivid testimony to both therichness of the southern Africanflora and the productivity of thebotanists at Compton.

They have also published morethan 100 scientific papers andalmost fifty popular publications atan average of four publications perstaff member per year. A landmarkpublication is Cape Plants, aconspectus of all 9 000 species ofvascular plants in the CapeFloristic Region. This mammothundertaking was made possiblethrough the collaboration ofseveral botanists, including thestaff at the National Herbarium.

TThhee VVEEGGEETTAATTIIOONN MMAAPP

It has taken nearly nine years andthe collaborative effort of sixtycontributing experts, but at the endof 2003, the Vegetation Map ofSouth Africa, Lesotho andSwaziland (also known as NBI’sVEGMAP project) was completed.

Available in a Beta electronicversion, the VEGMAP’s level ofdetail is unprecedented. At least440 vegetation types are mapped,contrasting strongly with theseventy vegetation types previous-ly featured on vegetation maps ofSouth Africa.

In the light of new knowledgegained in the project, biomeboundaries were adjusted and aSubtropical Coastal Belt Biomewas recognised.National ConservationAssessmentAt the end of 2003, the NBIembarked on the first National

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Conservation Assessment forSouth Africa. This is a requirementof the new Biodiversity Bill and willbe updated every five years asnew data become available.

The project covers terrestrial,freshwater and marineenvironments, and is co-funded byDEAT and NBI. It forms part of theNational Biodiversity Strategy andAction Plan.

The aims of the NationalConservation Assessment are:• To identify broad spatial

priority areas for conservationaction;

• to make recommendationsabout options for conservationaction in each priority area;and

• to provide a national contextfor conservation plans.

The assessment will include theconservation status ofecosystems, based on the newVegMap; priority areas for speciesof special concern; national-scaleecological processes; vulnerability

to future land-use pressures andalien invasive species; and anoverall priority map.

The assessment will provide abasis for national prioritisation ofthe protected area network and atool for monitoring theeffectiveness of the protected areaecosystem.

ConservationThrough support from the GlobalEnvironment Fund/UN Develop-ment Programme, threatenedplant programmes were initiated inall eight national botanical gardensduring 2003. These programmesprovide linkages between thegardens, conservation authorities,landowners, local communitiesand other relevant stakeholders.

NBI staff continued to play a keyleadership role in the conservationand sustainable use of SouthAfrica’s plant diversity. Thisincluded, among others, attendingvarious national and internationalmeetings and congresses such as

the World Parks Congress, theGlobal Strategy for PlantConservation and the WorldSummit on SustainableDevelopment.

• More than 2 000 plants(succulents and geophytesfrom arid areas) were rescuedand brought to the KarooDesert National BotanicalGarden from the CoegaDevelopment Zone in theEastern Cape.

Coming ChangesAs South Africa celebrates tenyears of democracy, the NBI ispreparing for a new mandate aspromulgated by the NationalEnvironmental Management:Biodiversity Bill. NBI will be trans-formed into the South AfricanNational Biodiversity Institute(SANBI) during 2004.

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IINNTTEEGGRRAATTIIOONN AANNDD SSUUPPPPOORRTTSSEERRVVIICCEESS

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has restructured theway it operates in order to attain maximum efficiency from its staff andinstitutional knowledge, improve its public profile and become more andeasily accesible.