Licence for pruning was issued says department

Date: 04 December 2014 By: Andries van Zyl

The provincial Department of Water Affairs and Forestry responded last week to the public outcry that followed the damage caused by contract workers to baobab trees along the D2692 road between Musina and Venetia Mine.

As part of a provincial contract (contract number PUDP 573), a contractor was appointed to clear the road reserve on this stretch of provincial road.  The clearing of the road reserve, however, sparked outrage among residents after people noticed that several baobab trees within the road reserve had been severely damaged by the contract workers. In some cases it appears that baobab branches were not even cut but were torn off trees.

Baobab trees are listed as a protected tree in terms of Section 15(1) of the National Forest Act of 1998. The Act states that “no person may cut, disturb, damage or destroy any protected tree or possess, collect, remove, transport, export, purchase, sell, donate or in any other manner acquire or dispose of any protected tree”.

Last Thursday, Ms Mudau Ndinannyi from the provincial Department of Water Affairs and Forestry responded by stating that the department was not aware of the trimmed trees, but that they were aware that a license had been issued to the Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) to trim the trees. This, she said, was done in accordance with the requirements of the National Forest Act, Act 84 of 1998, and by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. “If it is determined that the contractor acted without the necessary authority to prune, he or she will be conducting an offence in terms of Section 62 (c) (i) and the action would be to enforce the Act (admission of guilt fine route, court case, etc.) which is not the case in the matter because the permit is granted to RAL. Should the contractor not comply with the condition of the permit, the action will be taken against RAL as the applicant,” Ndinannyi wrote in her response. She added that the matter had also been communicated to RAL.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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