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11/2/2002 - Cutting Edge: Repelling ‘The Invasion of the Water-Snatchers’ by James G. Workman

ICWA LETTERS Since Institute Current World Affairs Crane Rogers Foundation provided fellowships enable outstanding young professionals outside United States write about international areas issues An exempt operating foundation endowed Charles R Crane Institute supported contributions minded individuals foundations TRUSTEES Bryn Barnard Joseph Battat Mary Lynne Bird Steven Butler William F Foote Kitty Hempstone Pramila Jayapal Peter Bird Martin Ann Mische Dasa Obereigner Paul A Rahe Chandler Rosenberger Katherine Sreedhar Edmund Sutton Dirk J Vandewalle HONORARY TRUSTEES David Elliot David Hapgood Pat M Holt Edwin S Munger Richard H Nolte Albert Ravenholt Phillips Talbot Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foundation Four West Wheelock Street Hanover New Hampshire 03755 U S A JGW SOUTHERN AFRICA James Workman Donors Fellow Institute studying misuse accretion depletion fresh water supplies southern Africa Cutting Edge Repelling The Invasion Of Water Snatchers James G Workman NOVEMBER CONFLUENCE OF THE BLYDE AND TREUR RIVERS South Africa The lanky young named Doctor Mashego license The federal government equips snuff dangerous infil trators reach defend country against crafty foreign enemy The enemy heartless mindless ruthless nothing break drain Southern Africa lives economic lifeblood With uncon trollable avarice metastasizing enemy pockets overrun eight percent country invading cells those replicate overnight alone But Doctor appease Shoo announces chugging canteen wiping mouth He impatient killing enjoy weekend It scorching before I watched slaughter victims young skinny breaking lunch smoke Exhausted rewarded beyond daily Doc slept soundly night Today looking straight start earth third largest chasm Doctor identifies canyon floor meters Australian zling narrow banks Blyde River Doctor smiles While demanding looks could actually quite Noth personal obnoxious eigner doesn belong never never Time whacked Within Doctor fixed slings around solid protruding He tested knots through harness joined dozen other mercenar sides gorge leaps backward carry execution abyss below Granted South Africa xenophobic streak running through national character going eradicate Acacia mearnsii black wattle It going enough given security posed black wattle other plant species officially classified alien invasive weeds From around world these criminal species threaten dermine South Africa fragile water supply consuming billion liters seven percent South Africa water That water productively It wasted Gone Lost forever Never inefficient farms industry households invasive aliens wattle fastest growing water users country Until likes Doctor other trained killers Another trained killers exact For scale Doctor surgical mountaineering merely cutting Green Be avant garde national founded under government seven years The unlikely black percent female often single mothers quarter youths percent disabled Few viously convicts A motley think until their ground The campaign called Working Water WfW three fourths budget coming apartheid Poverty Relief Fund national public works project either warms heart liber fondness glory FDR New Deal chills spine conservatives America barely escaped clutches 1930s creeping communism Here public opinion still Those familiar WfW principle practice decide Yes socialism welfare program conserva tives concede Yes something necessary overdue Further ambivalence because program keeps evolving focusing adjusting tight ening structure expands pilot experiment million money million budget Africa largest conservation experiment arguably novative eradication effort earth Like enemy busting juggernaut overnight nowhere WfW favorable political landscape quickly continues stiff opposition several direc tions Some concerns legitimate Consider dictable reaction apartheid white landowners already jittery about rising crime government encroach erosion their house castle rights They scrutinize dread armed veterans neighboring Zimbabwe farms industries plantations Mugabe government blessing They panic neigh boring Namibia jumps ethnic cleansing white farmers disadvantaged Africans bandwagon And God South Africa appearing overnight knocking electric gated private properties wearing smiles spanking clean yellow shirt uniforms organized state sponsored teams nation poorest young blacks armed teeth chainsaws hatchets machetes eradicate noxious foreign aliens forever Yes Hmm It measure racial progress trust stability country after seven years white landowners tively inviting these black execution crews their WfW demand Still without scientific rigor WfW could slide JGW slippery slope chaos Who decides foreign plant Narrowing recently published subcontinent wanted taken years because issue highly charged Politically WfW campaign involves every nation public private property resid commercial landowners Inhabitants other capital Pretoria popularly known Jacaranda City pleased learn their beloved beautiful ubiquitous violet blossoming tourist drawing trees invasive Amazonian aliens Jacaranda regulations forbid replacing One might equally inform Washington D C uproot Japanese cherry blossom trees I ready resulting guerrilla tactics despite threat stiff fines jacarandas planted government counter insurgency To defuse tempers WfW hastens clarify