Rural development in the Mnweni

The Mnweni has steadily been developing over the years. The days of walking from the police post is now just an interesting topic of conversation while driving the 5km from the post to the Mnweni Cultural Centre. We are no longer worried about the Ntonjelana being in flood and how rough the boulders in the river will be since the bridge was built just before the centre in 2007. The roads have pushed on up the valleys well beyond the centre. And now additional bridges are being built. In 2010 I saw how the road on the northern side of the Mnweni river, at the junction with the Ifidi was rapidly being developed into a road, where is was just a wide, well-used trail and donkey track before. At the end of 2011 I was surprised to see how the road along the Ntonjelana towards Hlongwane's kraal had been reinforced (it was prone to flood-damage previously). And even more surprised to see a new built bridge over the Ntonjelana Eshonalanga. The last time I had crossed this point, barely a year-and-a-half prior, there was no sign of a bridge, and the water was just over waist-deep and flowing strongly. A horse was hired to get my wife across.



Even more amazing was the even bigger structure being built over the Ntonjelana Mpumalanga nearby. My guess is that it will service the few huts and cattle on that side of the river. Quite a big structure for its intended purpose though.





Building contractors are staying at the centre. And I hear they are building a bridge over the Mnweni to the Ifidi side. Naturally this will service the school there, as well as the sizeable community around it.

It is easy to react quickly and say that this development is sad. We want "our" Mnweni to stay enchanting and undeveloped. Naturally as hikers we don't want to see roads and bridges extended, and we rather enjoy the traditional beehive huts at the beginning of a hike. I would prefer not too see more infrastructure. But we get to climb into an air-conditioned car and drive back to our middle-class lives afterwards and don't have to deal with the hard realities of life out there.

We wouldn't want to permanently deal with a 5km walk to the nearest road, or get stuck on the wrong side of a flooded river. And at the end of the day it is their land. And they have given a large portion of it over to conservation. So I hope that a happy equilibrium can be reached, where roads and bridges no longer need to be extended, and that the conservation and preservation of this very special part of the Berg can thrive alongside the community that live there.