19 June 2007
The tragic incident that occurred on 17 June 2007 on Woodborough, near
Tosca, where young Tshepo Gaerupe was mauled on the farm owned by Alfred van
Vuuren, illustrated the point that large predator game farms require stricter
control and intense monitoring. My Department has therefore taken a decision to
escalate measures to control and monitor large predator game farms in the North
West province, despite our limited resources for environmental services.
The North West province has the largest number of large predator breeding
farms in the country. Official figures of registered farms is 45, however we
have reason to believe that up to 80 such farms exist in our province. My
Department is currently on an audit to reconcile these figures and to ensure
that every farmer who should be registered, is.
In recent months I have come to be known as the MEC most vocal about his
support for predator game farming and in effect, this may have been interpreted
in some quarters as an overt conflict to the position of Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) on large predator game farming.
I want to emphasise here today that this is not so. My belief is that large
predator game farming ought to be allowed to continue their operations, doing
so reasonably within the framework of existing legislation. In return, I expect
large predator game farmers to respect all of the prevailing legislation
governing bio-diversity and conservation.
Furthermore, the position of the North West Province concerning the
introduction of the national regulations on Threatened and Protected Species
(Tops), was that enough time be allowed for farmers to comply, and that, having
done so, adequate resources be made available for provinces to effectively
monitor the regulations and allow farmers to align their operations with the
requirements stipulated in the new management plan. The discussions we had with
Deat in this regard bore fruit and resulted in the implementation date for the
new regulations moved from 1 June 2007, to 1 February 2008.
Having decided to escalate measures to control and monitor predator game
farms in the North West Province the following additional measures will be
taken:
Sponsor new legislation
The draft Bill on biodiversity management for the province was finalised on
20 June 2007. I am actively spearheading the process leading to its
promulgation and hope to have this Bill become an Act before the end of this
year. This legal instrument will enable us to implement bio diversity
management and compliance monitoring without worrying about the
constitutionality of the material or adverse actions we have to take in cases
on non-compliance.
Implementation of Threatened and Protected Species (Tops) regulations on
01/02/08
Despite limited resources, the Department will prioritise the monitoring and
compliance obligations required by the new regulations on Threatened and
Protected Species coming into effect nationwide on 1 February 2008. We will do
so by effectively doubling capacity in the permitting and inspections units and
creating internal enablers to allow our 'Green Scorpions' unit, the
Environmental Management Inspectorate (EMI) to work seamlessly with the
biodiversity management units responsible for large predator game.
Auditing large predator game farms
An audit begun three weeks ago is about to completed, which will bring to
light the level of compliance that we can expect on 1 February 2008. The time
between now and the coming into effect of the new regulations will allow us to
issue notices and deadlines to farmers, to comply or risk having their keeping
permits revoked.
Promote occupational health and safety awareness
The farming sector is notoriously unconscious of occupational health and
safety and the general welfare and well-being of its workers. My Department is
already implementing an HIV/AIDS awareness programme among farm workers, and to
add to this, we will work closely with the Department of Labour to take
occupational health and safety awareness to farming operations in the North
West, with the priority being predator game farming operations in the immediate
period.
An Act of Ubuntu, the Tshepo Gaerupe Trust
As an Act of empathy, I have instructed the corporate services unit to
establish a Trust, which we will name the Tshepo Gaerupe Trust, which will be
administered by our non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners in the
province, from which we will draw to assist families that have suffered
misfortunes related to farming operations, as in the case of the Gaerupe
family.
It is my hope that these measures will lessen the chances of the kind of
tragedy that occurred on 17 June 2007 from occurring.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, North
West Provincial Government
19 June 2007
