Dr Mabunda Leaves SANParks

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Sprocky
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SANParks ANNOUNCE APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM CEO

Post by Sprocky »

The South African National Parks (SANParks) Board has appointed Mr. Abe Sibiya, the Managing Executive of Kruger National Park (KNP), as the acting Chief Executive Officer from 01 April 2014 as the current Chief Executive Officer’s term of office ends on 31 March 2014. He will have the support and assistance of the Board on all strategic matters as well as help from the Department of Environmental Affairs in terms of rhino management.

Mr. Sibiya has had extensive leadership experience both during his tenure as Managing Executive of KNP as well as in his previous job where he held a senior position in the Mpumalanga Parks and Tourism Board.

The recruitment process for the appointment of the permanent SANParks CEO will commence shortly. The SANParks Board would like to thank Mr. Sibiya for his willingness to serve in this acting capacity until the permanent CEO is in place.


Ends…

Issued by SANParks Corporate Communications

For Media Enquiries contact:
Media enquiries: Dr GC Dry Chairperson SANParks Human Resources and Remuneration Committee 0824414426 or email gertdry1@vodamail.co.za.

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Re: Dr Mabunda Leaves SANParks

Post by Flutterby »

A goodbye message to staff and stakeholders from Dr David Mabunda


Date: 1st April 2014

A goodbye message to staff and stakeholders from Dr David Mabunda, outgoing CEO of South African National Parks (SANParks).

Saying farewell is never considered to be a joyful thing to do and becomes even more difficult when saying that to a family with which one has spent a quarter of their life and half of their working life. When I arrived in this organisation in 1998 as the Director of the Kruger National Park I didn’t think at the time I would be staying in this wonderful organisation for so long. But as I got to know the people and this business the conservation bug truly bit me and I could not imagine my life as anything but a conservationist. Being an activist all my life the sector of conservation opened my world up to a new brand of activism, one whose call I could not ignore. At the heart of every activist’s mission is the strong need to be in the fight for something that matters. In conservation I found something that matters. In this organisation I found something else I could put my concentrated energies into and it has been wonderful but rollercoaster ride.

When I first joined SANParks I knew very little about conservation but what I had at my disposal was an incessant curious nature and a yearning to learn. Add to that a deep respect for others and their knowledge. Being the first black Director was daunting enough but also coming into an institution that is predominantly male and white. It was not a time to be complacent or arrogant but a time to learn and adapt while steering the ship in the appropriate direction. I soon learnt that my background as an educationist was the most important skill I could have taken into this institution as my life from the first day involved endless reading, research and analysis. Even having moved to the more strategic position of Chief Executive Officer I found that this requirement and responsibility did not come to an end. That discipline was to be the ingredient I needed to complete my PhD studies on tourism in protected areas, the best decision I ever made.

Being a Director of the Kruger National Park, I soon learnt, was less about sitting in your office having important meetings and directing operations from your lofty air-conditioned environment. It was about walking the grounds, meeting the staff, meeting the clients and having important meetings out there in the bush with the rangers and sometimes scientists. I came at a time when SANParks was flirting with the idea of “adaptive management” and without having walked those ranger trails and seen first-hand what was happening on the ground we probably wouldn’t have implemented these measures the way that we did.

Through a greater understanding of the challenges facing conservation in present day South Africa we partnered with the Mellon Foundation in a great project that has seen a number of young scientists being mentored to add to the limited pool of conservation scientists. Our biggest challenge continues being our ability to attract talented young black persons to the field of conservation. We have had more than a decade of working with the Foundation and they have provided much needed and meaningful funding to development of future scientific talent. The Mellon-SANParks story is long and fruitful, but other highlights include the Kruger Experience textbook, and the facilitation of significant interchanges between SANParks, and leading South African and international scientists. In the same period our pool of in-house science research has grown tremendously. Whereas in the past we had been largely dependent on the mercies of outside academic scientists, we then saw the need to grow our own ability to generate science for management purposes and this has stood us in good stead since. I couldn’t be prouder of this achievement. The annual science network meeting in Skukuza, now in its 12th year, is the foremost such forum on the planet, and SANParks is renowned internationally for its adaptive practices. The creation of our own internal Research & Development capacity (rather than contracting science out entirely) and in sufficient measure enough to allow greater attraction of probably several times that capacity in willing and competent external scientists clamouring to participate and contribute, often largely at their own direct cost, has been arguably the best decision we ever made. The enabling of these developments proved successful and leaves an important legacy that will, if nurtured, continue paying the organisation generous intellectual and practical dividends in the knowledge economy of the decades ahead.