criti words alien invasive Since colonial ships brought country alien plants including ornamental roses tulips commer cially valuable timber grapes nutri tional staples potatoes maize These benefit nation Likewise there always plenty vasive plants indigenous region spread isturbance including Zyzyphus mucronata buffalo thorn Local competition pests naturally these native invasives check Yet unnatural combination elements alien invasive black wattle prove explosive expensive deadly1 several fronts Because natural predators parasites alien invasives massive Darwinian advantage Until nature abhors vacuum humans alone Furthermore within there traffic signal several tiers regulating reaction roughly third noxious immedi ately killed removed another batch yellow traded planted remainder green tolerated closely watched contained exceed speed limit Jacaranda yellow Black wattle vertical growing greenish yellow leafed Down Under grows barked spreading across million hectares sified earning death sentence Here Blyde River particular wattle ecutioner Doctor descended meters sheer north Can He gliding unhurriedly still several using month percent armed hatchet poison He pauses quarter adjusts harness looks continues toward thirsty Australian invader I cross footbridge upstream south through harness drunk excitement about mayhem start rappel I violence heights dangling sharp rocks collectivist ernment works projects I always killing weeds mopping floors swatting mosquitoes And there plenty tedium labor But caught esprit public sense purpose bordering national crusade imbues WfW It really turned deserv Intentional genius program paranoid affluent whites resentful blacks against shared common third enemy goddamn foreigners stealing water So I spent weeks field ambitious WfW crews smack heart nation hottest spots invading alien plant cover southwestern Western Cape northern Mpumalanga jumping trying strengths weaknesses wonder whether combat could replicated other lands where alien Because compound loads risks unnaturally intense cause erosion mudslides starve areas water cases drive animal species extinct eliminating habitat INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS vasive weeds annually billions dollars wealth water biodiversity Places Australia itself severely infested USA As implies driving force WfW Water depletion precise water stressed nation Saharan Africa Nationwide works programs unique either place water projects often These efforts prerogative administration since victors belong spoils But WfW carries ironic footnote In 1930s during worldwide pression jobless whites employed masse state increase water supply building Now jobless blacks Doctor employed upstream ensure tributaries continue those being choked waterweeds eroded sediment Still taxpayer funds scarce early skeptics myself among wondered Is green disguising growing welfare corruption favoritism Isn valuable water Do vasive aliens really drink enough water justify Doctor labor First I quickly found WfW large share scandals Every blemish arises WfW fraud theft gross mistakes drunk enness sloppiness readily quickly prominently publicized Curiously though these expos originated external investigations muckrakers WfW annual reports inter views press releases It vigorously sunlight disinfect problems Second WfW recognizes market value commercial timber factories rural communities It established criteria centives To develop secondary industry woody weeds before after removal WfW trains curio carvers including dildos HIV AIDS education weavers fence makers fuelwood hawkers liens leave indigenous trees To answer third I start thinking plant evapo transpiration system along lines human sweat breath urine Like humans thirst varies cording individual health genes seasons Natives adapt small leaves shallow roots dormant during season Alien invasives adapt Quite opposite aliens native landscape adapt In several studies almost vertical invasive aliens drink exponentially water growing natives drink worst possible During season aliens tinue roots roots river groundwater reserves dramatically lower water tables shallow natives eventually To numbers I found contrast indigenous shrubs trees which retain dozen liters average American sweat liters poplar wattle liters eucalyptus liters gallons That times family Doctor consume their kilometers downstream water reach wattle remains No wonder risking order invasive weeds matter defense As rappel opposite banks I count dozen wattles growing upper section Blyde River Canyon For But these source which carried downstream water would infest entire watershed With annual growth percent demands pounding preven instead reaching incurable stage later I In KwaZulu Natal south landowners walking farms sucked barren alien invasive Chromolaena odorata triffid JGW before descent during relatively healthy alien invasive stems hectare roughly football fields reduce runoff liters clear Neglected years hectare infested several hundred stems drinking liters runoff costing clear Left decades thousand invasives highly infested hectare drinking three quarters runoff costing clear I multiplied alien invasive weeds already spreading million hectares Gulp Starting 1980s African hydrologists botanists their heads together calculated mulative national impact Alarm bells started least small academic community We threat written about economic ecologic dangers apartheid regime listen Brian Wilgren these scientists