Department of Public Works and Infrastructure spokesperson Thami Mchunu confirmed that the department was aware that three KZN candidate sites were in the iSimangaliso World Heritage Site.

Plans to build new fishing harbours and ports off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape have raised concern about the motives and implications of recent offers by the Chinese government to provide "technical assistance" to fast-track South Africa's Blue Economy expansion visions.

The concerns have been heightened after it emerged that some of the more than 20 "small harbour" candidate sites being investigated are either inside or adjacent to South Africa's first World Heritage Site and two of the largest Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), where fishing has been banned or restricted in an effort to replenish the country's threatened marine resources.

Luo Zhaohui, the chairman of the China Investment Development Cooperation Agency, has also been pushing the new Chinese ambassador to "work closely with the South African side to accelerate the progress of such projects as technical assistance for the feasibility research of small ports".

Daily Maverick has established that two "government stakeholder engagement meetings" were held in Durban and East London earlier this month (1 July and 5 July) under the auspices of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) and Infrastructure South Africa (ISA), a recently established state entity with a focus on...