{"id":852698,"date":"2026-03-04T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=852698"},"modified":"2026-03-04T15:50:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:50:38","slug":"r504-to-enter-but-the-roads-are-deteriorating-in-front-of-everyones-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/852698\/r504-to-enter-but-the-roads-are-deteriorating-in-front-of-everyones-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"R504 to enter, but the roads are deteriorating in front of everyone’s eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Pilanesberg National Park has increased its fees for local and international travellers, but the infrastructure is collapsing in plain sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nature reserve, situated in the ecologically rich transition zone between the Kalahari and the Lowveld, is one of the most accessible national parks in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is located in the Bojanala Region, within the North West Province, and relatively near Johannesburg and Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pilanesberg Game Reserve covers 550 square kilometres, making it the fourth-largest national park in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area was originally owned by 3 of the local tribes. Many Stone Age and Iron Age sites around the reserve provide evidence of human presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The northern part of Pilanesberg National Park was originally owned by the Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela tribe, also known as the Bakgatla tribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The southern area of the park was formerly a set of farms owned by local farmers in the 1860s. They were responsible for the development of the Mankwe Dam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These farms in the south of the park were then bought by the Government during the 1960s under the apartheid regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bakubung tribe decided to settle on this land, arriving from the nearby town of Ventersdorp. This land was then passed on to Bophuthatswana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1979, Operation Genesis was launched to reinforce the homegrown game population in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the initiative, 110 kilometres of game fence were installed, along with 188 kilometres of roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another plan of action involved introducing 6000 animals into the area.  In the years that followed, Operation Genesis was expanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, there are over 7,000 animals, 360 bird species, and more than 200 kilometres of roads. Many of these roads are tarred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilanesberg National Park entrance fee increase<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In recent years, numerous reports have noted that Pilanesberg National Park, also known as the Pilanesberg Game Reserve, has struggled with poor maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North West Parks and Tourism Board admitted that large parts of the park\u2019s infrastructure have deteriorated significantly due to a lack of maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make matters worse, there has been a significant increase in the entrance fees to Pilanesberg National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entrance fees for South African citizens increased from R80 per person to R160 per person. The price per car increased from R40 to R160.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price for international visitors increased from R110 to R680 per person, and buses now have to pay R400 instead of the previous R140.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When BusinessTech visited the game reserve in February 2026, the entrance fee was R504 for two adults in one car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lambert de Klerk, AfriForum\u2019s manager for environmental affairs, said visitors are being punished for Pilanesberg\u2019s longstanding financial mismanagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEntrance fees were drastically increased shortly before the December holidays,\u201d De Klerk said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA visit to this park will now cost visitors much more than a visit to the Kruger National Park,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that visitors to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve cannot be held accountable for the neglect by paying more for entrance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AfriForum has requested answers from the North West government and the North West Parks and Tourism Board about the recent entrance fee increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It raised concerns that the public must pay more without sufficient transparency on how funds have been allocated, spent, or reinvested over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It requested information on historical budget allocations and expenditures at Pilanesberg, as well as income generated from entrance fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also asked for information about the use of concession income and the basis on which the recent tariff increases were approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur concern is not conservation – the wildlife at Pilanesberg appears healthy – but rather the management of this national park,\u201d said De Klerk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen a public institution admits that infrastructure has been neglected for decades, the appropriate response cannot simply be to leave the cost thereof to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilanesberg Game Reserve deteriorating infrastructure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Pilanesberg Game Reserve faces serious infrastructure challenges, including deteriorating roads, weak perimeter fencing, and run-down ablution facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2025, acting North West Tourism Board CEO Jonathan Denga shed light on the problems at the national park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told Tourism Update that the Pilanesberg National Park faced closure due to unsustainable funding models reliant on National Treasury funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe entity has not been as sustainable as it is now. It faces closure. That\u2019s why you had, at the beginning of the year, people not being paid and strikes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denga said the tariff adjustments were part of a revenue enhancement strategy to fund critical repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said fixing the park, including roads, fencing, toilets, and tourism infrastructure, could reach R1.8 billion to R2.2 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denga told Tourism Update that he was leading an eight-point strategy to address the problems and drive the maintenance initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BusinessTech\u2019s visit to the Pilanesberg National Park confirmed the deterioration, which Denga and De Klerk referred to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The toilets and tourism infrastructure were not in good condition, and it did not look like a world-class game reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worst parts were the roads. There were potholes on most roads which were big enough to cause serious damage to cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some parts of the road were so bad that visitors had to drive on gravel where the tar had completely disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photos below come from BusinessTech\u2019s visit to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve in February 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pilanesberg Game Reserve road photos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pilanesberg National Park has increased its fees for local and international travelers, but the infrastructure is collapsing in plain sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":852701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[2419,24904,24902,24903,21501,24901,24900],"class_list":["post-852698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-afriforum","tag-lambert-de-klerk","tag-mankwe-dam","tag-north-west-parks-and-tourism-board","tag-north-west-province","tag-pilanesberg-game-reserve","tag-pilanesberg-national-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852698"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852744,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852698\/revisions\/852744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}