Fines of R5 million or 10-year jail sentences could await three land-owners in the Grahamstown area, unless they act quickly to remove invasive alien plants from their properties.
Fines of R5 million or 10-year jail sentences could await three land-owners in the Grahamstown area, unless they act quickly to remove invasive alien plants from their properties.
But local farmers have called the threat of legal action unfair. The Department of Environmental Affairs has informed Grocott’s Mail that after a recent visit to Grahamstown, officials issued “pre-notices” – a first step in administrative enforcement proceedings – to the three land-owners, whom they declined to name.
They are among eight land-owners in the Albany area identified for possible action through the National Environmental Management Act and the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act.
According to the Acts, land-owners are accountable for invasive alien species under their control.
“Where taxpayers’ money has been spent to assist land-owners to take control of invasive alien plants on their land, the necessary follow-up work is critical to maintain such control,” Albi Modise, spokesman for the Department of Environmental Affairs, told Grocott’s Mail in an email this week.
Declining to release details of the properties, Modise emphasised that they were hoping for co-operation from the land-owners.
“We are awaiting the relevant responses,” Modise said. “It is important to note that the DEA has not yet instituted any form of criminal and/or civil proceedings against any of the landowners, but may do so depending on the response to the administrative action currently under way.”
While Grocott’s Mail was not able to confirm whether the affected properties are commercial farms, Chairman of the Albany and Bathurst Farmers’ League, Danny Wepener, said yesterday that it was unfair to target farmers.
“Farmers are very concerned about alien invasives,” Wepener said.
“They will happily use their own labour to clear aliens. But they need support from government departments – and they’re not getting it."
Wepener said farmers were forced to pay high prices for herbicides that should be subsidised by the government.
In addition, farmers were fighting a losing battle against aliens, he said. While they might remove aliens from their land, corporates such as Eskom, Telkom and the Roads Department were not keeping verges clear.
“The plants spread from the verges to the farms,” Wepener said.
Modise claimed the harsh penalties the Grahamstown land-owners may face were warranted by the significant threat posed by invasive aliens.
“Were it not for the considerable effort being made to control invasive alien species by many private land owners, as well as other organs of state, the situation facing the country would be significantly worse,” Modise said.
“To put that into perspective, on estimate (by the CSIR) is that the past efforts to control invasive alien plants in South Africa is worth over R400 billion in the value of water alone.”
Established invasive alien plant species that are the biggest threats in the Grahamstown area include Acacia mearnsii (black wattle); Acacia saligna (Port Jackson willow); Eucalyptus spp (gum species); Hakea sericea (silky hakea); Lantana camara (lantana) Opuntia spp (prickly pears, cactus species); Pinus spp (pine species); Populus spp (poplar species); Rubus spp (bramble species).
The cost of invasive aliens:
- The spread and growth of invasive alien species is one of the most serious environmental threats facing South Africa.
- The Working for Water programme has had significant impacts on water availability, water quality, biological diversity, the productive use of land, the ecological functioning of our natural systems, the risk of intense wild fires, soil erosion, flooding and other negative impacts.
- The government, through Working for Water, has spent over R7bn controlling invasive alien species in South Africa over the past 18 years, most of which has been spent on private land. Over R1bn of this has been spent in the Eastern Cape.
- The government, through its Working for Water programme, has employed 34 000 people across the country to help control invasive aliens. Source: Department of Environmental Affairs.