Kruger of course was no bed of roses as we found ourselves meeting a number of major challenges. The most memorable being the 4th September 2001 fire that raged through part of the park and claimed a number of lives. Much as we were relieved that the Ngobeni Commission appointed by the President to investigate this incident exonerated management of any neglect or responsibility on this tragedy, it still didn’t make it any less painful to face. The floods of 2000 continue to be the gold standard for devastating floods in the park in recent memory despite the park having faced floods almost on a yearly basis for the past three years. That flood led to the closing of the park for almost a full year and reportedly influenced the collapse of several businesses within a 100km radius from the park. At least that incident gave us an opportunity to learn and improve our response measures and processes the same way the fire disaster did a year later. The most devastating moment for the employees of this organisation was probably during Operation Prevail when we had to retrench a number of employees in order to keep the organisation afloat. That lesson made me vow that never again, while I am a leader in this organisation, would I ever allow the situation to deteriorate to such an extent that we would need to retrench employees ever again. Despite the deteriorating world economy situation and the declining tourism business not one person has had to be retrenched by SANParks.

It must be said that in this same period we introduced a far more professional and market responsive tourism which has paid dividends on a number of levels. Since I took over as CEO SANParks tourism revenue/income grew from R274 million at the end of the 2003/2004 financial year to last year’s (2012/2013 financial year) of R1, 058 billion, in a declining tourism business environment for the past 5 years. The number of tourists continues to grow every year at an average of between 2% and 8% across all the parks. The number of black visitors have grown from an estimated 4% of the full complement of South African visitors to last year’s 25,5%. Our tourism figures and revenue growth are something to marvel at.

The primary business of SANParks of course remains conservation. It leaves a bitter taste to the mouth that I must start by mentioning the issue of rhino poaching before anything else. We have in the last three years lost an unprecedented number of rhinos to poaching in Kruger NP alone. It would be so easy for us to concentrate on the alarming figures but it would be very unfair to the men and women who risk their lives fighting poaching every day. If it wasn’t for them and other efforts by the leadership of SANParks the picture would be much more tragic and desperate than it currently is. I am sad to note that I leave behind a highly traumatized workforce, especially the rangers, which will not likely get a reprieve anytime soon until this problem has been arrested. I will be watching with bated breath for an eventual turn in our favour in this war. I want to take this opportunity to thank the Honorary Rangers for their general support in fund raising in the last 10 years which grew from about R3 million to R50 million, but specifically for having rallied behind us so strongly in the fight against rhino poaching. I thank also the Itchikowitz Family Foundation and the Paramount Group who have brought on a valuable partnership to SANParks having donated a surveillance aircraft, helicopter and K-9 (dog) unit we are currently using successfully in the fight against rhino poachers. The Howard G. Buffet Foundation couldn’t have come to the party at a more crucial time with their donation of the R250 million over two years to set up the exclusionist protection zone for the rhinos and we are forever indebted to them for this generous gesture. I am still hopeful that our partnership with CrimeLine will soon deliver big dividends. All of the mentioned private sector partners and some that I haven’t mentioned have been very vital in the intensified war against poachers and I want to encourage even more to get involved.

Even with these gloomy news at hand, however, I was glad to note upon reflection that we have over the last 10 years consolidated some 600,000 hectares of land for conservation through park expansion and the establishment of contractual parks. This land was acquired largely through the contributions of our own Park Development Fund, a fund that is created through the sale of fauna in our parks. About 100,000 hectares of this land was acquired through the efforts of the National Parks Trust Fund, established by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), whose most notable contribution was the inclusion of a new national park, the Camdeboo NP. I am currently a Trustee in this Fund and have been encouraged by their support of our vision as an organisation. Camdeboo NP of course was not the only new national park to be added, as the Mokala NP, born after the handover of the Vaalbos NP back to the successful land claimant community, was also added in this period and has almost tripled from its original size in the last two years.

We have, since the establishment of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park, transferred over 5,000 animals to the Limpopo National Park, in Mozambique, inclusive of elephants and rhinos in a bid to bring this vision to fruition. I continue to hope that the poaching problem in Mozambique will come to manageable levels in order to safeguard the interests of the GLTP and those of the Kruger specifically. The Peace Parks Foundation, which brought the vision of transfrontier parks to the country, must be thanked for their dedication and commitment to this programme. Over their years their support has been of great assistance and even as we speak they have arranged funding to assist with relocation of communities living in the Limpopo National Park in order to assist Mozambique and South Africa in curbing poaching that has spilled over into the Kruger NP. Mozambicans continue to be the highest number of perpetrators of this crime against rhinos in the park.

