At a crossroads: Sustainable solutions for Madikwe's elephant overpopulation crisis

Daily Maverick

17-07-2025

There has been a lot of conversation around Madikwe, but none of the rhetoric has come from the people or entities who oversee the management of the reserve. As custodians of Madikwe, and partners in Madikwe with the local community, we, the North West Parks and Tourism Board, feel it's appropriate for us to speak up and outline the vision that we have for Madikwe and other parks under our purview.
When you start thinking about the management of natural resources in South Africa, the current guiding standard is the Section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the White Paper Policy on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa's Biodiversity, which has goals and objectives that steer our direction for social, economic and ecological benefits from our natural resources.
In today's day and age the idea to let Mother Nature do what she does without any human fingerprint on that desired goal or desired objective is a pie in the sky dream that was erased as human populations started pressing on our natural resources and habitats all throughout South Africa. This specifically relates to our parks.
Elephant conundrum
It will be of no surprise to anyone that Madikwe (750km2) has too many elephants, and we are not afraid to say that. Those who say otherwise are blindly ignoring the significant change of the ecological infrastructure.
A closed, fenced-in reserve with a current indeterminate growth rate of a habitat modifier like an elephant, that has no predators, with access to permanent water and food, will lead to overpopulation.
A 2024 aerial count of elephants had the population at 1,633 animals (7.8% per annum growth), 653% higher than the suggested population in the 1997 Madikwe Management Plan of 250 elephants.
Currently, the elephant density in Madikwe of 2.7 elephants/km2 could arguably be the densest elephant population in southern Africa. Landman and Kerley (2018) found desirable elephant densities of 0.28km2 for privately owned properties and 0.79km2 for state-owned properties.
Inaction is not an option
There has been a lot of discussion around elephants, their management and what to do in Madikwe. Elephant management doesn't have to be complicated.
There are only five things you can do to manage elephants:
Let mother nature control and decide.
Habitat and water manipulation.
Translocation and relocation.
Contraception.
Lethal reduction.
Of the five options, the only realistic ones for Madikwe are contraception and lethal reduction. Lethal reduction can take the form of hunting and culling, whose revenues can be easily ploughed back into the reserve.
Though lethal reduction or culling has a narrative history in South Africa, common options advocated for and implemented (such as #1 and #2 above) are also forms of culling, but driven by mother nature which has no consideration of animal welfare.
We as the North West Parks and Tourism Board believe that the path forward in Madikwe and our other parks is an opportunity for North West as a province to be a leader in natural resource management and stewardship.
There is a lot of talk and pointing of fingers around how we got to where we are today. How did the situation get so dire?
Online forums, news articles and letters are pointing fingers in all sorts of different directions, and at all sorts of organisations, but ultiately the buck stops with us, the North West Parks and Tourism Board, for the wellbeing of Madikwe, the wellbeing of the community that we are partnered with in Madikwe, and the natural resources of North West.
As the custodians of Madikwe we take full accountability for where we have landed up today, and in saying that we are united in our stance on what we do next.
We are at the doorstep of doing something incredible at Madikwe. There is no option other than to move forward. The idea of inaction, the idea of constant meetings, discussing the same dilemma over the next 12 to 18 months, is unacceptable in our eyes.
Now is the time to simply understand what the path forward is to ensure the appropriate protocols and processes are in place, ensure the appropriate stakeholders are engaged, that the social, economic and ecological benefits are maximised, and then to implement the associated action(s).
Sustainable use as a cornerstone
There are those who don't believe that sustainable use of natural resources is an appropriate action in Madikwe or any other park.
Those individuals are allowed to have their opinions, but it has been made very clear in the White Paper that sustainable use is a key component of the stewarding of South African natural resources for its people.
The North West Parks and Tourism Board will fulfill its obligations as dictated by the Constitution of the Republic, the North West provincial government and the Board Policies on game utilisation and related legislations and regulations.
The North West Parks and Tourism Board will not be driven by emotions or agendas that seek to keep South Africa and our province in the economic doldrums. We have a country that has vast potential to address the challenges of unemployment and inequality through the sustainable utilisation of our wild fauna and flora.
We believe specific strategies over the next 12 to 18 months will ensure that the triple bottom line of social, economic and ecological benefits will begin to be realised in Madikwe.
At its heart, community upliftment, community involvement, and community benefits from natural resource stewardship will be a key component of Madikwe's path forward.
We are 30 years into democracy, and Madikwe is currently inaccessible to the people of the North West province, let alone black communities who now own 56% of the park.
Economic benefits from sustainable utilisation will be transparently outlined, and the beneficiaries, whether that be community, education, or employment, will be outlined for everybody to see.
The ecological infrastructure enhancement that comes from sustainable use utilisation will be realised in vegetation changes, habitat improvements, and overall biodiversity health enhancement in Madikwe, significantly benefiting the photographic tourism sector.
This enhancement of biodiversity and ecosystem health speaks specifically to the cross-cutting goal of the national biodiversity economic strategy that seeks to secure and enhance ecological infrastructure that is essential for South Africa's economy.
Sustainable use is not in opposition to photographic tourism, they can work harmoniously together, but under strict processes and protocols. In fact, we are all alive to the concept of consumptive and non-consumptive tourism. One cannot detract from the other. Our mission is to not only maintain Madikwe as an ecotourism hotspot, but to enhance that by working on balancing the ecosystem to yield tremendous aesthetic qualities that tourists are interested in.
At a crossroads
The issue facing Madikwe has put the North West Parks and Tourism Board in the spotlight, but the issues we are facing are the same issues that our other parks are either about to face, or are a couple of years from facing.
Everyone is looking at what we do, from all corners of the world. They are all looking at us and taking note of what we do, how we implement it, and how we move forward, and most importantly how the social, economic, and ecological benefits are realised from our actions.
We understand the gravity of the position we are in, and we intend as the leadership of the North West Parks and Tourism Board to move forward in a manner that can be replicated in other state parks and national parks across South Africa.
We understand that we are in a leadership position and have an opportunity to be a global example of sustainable stewardship of our natural resources. There will always be detractors to what we do, and we're not always going to make everybody happy. But ultimately if communities are benefiting and ecological infrastructure is being enhanced, we have done our job. DM
Khorommbi Matibe has served as the Chairperson of the North West Parks and Tourism Board since February/March 2025. He has also served as the Chief Director: Biodiversity Economy and Sustainable Use at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment since May 2017. His career spans more than 35 years in government. Jonathan Denga is the Acting CEO of the North West Parks and Tourism Board. In his position, Jonathan is the Director for Biodiversity Management and Conservation in North West province, under the Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism. He has 25 years of working experience in the biodiversity conservation management field.