BOTSOC NOTICE

Feedback on the SANBI collaboration from our 2022 AGM

APR 25, 2022, UPDATED July 15 2022.

BotSoc / SANBI Collaboration

Our 2022 AGM was a success and ensured that members made their mark to usher the Botanical Society of South Africa (BotSoc) into the next chapter, with 109 years of uniting SA’s nature enthusiasts under our belt. We thank all our members for their patience as we navigated through the challenges presented at the AGM in a dynamic situation with Eskom load shedding, at different times across the country, affecting connectivity of members to the Zoom facility. This required flexibility in working through all agenda items to accommodate a representative voting process while most participants still remained connected.

As discussed at the AGM, the proposed changes to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) / BotSoc Collaboration Agreement with implications to BotSoc members’ garden access benefit is an important change that we need to engage on further to ensure that members are adequately informed over the next few months.

The Collaboration Agreement is between SANBI, as the statutory body that is the custodian of the national botanical gardens, and BotSoc, as a civil society non-profit organisation. SANBI plans to explore its own loyalty garden access programme in the future, so the next few years will be a transitional period through which the ongoing support of BotSoc members and Branches of the Society will be required to maintain its vision and sustainability. BotSoc will most likely transition to being a non-profit civil society organisation with an active membership base participating in proactive fundraising for impactful project implementation to “know, grow, protect and enjoy SA’s plants”.

BotSoc and SANBI, who have a long-standing symbiotic relationship, are currently in talks to determine how the organisations will work together in future. As part of these talks, they are discussing possible changes to the current BotSoc members’ free access to SANBI National Botanical Gardens. This is in response to the many external factors affecting most organisations globally. Free garden access to BotSoc members has been a benefit as a result of an agreement reviewed every few years between the two organisations. 

BotSoc is a civil society organisation made up of plant-loving members. These members have access to a number of benefits, such as the quarterly environmental journal, Veld & Flora, monthly conservation webinars, receiving regular conservation and other news, participating in events hosted by BotSoc branches, volunteer opportunities at botanical gardens, participation as citizen scientists through various programmes and connecting to a community of people who care about the plant world. Even though BotSoc and SANBI are two separate organisations, members of BotSoc have also for many years enjoyed the privilege of free regional or national access (depending on the membership category) to National Botanical Gardens 365 days a year.

SANBI, founded and partly funded by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, is tasked with managing South Africa’s National Botanical Gardens. The two organisations have worked together over the past 108 years (under different organisation names) – with BotSoc members and active volunteers providing assistance to gardens as part of the reciprocal relationship. While volunteer programmes are now gaining momentum, they have in recent years been less active than in the past.

Talks are still underway

According to Bongani Mnisi, Chair of BotSoc, while no firm decisions have yet been taken, talks are underway to review this collaboration.

“These discussions have to date included looking at revising the access that BotSoc members have to National Botanical Gardens. It’s still too early to say what structure the new collaboration agreement will take. It might mean adjusted rates for BotSoc members into gardens, percentage discounts or completely different benefits to members pertaining to gardens. We’ll keep our members informed as soon as our talks have concluded.”

Current memberships will be honoured with the benefits as they stand now.

Bongani adds, “Our two organisations have a relationship steeped in history since 1913. Therefore it’s only right that we engage on these matters continuously, as a great deal has changed since our inception. These talks provide us an exciting opportunity to find new connection points with SANBI, and new ways to work together, for the benefit of our members. Should access to gardens no longer be available to BotSoc members, then this will be phased out over time, likely over a few years.”

BotSoc is now using this opportunity to refine and improve its benefits for members by connecting with other organisations internationally to learn from best practices.

BotSoc will continue to build on this relationship with members, current and potential as well as with partner organisations, and will keep everyone abreast of outcomes and cooperation opportunities as soon as the talks have concluded. This is anticipated to be by the end of May 2022. Once decisions are finalised, a rollout plan will be shared.

He said the BotSoc community is a group of people who care deeply about South Africa’s indigenous plants. “Many of our branches are not based close to National Botanical Gardens, like the West Coast, KZN Coastal, Garden Route, Algoa branches, any many more. We trust that our BotSoc community is involved in BotSoc because we provide a powerful connection to our phenomenal plant world. We aim to continue to make plant conservation a reality with our loyal members and new members to know, grow, protect and enjoy our wonderful indigenous plants. The work we are doing collectively as BotSoc doesn’t change, and neither does our inspiration to leave a lasting legacy for future generations that depend on a thriving plant world.”