We have also worked hard on assisting community conservation along the borders of the our national parks, resulting in a number of donations of wildlife including some 15 rhinos given to community reserves. I hope this initiative continues to grow as we work hard towards empowering our communities. Our relations with communities over the last 16 years have improved tremendously, with operational and effective Park Forums having been set up in most of our national parks. The Park Forums gave the previously voiceless bordering communities an opportunity to have a direct and mutually beneficial relationship with the parks. Today our communities do not only benefit from only having access to menial jobs in the parks but also get to partake in the business of the parks, thereby improving their economic and financial status. Our Extended Public Works Programme is arguably the most well run in the country, giving even more business development opportunities to our neighbours. The recently implemented Corporate Social Investment programme is giving the organisation even more of an opportunity to make meaningful contribution to our neighbouring communities. SANParks should be proud of its achievements in building stronger constituencies amongst our communities through meaningful engagement. The South African National Parks Week which was started about nine years ago was specifically aimed at encouraging even more participation and support from communities and I dare say that we have succeeded in this goal but there is still much to be done. The Kudu Awards, set up ten years ago, was another initiative created and aimed at further encouraging community active participation in conservation efforts even outside the borders of national parks and without necessarily depending on programmes emanating from SANParks.

SANParks has grown to become a world leader in conservation, after having its progress retarded by the pariah status of the country under the apartheid government. Today this organisation is a member of a group of the 10 top leading world protected area agencies, the World Protected Areas Leadership Forum (WAPF), of which I am a founding member. I am also currently a Director of a global movement called Healthy Parks Healthy People which seeks to bring conservation closer to issues of interest to world populations without harming the reason for the existence of protected areas. All of these shows that indeed “SANParks has arrived” as the young people would say today.

I, one day, had a vision for a better leadership to be developed for African conservation management in partnership with private sector and along with a number of key and influential members formed the Leadership for Conservation in Africa (LCA) in 2006 which recently facilitated the donation of approximately R250 million by the Howard G. Buffet Foundation to SANParks for anti-rhino poaching efforts. This organisation has done admirable work throughout Africa, helping governments to grow their leadership in conservation management.

It is important that I also thank the media for their great and continued support to SANParks and to me specifically over the years. The media allowed us to tell the story of conservation and thereby elevated the interest and status of it in the eyes of our people. There have been hairy moments at times but through mutual respect and a goal to build this organisation we have always found the appropriate common ground. In the fight against rhino poaching I must, however, specifically mention and thank 702 Talk Radio, especially John Robbie for his passion and support for our fight against rhino poaching. I also thank the Caxton Group which in the last year or so partnered with us to create the SANParks Times which has been a paper that has been enjoyed immensely by our patrons and stakeholders.

Mine has been a rich and fulfilling journey through SANParks in the last 16 years and I only hope that my presence in this field has given a positive impact and will lead to greater development in this sector in our country. I have enjoyed my years here and thank my colleagues for having given me the opportunity to lead them for so long. I only have one request to make and that is that the concept of a healing organisation that I brought with me when I started as CEO in 2003 be not lost because I will no longer be here to lead you. Organisations are only made great by the people who work for them and happy people make for very productive and progressive employees.

It is important that as I bid farewell to SANParks I give my heartfelt thanks to my Executive Management team which has made it possible and easier for me to have posted the achievements that I have over the past 10 years. The consecutive unqualified audits this SANParks has received since I took over have been as a result of the efforts of the whole management of SANParks led by the Executive. For the last two years our efforts have resulted in clean audits which led to the Office of the Auditor General deciding to give us an award earlier this year for the 2012/2013 clean audit. I leave behind not just a capable Executive Management team but one that is visionary and motivated to take this organisation further on its journey of success. I want to also thank the outgoing Chief Financial Officer, Mr Themba Mabilane who will also be sadly leaving the organisation at the end of April 2014. Mr Mabilane has served this organisation with great commitment and dedication. I thank also the Board for having given me the opportunity to serve this wonderful organisation and also for their support over the years. I have sat through many Boards in this organisation and one thing that has always stood apart for this organisation is the manner in which the Boards have conducted themselves, leaving operational matters solely to management while providing great leadership in strategic matters. Their adherence to the King principles I believe has been the main ingredient that has led to the stability and growth of this premier organisation over the years.

