22 January 2009
Limpopo province is rich in natural biodiversity and, most of the animals
and plant species are present and protected in private nature reserves and
provincial parks in the province. When environmental crime takes place, it robs
the environment of ecological sustainability but also inflicts financial losses
to private owners of land and the state. The health and well being of people
are also affected, and the protection of the environment is severely
compromised due to criminal elements that make a living out of poaching
animals.
The objectives of the department through the directorate of environmental
compliance and enforcement is to investigate environmental crime, initiate
legal proceedings, and manage compliance and enforcement of environmental
legislation and regulations as well as to ensure environmental risk management
in the province. 17 officials of the department have undergone specialised
training in enforcement and were designated as environmental management
inspectors under the National Environmental Management Act, to give effect to
the above objectives.
The Limpopo Government has promulgated legislation regulating the
utilisation of wildlife, as well as the protection of the environment as a
whole. Environmental legislation deals with issues such as forests, water,
agriculture, animals, fisheries, land, pollution and energy or resources. In
the province, the Limpopo Environmental Management Act (LEMA) was passed in
2003 to combat environmental crime. Any offence committed under this
legislation is vigorously and fearlessly investigated and offenders are
prosecuted.
Environmental crime can be classified by the following categories, any
prohibited activity that harms or negatively affects or has the potential to
harm or negatively affect the environment or the health, and well being of
people, prohibited activities that cause pollution or ecological degradation,
and prohibited activities which include the protection and conservation of the
environment as a whole.
The main areas of concern for the department when it comes to environmental
crime in the province are the illegal hunting of elephant and the trade of
elephant ivory, the illegal hunting and trade of rhino horn, illegal cycad
trade, illegal hunting, keeping and breeding of large predators and
deforestation. Between October until December 2008, 200 arrests were made by
the EMI's in Limpopo with cases finalised numbering 180.
Some of the cases, which were finalised successfully involved, those of Mr P
Lawrence from Polokwane who was sentenced to R60 000 of which R30 000 or 84
months imprisonment was suspended for five years for hunting a lion without a
permit on a farm in the Hoedspruit area. Mr MPC Bamberger from Lephalale who
was arrested for the illegal hunting of two white rhinos and who's sentence was
R100 000 or 48 months of which R50 000 and 48 months was suspended for four
years. Both cases were split and more suspects stand to be tried for the same
offences during March of 2009.
Issued by: Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism,
Limpopo Provincial Government
22 January 2009
Source: Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, Limpopo
Provincial Government (http://www.ledet.gov.za/)
