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- Baviaanskloof closed until December 2026.
- Bookings, jobs, and local businesses at risk.
- DA demands joint DEDEAT and Transport oversight.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is demanding urgent oversight of the Baviaanskloof region following the recent flooding, which has devastated roads and cut off communities, including the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve, a World Heritage Site.
Guests with bookings at the reserve are being informed that it will remain closed until the end of December 2026 due to road damage. The closure places one of the Eastern Cape’s most important nature-based tourism destinations out of reach during a critical period for the local tourism economy.
The reserve is an anchor attraction for accommodation establishments, tour operators, restaurants, farm stalls, fuel stations, suppliers, and workers in the surrounding area. When access to the reserve collapses, the damage spreads through the local economy. Bookings are cancelled, visitors are rerouted elsewhere, small businesses lose income, and workers face reduced shifts or possible retrenchment.
I have written to the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs, and Tourism MEC, Nonkqubela Pieters, to request a joint oversight inspection by her department, along with the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency, and the Department of Transport, to assess the condition of the affected roads, the impact of the closure on tourism businesses, and the steps required to reopen the reserve safely.
I have also requested that local tourism organisations and affected private operators be included. The oversight must assess the condition of the affected roads, the impact on communities that have been cut off, the damage to local tourism businesses, and the steps required to restore safe access to the reserve.
The May floods caused severe damage across the Baviaanskloof, with roads, bridges, and access routes damaged or washed away. Further heavy rains in June again affected access, including the R332 into the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve.
The immediate priority must be to reconnect affected communities, restore safe access, and protect the tourism economy that depends on visitors’ ability to reach the area.
Provincial government must urgently clarify which sections of road and access infrastructure have been damaged, what emergency repair work is underway, which authorities are responsible, what support is being provided to cut-off communities, and when safe access to the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve is expected to be restored.
Baviaanskloof should be one of the Eastern Cape’s strongest rural tourism assets. Instead, poor access is threatening the businesses and workers who rely on it.
The DA will continue to fight for provincial nature reserves that are safe, accessible, properly maintained, and able to support conservation, tourism, and rural economic growth.