It academics publication precipitate political action Then miracle With Nelson Mandela government window opportunity cracked Cabinet ministers geted Wilgren shock speech before crowd included African National Congress officials essence Yes millions blacks deserve water Yes should build pipes satisfy their thirst possible But current spread infesta there water newly installed The apartheid government listened After miracle catalyst In April government hearings distant Palmiet River transfer water growing Cape Town The needed water seemed obvious But project astronomically expen Water Minister Kader Asmal ploring options That dedicated researcher named Guy Preston planted Before building transfer scheme Preston argued potential water first through demand management savings incentives conserve entire river basin needs efficient table sustainable What asked Asmal intrigued Well Preston answered central efficient catch management would labor intensive clearing these invading alien plants Magic words Two priorities admin istration creating reduce poverty promoting water security economic growth It genius those stars align It shrewd opportunist Asmal seized occasion million public works money still float about brought Mandela other cabinet ministers board Working Water I write history because WfW decisive crossroads Founding father hampion Asmal since moved Department Education The apartheid bloom clarion Transformation grows stale Mandela while still WfW patron chief devotes consider waning energies children issues President Thabo Mbeki appears focused forging Africa nomic partnership securing water So WfW proverbial child thousand fathers quite orphan least neglected adolescent challenging acknowledges WfW Ex ecutive Committee chair Barbara Schreiner which maturity program tested It through prolonged debate optimal institutional arrangements staffing needs Translated means fighting harder political support Hard engineering infra struc types within Department Water Af fairs Forestry DWAF jealous WfW publicity privately belittle bloated proponents F fighter might funds diverted defense contractors toward USAID INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Peace Corps WfW progress appeared nowhere pages DWAF propaganda World Summit Sus tainable Development WSSD proving unpunished WfW indefatigable shepherd Guy Preston fired DWAF remains WfW National Leader funded World Wide Fund Nature NGO All insider gossip seems drier plications ground Or above As Doctor pauses halfway cliff coworkers opposite shout alerting pointing anchor points Hey Doctor Some above untying They joking But figuratively speaking No political WfW appear financial anchors untied Hanging balance literally people Doctor When I first tried weeks In frustration waited until paycheck arrived before resuming Vague about WfW backing leaves contractors Ally Milanzi Conwell Lamula speculating about where their brothers This uncertainty trickles surfacing sessions lunch breaks Worse champions Cabinet level risks allowing WfW sweat equity opted undercut unscrupulous business interests Private foresters rected WfW teams public doing profit chores Illegal growers plant bananas freshly cleared wetlands And report these infractions I None higher DWAF listen anything wrist trated Quentin Pretorius Mpumalanga regional direc climbing instructor ground speak Yet I sense these profile surface ripples strong current Infighting among powerful whites capital Pretoria enough dismantle seems almost litical force nationwide support fervent among blacks It point tangible achievements beyond simple employment Indeed first I puzzled learn program reduced staffing person percent country population today But WfW primary objective simply reduce dignity people possible The paying fewer people money person complete hectare linked tract rather daily wages suggests rather waning WfW hitting stride effective mature person To cleared workers cleared hectares If WfW corporation would report percent increase earnings The reason efficiency WfW encourages incentive driven shifting wages person regardless progress group comple contracted This dramatic shift efficiency improve accountability responsibility The workers I joined Cape February learn skills lessons constantly awaiting orders reassurances white tractors might frequently shake their heads speak somewhat patronizingly workers child In Mpumalanga established experienced mountaineering almost entirely tonomous It requires white supervision borders perfectionism picking garbage after lunch correcting whacking nique while Contractor Conwell Kapa Kapa Kapa Kapa Chop Chop Chop And smile hearing orders black A blacks might fuzzy white liberal gooders proof pudding You simply clear billion invading alien plants without people nature noticing Ev months comes story about spring miraculously leaping After WfW through tributaries upper Mutlumuvi Catchment started flowing first years Around Lydenberg where WfW cleared hectares region series minor droughts feeling pinch El Ni April September recorded driest years water levels their highest years One WfW criticism JGW welcome Preston comes people complaining there water returning their formerly creeks downstream projects Like worth doing WfW assessed quantified One skill Doctor alighted canyon floor north Blyde River He unhitched heading Australian I taking considerably longer trembling fumbling jerks But remain patient On first started teach ropes