The Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), shared by Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, has been renamed the Greater Mapungubwe TFCA.
Ministers Kitso Mokaila of Tourism in Botswana, Buyelwa Sonjica of Water and Environmental Affairs in South Africa and Francis Nhema of Tourism in Zimbabwe, announced the new name at the Limpopo and Shashe confluence where the three countries meet.
The Ministers said the decision was taken to change the name of the TFCA to one that accurately reflected the uniqueness of the TFCA, adding that the name Greater Mapungubwe TFCA was preferred because all three countries already have sites called Mapungubwe. Furthermore, Mapungubwe in South Africa is already a World Heritage Site and this can be an extension of the status of the entire TFCA. In addition, substantial marketing has been done to put Mapungubwe on the tourism map and it would seem financially expedient to capitalise on this.
Greater Mapungubwe (formerly Limpopo-Shashe) TFCA was established in 2006 through the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by the Environment and Tourism Ministers of three countries. A Tri-lateral Technical Committee and other working groups were established to oversee the operations of the TFCA. The MoU was signed at the confluence of the Limpopo and the Shashe rivers, at a point where the three countries meet, hence the provisional name Limpopo-Shashe.
