South Africa: State Forestry Company Troubled By Timber Theft and Illegal Mining in Its Mpumalanga Plantations

press release

The South African Forestry Company Limited (SAFCOL) is losing millions of rands from timber theft in its Mpumalanga plantations, and its nature reserves are damaged by illegal mining, threatening eco-tourism business.

Briefing the Portfolio Committee on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation during an oversight visit to its plantations in Sabie, the state forestry company said it was losing almost R20 million a year through illegal harvesting by organised syndicates.

SAFCOL Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr Sibalo Dlamini told the committee these acts of criminality involved highly organised and heavily armed syndicates who enter the plantations at night to harvest timber.

Due to the vastness of the plantations, which stretch to thousands of hectares from Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, securing the whole area is a challenge for the entity. As a result, Mr Dlamini said, a process was underway to install digital security systems for early detections.

The SAFCOL has also attributed the emergence of small sawmillers for contributing to illegal harvesting and called on government to tighten regulations in the sector.

The portfolio committee also heard about illegal mining activities in SAFCOL's nature reserves which is threatening eco-tourism and has forced the company to close some of the hiking trails due to security risk posed by the heavily armed illegal miners.

Committee members agreed with a proposal by SAFCOL to have timber theft declared a priority crime and for tighter legislative measures not to issue mining licences in areas designated as forestry land.

On positive news, the committee commended SAFCOL's unqualified audit and the introduction of mechanised harvesting system which significantly reduced the number of injuries and fatalities in the company's operations.

The committee also welcomed the company's incubation and enterprise development programmes which have empowered over 108 SMMEs in the past three years.

Read the original article on Parliament of South Africa.

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