GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Madeira vine, the strong climber that has been taking over indigenous plants in the Garden Route, is up against Suray Makwena of Sanparks' Working for the Coast programme, whose job it has been to identify the plant in its infant stage.
Sanparks' Biodiversity Social Programmes (BSP) has prioritised the eradication of the plant and committed resources to do this inside the Garden Route National Park and surrounds.
At the age of 31, Makwena has dedicated more than 10 years in efforts to protect indigenous plants and ecosystems against alien invasive plants like the Madeira vine.
Her career began with working for a BSP contractor in 2008 and as soon as there was an opening in 2009, she grabbed it to work as a general administrator for the project manager. "This was a great foot in the door for me – as a general administrator I had an overview of the programme," she says.
In 2011, she applied for an administrator assistant position within the same programme, which meant working in and out of office (in the field).
In 2017 she became a shadow project manager which allowed her to stand in for the project manager in his absence.
Last year, she became the project manager for the Working for the Coast programme.
Her passion and drive for her work makes it easy for her to manage 74 people who work in her project area. Its jurisdiction stretches over 63km from Herolds Bay to include Victoria Bay, Pacaltsdorp, Leentjiesklip and Swartvlei in Sedgefield.
Asked about the mammoth task of managing such a taxing project, Makwena says the secret is to strike a healthy balance between work and play.
"As a single mom I'm fortunate to have a supportive team and a supportive manager. I also learnt from earlier on that as a young person in the workplace, I have to always up my game. So when I joined the programme, I took every opportunity to learn and went on virtually every in-service training opportunity presented to me." She adds, "Having a schedule for my daily work helps. I try hard to switch off during weekends by spending time with my loved ones. I love going out with my friends and family and spending every time I can with my son."
l Madeira Vine is categorized as a 1b alien invader and can be seen from Wilderness to Port Elizabeth. According to the Agriculture Research Council, its stems outgrow the canopy of indigenous plants and spreads over their ground as well.
This throttles the invaded plant and prevents it from obtaining necessities like light and nutrients. It has fleshy heart-shaped green leaves and spikes of white flowers (February to April). It produces multiple aerial tubers along the stems and each one of these is capable of starting a new plant.
The Madeira vine. Photo: Gardening at Leisure
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