Statistics Act, 1999
R 385
Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act, 1983 (Act No. 43 of 1983)15. Conservation committees |
| (1) | The Minister may establish a committee, to be known as a conservation committee, in respect of any area determined by the Minister. |
| (2) | A conservation committee so established for any area— |
| (a) | shall promote the conservation of the natural agricultural resources in the area concerned in order to achieve the objects of this Act on or with regard to the land in that area; |
| (b) | shall advise the department on any matter as to the application of this Act or a scheme in the area concerned, or which it may deem necessary in order that the objects of this Act may be achieved in the area concerned; and |
| (c) | may exercise such other powers and shall perform such other duties as may be conferred or imposed upon it by or in terms of this Act or by the Minister. |
| (3) |
| (a) | The members of a conservation committee shall be appointed by the Minister by virtue of their knowledge of and interest in the conservation of the natural agricultural resources of the Republic, and shall consist of |
| (i) | two land users designated by the Minister; and |
| (ii) | so many additional persons, not being less than three, as the Minister may from time to time determine, who are land users. |
| (b) | A member referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) shall be nominated by the farmers' association, farmers' union or district agricultural union, as the case may be, for the area concerned, to serve on the conservation committee concerned. |
| (c) | Whenever the appointment of a member referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) becomes necessary, the regional director of the region within which the area concerned is situated, shall request the farmers' association, farmers' union or district agricultural union concerned, as the case may be, in writing to submit its nomination to him in writing within a specified period. |
| (d) | If the farmers' association, farmers' union or district agricultural union concerned, as the case may be, fails to comply with such request within the specified period, the said regional director may nominate such land users as he may deem fit for appointment as members of the conservation committee concerned in the place of the land users required to be nominated. |
| (e) | A member of a conservation committee shall be a land user in the area in respect of which the conservation committee has been established. |
| (f) | Any area determined under section 9 of the Soil Conservation Act, 1969 (Act No. 76 of 1969), in respect of which a soil conservation committee has been established under that section, shall be deemed to have been determined under subsection (1) of this section. |
| (g) | Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) the persons who, at the commencement of this section, are the members of a soil conservation committee which has been established in respect of any such area under section 9 of the Soil Conservation Act, 1969, shall constitute the conservation committee in respect of that area for the remainder of their period of office. |
| (4) |
| (a) | A member of a conservation committee shall hold office for such period, not being more than five years, as the Minister may determine at the time of the appointment of that member, and such member may, at the expiry of his period of office by effluxion of time, be reappointed as a member of the conservation committee. |
| (b) | A member of a conservation committee shall vacate his office if— |
| (i) | he has absented himself from two consecutive meetings of the conservation committee without the leave of the committee; |
| (ii) | he ceases to be a land user in the area in respect of which the conservation committee has been established; |
| (iii) | he tenders his resignation in writing to the chairman of the conservation committee; |
| (iv) | he has been convicted of an offence under this Act; |
| (v) | he has been convicted of any other offence in respect of which he was sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine, and such sentence has not been suspended; or |
| (vi) | the Minister, if in his opinion sufficient reasons exist therefor, terminates his membership of the conservation committee. |
| (c) | A vacancy on a conservation committee arising in terms of paragraph (b) or as a result of the death of a member, shall be filled by appointment in the manner in which the member who vacated his office or died, was required to be appointed. |
| (d) | A member who is appointed by virtue of paragraph (c) shall hold office for the unexpired portion of the period for which the member who vacated his office or died, was appointed. |
| (5) |
| (a) | The person who at the commencement of this section is the chairman of a soil conservation committee which has been established in respect of a particular area in terms of section 9 of the Soil Conservation Act, 1969, shall be the chairman of the conservation committee in respect of the area concerned until a chairman is elected in terms of paragraph (b)(ii) of this subsection. |
| (b) | The members of a conservation committee shall elect a chairman from among themselves— |
| (i) | at the first meeting after the establishment of that conservation committee; and |
| (ii) | at the first meeting of that conservation committee after the office of chairman thereof has become vacant for any reason whatsoever, or as soon thereafter as may be convenient. |
| (c) | The chairman elected in terms of paragraph (b)(ii) shall hold office for the unexpired portion of the period for which he has been appointed as a member of the conservation committee concerned. |
| (d) | The chairman of a conservation committee may vacate his office as such without terminating his membership of the conservation committee. |
| (6) |
| (a) | The calling and attendance of and the quorum for a meeting of a conservation committee shall be as prescribed. |
| (b) | Except in so far as may be prescribed, the person who presides at a meeting of a soil conservation committee shall determine the procedure at that meeting. |
| (7) | The decision of a majority of the members of a conservation committee present at any meeting thereof shall constitute the decision of that committee: Provided that in the event of an equality of votes the member presiding at that meeting shall have a casting vote in addition to his deliberative vote. |
| (8) | No decision taken by a conservation committee or act performed under the authority of a conservation committee shall be invalid by reason only of an interim vacancy on the committee or by reason of the fact that a person who is not entitled to sit as a member of the committee sat as a member of the committee at the time when the decision was taken or the act was authorized, if the decision was taken or the act was authorized by the requisite majority of the members of the committee who were present at the time and entitled to sit as members. |
| (9) | A conservation committee may from time to time appoint from its own members the subcommittees which it may deem necessary, to exercise the powers and perform the duties which the conservation committee may confer upon, delegate to or impose upon it. |
| (10) |
| (a) | Each conservation committee shall appoint one of its members or any other person as secretary of the conservation committee. |
| (b) | Any person so appointed shall in the prescribed manner dispose of any documents relating to the functions of the conservation committee. |
| (11) |
| (a) | Members of a conservation committee who are not in the full-time service of the State may in respect of their services as such members be paid out of moneys appropriated by Parliament for this purpose, such allowances as the Minister may with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance determine. |
| (b) | Any person appointed in terms of subsection (10) as secretary of a conservation committee may in respect of the performance of his functions as such be paid out of moneys appropriated by Parliament for this purpose, such remuneration and allowances as the Minister may with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance determine. |
