CHAPTER 10
PRESERVATION OF CAVES AND CAVE-FORMATIONS

Prohibited acts

70. (1) No person may without a permit –
(a) enter or inhabit a cave; or
(b) remove from a cave, be in possession of, dispose of by way of a sale,
exchange or receive as a gift, give as a gift, import or bring into, or export
or remove from the Province, or convey –
(i) a cave-formation;
(ii) wild fauna and flora or any other natural matter found in a cave; or
(iii) any readily recognisable part or derivative of a cave-formation or
such fauna and flora or other natural matter.
(2) No person may –
(a) deposit, dump or drain any refuse, waste, substance or thing, whether
solid, liquid, gaseous or explosive, into a cave or near a cave or near a

   











   




   






   


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cave entrance, or cause or allow it to enter or percolate into a cave;
(b) disturb or alter the natural atmosphere of a cave in any manner, including
by way of burning any matter which emits smoke or gas in the cave;
(c) leave any container, rope, clothing, battery, candle, wax, food or any other
object in a cave;
(d) take an aerosol container or other container containing poison, paint, dye
or other colouring agent into a cave;
(e) break open, break, remove or in any other manner tamper with an
obstruction or structure erected to prevent unauthorised entry into a cave
or any part thereof; or
(f) break, break-off, crack or in any other manner destroy, damage, mutilate
or spoil a cave-formation in a cave or engrave, paint, write or in any other
manner make a mark therein or thereon.
Entry or admission to caves
71. (1) The MEC may by notice in the Provincial Gazette –
(a) allow the commercialisation or development of a cave specified in the
notice for tourism purposes;
(b) limit the entry or admission of visitors to a cave specified in the notice; or
(c) close a cave specified in the notice entirely or partially to visitors or any
category of persons specified in the notice.
(2) Before publishing any notice in terms of subsection (1), the MEC must publish
the draft notice in the Provincial Gazette and air such notice on radio stations broadcasting in the
area for public comment.
Powers of MEC
72. The MEC may–
(a) take steps to develop and control any cave in collaboration with any other
public or private body;
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(b) take steps necessary or expedient for research with regard to caves and
cave-formations and the preservation of caves and cave-formations;
(c) conduct any survey or investigation in connection with any cave or caveformation;
or
(d) collect and publish statistics and information regarding caves and caveformations.
Regulations
73. The MEC may in terms of section 122 make regulations for the purposes of this Chapter
relating to –
(a) the activities in caves and the taking, disturbing or collection of caveformations;
(b) the sale of or trading in cave-formations;
(c) the possession or keeping, or the conveyance in or through, the import into
or the export or removal from, the Province of cave-formations;
(d) the research in connection with caves and cave-formations; or
(e) any other matter that may be necessary to facilitate the effective
implementation of this Chapter.