It is also great to be welcoming my colleague, Mr Abe Sibiya, to the seat of Acting Chief Executive Officer. Mr Sibiya is an old hand in conservation, having clocked more years than I have as a conservationist and also has great experience with leading organisations. I am very comfortable that until the Board shall have appointed a permanent CEO Mr Sibiya will do a sterling job.

I would like to conclude by quoting the wise words of Winston Churchill to the war-weary British population in the face of the Nazi onslaught which had overrun France, “I offer you tears, blood and toil …never, never, never give up”.

Thank you to one and all.

Dr MD Mabunda


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Re: Dr Mabunda Leaves SANParks

Post by Lisbeth »

The Dr. has never been able to make short speeches ;-)
Being a Director of the Kruger National Park, I soon learnt, was less about sitting in your office having important meetings and directing operations from your lofty air-conditioned environment. It was about walking the grounds, meeting the staff, meeting the clients and having important meetings out there in the bush with the rangers and sometimes scientists. I came at a time when SANParks was flirting with the idea of “adaptive management” and without having walked those ranger trails and seen first-hand what was happening on the ground we probably wouldn’t have implemented these measures the way that we did.
A pity that you were not "walking the grounds" when the bush was on fire 0'


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Re: Dr Mabunda Leaves SANParks

Post by Richprins »

! want to also thank the outgoing Chief Financial Officer, Mr Themba Mabilane who will also be sadly leaving the organisation at the end of April 2014.


Glad to have that confirmed.


Not good enough, David/Madoda.


Sorry, but you started as well-respected, and now have been fired.


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Re: Dr Mabunda Leaves SANParks

Post by H. erectus »

Geees,....all up above,!!!!!!!

not gonna bother with that verbal diarrhea,....


Heh,.. H.e
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Ex SANParks CEO elected university leader

Post by mposthumus »

2014-09-03 20:06
Sydney Masinga, African Eye

Mbombela - Former South African National Parks (SANParks) chief executive Dr David Mabunda has been elected to lead the newly established University of Mpumalanga (UMP).

Mabunda parted ways with SANParks at the end of March when his second term lapsed and was elected UMP council chairperson last week.

“As council we will get down to work in a matter of weeks starting with our own induction which will be a form of learning,” Mabunda told African Eye News Service on Thursday.

“Council also needs to be educated on its fiduciary responsibilities and to know that its role is oversight, policy-making, strategy, governance and risk management.”

Mabunda said he was looking forward to working with his deputy Charmaine Mabuza and the rest of the 16-member council.

The interim council structure was extended by Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande in February this year until August where the full time council was appointed.

The duty of the council is to provide strategic leadership to the new university and ensure that it delivers on its educational mandate.

“We want to reassure society that we are not building another ivory tower that will be far removed from the reality of its society… [we] will produce socially conscious graduates…

“Although the seat of the University is in Mpumalanga, it will be a national, continental and international university capable of attracting students not just from its immediate communities but the world over,” he said.

Mabunda added that the council will not interfere with the day-to-day duties of the university’s Strategic Management Team (SMT) but would complement their work.

“We are not there to compete with the Vice Chancellor and her management team but to help them achieve the university’s goals… We will endeavour that UMP becomes a university of choice in 21st Century,” said Mabunda.

The university’s Vice Chancellor Professor Thokozile Mayekiso is currently a deputy Vice Chancellor at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. She will assume her duties at UMP on 1 November.

Member of UMP’s SMT Professor John Shongwe welcomed the appointment of the full council.

“We are looking forward to working with these great men and women. It gives the management of the university a great sense of gratification and satisfaction knowing that we will be working with cool-headed and noble citizens,” said Shongwe.

He added that with Mabunda leading the council, UMP is expected to flourish.

“Dr Mabunda is a seasoned executive and an astute scholar. He has led the interim council and knows how to captain the ship,” he said.


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Re: Ex SANParks CEO elected university leader

Post by H. erectus »

So typical of such before him/it. Promotion after wrong doing,...!!!!

A common trend in SA politics,...


Heh,.. H.e
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Re: Ex SANParks CEO elected university leader

Post by Richprins »

He was put on the University board quite a while before he resigned at SP, H. ;-)

Politics may come later...nothing sinister here! \O


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Re: Ex SANParks CEO elected university leader

Post by H. erectus »

A pre-determined path in life, shall we say "gifted he is",...


Heh,.. H.e
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Re: Ex SANParks CEO elected university leader

Post by Lisbeth »

Actually he is gifted ;-)

Anybody knows what kind of University it is? It sounds a bit far fetched that it will become internationally attractive :-? Do they have faculties that nobody else has?


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