CHAPTER 8
INDIGENOUS PLANTS

Protection of indigenous plants
64. (1) No person may without a permit –
(a) pick, be in possession of, sell, purchase, donate, receive as a gift, import
into, export or remove from the Province, or convey a specially protected
plant; or
(b) pick, sell, purchase, donate, receive as a gift, import into, export or remove
from the Province, or convey a protected plant; or
(c) pick any indigenous plant –
(i) on a public road;
(ii) on land next to a public road within a distance of 100 meters
measured from the centre of the road;
(iii) within an area bordering any natural water course, whether wet or
dry, up to and within a distance of 50 meters from the high
watermark on either side of the natural water course; or
(iv) in a Provincial Nature Reserve, a Site of Ecological Importance, a Protected Environment or a Private Nature Reserve; or
67
Protected Environment or a Private Nature Reserve; or
(d) collect firewood.
(2) No person may without a permit issued in terms of this Act or other document
issued in terms of other relevant legislation convey through the Province-
(a) any specially protected plant; or
(b) protected plant.
(3) No person may on land of which that person is not the owner, pick any indigenous
plant without the owner’s written permission.

(4) The provisions of –
(a) subsection (1)(a), in so far as it prohibits the possession of a specially
protected plant, do not apply to a person who is in possession of a
specially protected plant which grows in its natural habitat and which was
not planted by human hands;
(b) subsection (1)(b), in so far as it prohibits the picking, donation, receiving
as a gift or conveyance of a protected plant, do not apply to the flower of a
protected plant –
(i) picked by the owner of the land on which the plant grows;
(ii) picked on that land by a family member of the owner; or
(iii) picked on that land by a person acting with the written permission
of the owner;
(c) subsection (1)(b), in so far as it prohibits the donation, receiving as a gift
or conveyance of a protected plant, do not apply to a protected plant
cultivated on land set aside solely for the cultivation of such protected
plant;
(d) subsection (1)(b), in so far as it prohibits the import into or export or
removal from the Province, purchase or conveyance of a protected plant,
do not apply to a protected plant –
68
(i) lawfully bought or received as a gift from a person in another
province; or
(ii) lawfully bought or received as a gift from a person within the
Province;
(e) subsection (1)(b), in so far as it prohibits the sale or donation or the export
or removal from the Province of a protected plant, do not apply to a
protected plant –
(i) acquired lawfully and sold or donated, exported or removed from
the Province, by a person authorised to sell plants in terms of
Schedule 2 of the Business Act, 1991 (Act No. 71 of 1991); or
(ii) sold or donated, exported or removed from the Province, by a
Botanical Garden which is subject to the provisions of the Cultural
Institutions Act, 1998 (Act No. 119 of 1998); and
(f) subsection (1)(d) does not apply –
(i) to the collection of a head load of firewood conveyed in any
manner on communal land, except on communal land included in a
Site of Ecological Importance, a Protected Environment or a
Private Nature Reserve; or
(ii) to the collection of firewood in a Protected Environment or Private
Nature Reserve, by the owner of the land, or another person acting
with the written permission of the owner.
(5) A person importing into or exporting or removing from, the Province or
conveying a protected plant may rely on any of the exemptions granted in terms of subsection
(4), only if that person can produce documentary proof indicating that acquisition of the protected plant was lawful.

Exemption of nurseries
65. (1) The MEC may on written application by the owner of a nursery registered in
terms of the provisions of the Plant Improvement Act, 1976 (Act No. 53 of 1976), exempt the nursery in writing from the application of all or any of the provisions of this Chapter.

69
(2) A nursery exempted in terms of subsection (1) may in accordance with the terms
and conditions of the exemption, sell, donate, convey, export or remove from the Province, or grant written permission to any other person to donate or convey, or to export or remove from the Province, any species of protected plant cultivated on the premises of the nursery and specified in the exemption.


(3) The written permission referred to in subsection (2) must be issued in the name of the nursery and may only be signed by a person authorised in the written exemption.

(4) The holder of the written permission granted in terms of subsection (2) may in
accordance with the terms and conditions of the written permission, sell, donate, convey, exportor remove from the Province a protected plant acquired from the nursery and specified in the written permission.

Powers of MEC
66. (1) The MEC may –
(a) take steps that may be necessary or expedient for research regarding the
propagation, preservation or control of weed or invader plants;
(b) take steps for the importation, acclimatization, picking, destruction,
reduction, removal or elimination of any species of plant;
(c) on approval of a project proposal, institute any survey or investigation in
connection with any plant referred to in this Chapter;
(d) take steps necessary for the identification of any specially protected plant;
or
(e) take steps to develop and control land for the purposes of this Chapter in
collaboration with any other public or private body.

Regulations
67. The MEC may in terms of section 122 make regulations for the purposes of this Chapter relating to –
70

(a) the number and species of plants that may be picked in terms of a permit
or exemption;
(b) the control, possession, keeping, convey in, convey through, import into or
export or removal from the Province of a plant referred to in this Chapter,
including the marking of individual plants for identification;
(c) the control, importation, cultivation, destruction or combating of a plant
that could be harmful to environmental conservation;
(d) research in connection with any plant referred to in this Chapter;
(e) the collecting of wood, including firewood, on any land; or
(f) any other matter that may be necessary to facilitate the effective
implementation of this chapter.