Documenting sacred ecology: Mamelodi to Rustenburg Kloof conservation walk begins

Mail & Guardian

18-06-2025

Ecological threats in the Magaliesberg have spurred the community-led conservation effort. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
A unique project to document the conditions at sacred natural sites and traditional ecological knowledge from Mamelodi to Rustenburg Kloof began on Monday.
It comes after
Despite its Unesco Biosphere status, the Magaliesberg faces growing threats from mining,
urban expansion, tree felling, water pollution and a lack of environmental education.
Dzerefos's project, in partnership with traditional healer Ephraim Cebisa Mabena, is a culturally grounded response.
It will document conditions at sacred natural sites such as in Majakaneng Kloof, Barnardsvlei and Kgaswane Mountain Reserve. Mabena will lead discussions with traditional healers, church groups and holy water collectors to explore how spiritual practices can align with sustainable environmental use.
His ties to the Magaliesberg and his
The project responds to alarming developments such as the
'These events highlight the disconnect between top-down policy and local spiritual users.
The initiative uses a participatory model where Dr Mabena interprets environmental conditions and threats through a cultural lens, identifying sacred ecological signs and proposing culturally appropriate responses,' they said.
Dzerefos will document the process, ensure ethical standards and translate findings into tools that can influence land use policy and eco-literacy.
'This project is about restoring our relationship and appreciation of natural areas,' she said. 'Through Dr Mabena's leadership, we hope to find ways to maintain the Magaliesberg's pristine water and habitat for leopard, baboon, birds of prey and other indigenous animal and plant species that still exist in the Magaliesberg.'
Mabena noted: 'This walk is just to indicate that as a human being living on this Earth, I'm a part, not apart from biodiversity, therefore it is my task to make sure that I protect this planet. And this walk, to me, is just to try to activate our ancient wisdom into activism that can give birth to alternative ways that can be beneficial to all of us in saving our planet, especially our sacred spaces and our flora and fauna.'
The walk is to trigger the spirit of working among healers 'as indigenous knowledge custodians, as creative thinkers, as artists, as scholars and visionaries and wisdom holders' to protect sacred spaces and natural resources.
Mabena emphasised the importance of schools, colleges and universities to develop academic courses on the importance of sacred sites.
'[This is] because such sites are to me outdoor educational centres; places like sacred sites and protected areas are a mirror to us where we see ourselves. How can we encourage communities to be guardians of such sacred places and protected areas?'
He dedicated the walk to 'all who came before me, before us, in protecting such sacred spaces. These natural resources, like the Magaliesberg mountains, it's a place of wilderness, of wars … There are
The project launched at Mamelodi Mountain on Monday with the symbolic planting of Kei apple, which was attended by environmental historian