I inched middle strand while either appointed guardian angels Lawrence Justice coaxed butterflies tummy Sweating bullets working I could minutes lower myself meters It three seconds From skill comes employability My experience working these experts would taking downhill lessons Rocky Mountain patrol plucked Harlem They explode lingering racial stereotypes They ropes Jackie Robinson baseball certified standard level Internationa Rope Access Training Association their labor struction technicians minimum Rands which Africa lucrative Considering first anyone utterly manding exhausting complain about their entry level career Another intangible motivation WfW directors fretted program doing enough instill environmental ethic In beginning I concerns quite seriously hinted whether WfW sustainable So I asked crews I laboring alongside working First obvious It paycheck stupid Crew members wildly applaud raises spread jokes within program We member Working Water Working Money Others cynically unfairly program Working Whites because fested areas white economic activity Gradually others lenge It sport You unless Others growth camaraderie We living brothers No really understands doing We money But still young Eventually gathered talking about women spend money earned Some would Kruger their first elephant Others Cape Town first But spread savings among several girlfriends siblings children wives This reveals subtle powerful motivation munal pressure They stage where Where Baas Black Autonomous crews border perfectionism where Contractor Conwell corrects technique member compete underbid white contractors exclusively theirs whites Pretorius climbing Those white tractors equipment They machinery But difference coming outside leaving By contrast hiring local people regions which projects place WfW creates built incentive WfW crews countable their improve middle wetlands catchment village depends looked village The crews their family friends village accountable treats maintains cleared Whatever motivation result death A welcome overdue death There foreign weeds their maker Africa exposure burned crisp drained fluid hacked pieces spines snapped eaten hungry specific insects But Doctor knows trade target He decides efficient against Australians their skins spray poison death other words lethal injec As starts throttle wattle moved cheer There rites pleas quarter asked given The battle Doctor emerges victorious Still WfW every involves casualties This mountaineering ebrated working hours without injury right before disaster struck December At around while descending meters escarpment stumbled large beehive Moses gashed kidney trying escape Justice stings pulled vived Thembe however They heard screaming crying panic until poured mouth stinging within suffocat after sending shock When corpse hours later swollen twice W still recovering Conwell It losing family But incident incapacitated INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS continue knowing risks What block least slightly phobia shared throughout I notice Blyde River having completed After coaxing sheer cliff aplomb dropping through meters nothingness suspended tively bouncing crack ledge swinging hatchet poison I bottom knees shaking clinging rocks When asked wrong point The water O irony This overcome bravely nervous about crossing river working increase Now repay their patience helping relative safety strand dangling We meter still straight Though equipped ascenders tools hitch allowing slide brace climb extremely grueling takes strength trying But helping overcome phobias weaknesses vulnerability making arriving together Perhaps measuring WfW particular In global national arena where others historic advantage these young single mothers culture pendency appear increasingly ready prove themselves inferiors equals Even superiors While proud their province country Ally Conwell their broader horizon I stage confidence where world Ally I people America Europe black climb ropes maybe better I think climbers I watched Yosemite Alps They I But might Still there differ They climb faces ropes harnesses carabineers No world I crazy enough brave enough skilled enough The uniqueness their labor sinks artist realizes cannot compared peers Well quietly Then prove ourselves ICWA Letters ISSN published Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operating foundation incorporated New York State offices located West Wheelock St Hanover NH 03755 The letters provided charge members ICWA available libraries profes sional researchers subscription Phone E Mail ICWA valley Fax Web Site Executive Director Peter Bird Martin Program Assistant Brent Jacobson Publications Manager Ellen Kozak Institute Current World Af fairs The Crane Rogers Foundation The information contained publication reproduced without writer permission Author Workman James G Title ICWA Letters Sub Saharan Africa ISSN Imprint Institute Current World Affairs Hanover NH Material Type Serial Language English Frequency Monthly Other Regions East Asia South Asia Mideast North Africa Europe Russia The Americas Institute Fellows chosen basis character previous experience promise They young professionals funded spend minimum years carrying designed programs study writing outside United States The Fellows required report their findings experiences field month They write subject formally informally The result unique reporting analysis periodic assessment interna tional events issues