Elna Kotze answers the question, "Is conserving the environment a racial issue?"

Yes, to a certain extent, I would have to say, "Yes." If you look at the township that adjoins Wakkerstroom, then you will understand that those people have been excluded from, not only a democratic dispensation, (but) from mainstream economic activity, from owning property.

Now, if you look at that, then you would understand that for them, for instance, tourism is a white thing. Why would the environment be an issue for them? They had no vested interest in it. It belonged to white farmers. It belonged to white entrepreneurs, tourism-wise. It had no value to them – they are poor. They are trying to scratch a living.

That does not mean black people have no conservation ethic, because that is wrong. In the situation before, where they had equal access and they had ownership – albeit communal ownership – but where they had ownership of the environment, through land tenure, they felt responsible for it, and therefore they would take care of it. And they have a track record of very good, I think – in many instances, far better – taking care of the environment than the colonial era did, by virtue, particularly in South Africa, of the apartheid era. Yes, I would have to say that environment and environmental issues did become a race issue.

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