Limpopo Villages Raise Concerns Over Neglect Of Iconic Baobab Tree – Xavier Radio Ug

Residents of Zwigodini and Muswodi villages outside Musina in Limpopo have raised concerns over what they say is the neglect of one of South Africa’s most iconic tourist attractions – the baobab tree.
Commonly known as the Sagole Big Tree, the tree is believed to be one of the largest and oldest in the world, estimated to be over 3 000 years old.
The residents say the site surrounding the tree is dilapidated due to a lack of maintenance.
One of the residents says people are interested in the tree and its integrity and appeals to government to assist in looking after it.
Meanwhile, the provincial Environment, Economic Development and Tourism Department says it is will to restore the tree to its past glory.
Spokesperson Zaid Kalla says, “It belongs to the community. It was established by members of the community. When we step in to help, we do so because they have approached us. It is one of the many in the province, we can support them when it comes to training, we can support them with capacity building, we support them with advises and we also support them in pointing them to the right direction where they can access funds. We don’t have a set budget that says this is for any emerging community project, there’s no public funds for that.”
Video| Residents say Sagole Big Tree in state of neglect:

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