Trade Marks Act, 1993
R 385
National Forests Act, 1998 (Act No. 84 of 1998)Chapter 1 : Introductory Provisions2. Interpretation |
| (1) | In this Act, unless inconsistent with the context— |
"assignment"
means the permanent or temporary transfer of—
| (a) | a power, duty, role or function from the functional domain of national government to one or more provincial governments, organs of state or to persons who are not organs of state; or |
| (b) | the administration of a matter listed in Schedule 4, Part A, of the Constitution; |
[Definition inserted by section 1(a) of the National Forests Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 1 of 2022), Notice No. 1131, GG46650, dated 1 July 2022 - effective 4 December 2024 per Commencement Proclamation 233 of 2024]
"biological diversity"
means genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity;
"Appeal Committee"
means the committee constituted in terms of section 57A(2);
[Definition inserted by section 1(b) of the National Forests Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 1 of 2022), Notice No. 1131, GG46650, dated 1 July 2022 - effective 4 December 2024 per Commencement Proclamation 233 of 2024]
"Committee for Sustainable Forest Management"
means the committee established in terms of section 36(3)(a);
"Committee on Forest Access"
means the committee established in terms of section 36(3)(b);
"community"
means a coherent, social group of persons with interests or rights in a particular area of land which the members have or exercise communally in terms of an agreement, custom or law;
"community forestry"
means forestry by a community in terms of an agreement referred to in sections 30 and 31;
"Council"
means the National Forests Advisory Council, established by section 33;
"Department"
means the national Department which has responsibility for forests;
"destruction of natural forest"
means any action where one or more trees in a natural forest is felled or caused to die, or the undergrowth removed, for the purpose of land use or resource use;
[Definition inserted by section 1(c) of the National Forests Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 1 of 2022), Notice No. 1131, GG46650, dated 1 July 2022 - effective 4 December 2024 per Commencement Proclamation 233 of 2024]
"Director-General"
means the Director-General of the Department;
"ecosystem"
means a system made up of a group of living organisms, the relationship between them and their physical environment;
"forest"
includes—
| (a) | a natural forest, a woodland and a plantation; |
| (b) | the forest produce in it; and |
| (c) | the ecosystems which it makes up; |
"forest management unit"
means an area of land on all or on part of which there is forest and which is managed as an integrated unit;
"forest officer"
means a person designated or appointed as a forest officer under section 65;
"forest produce"
means anything which appears or grows in a forest, including—
| (a) | any living organism, and any product of it, in a forest; and |
| (b) | inanimate objects of mineral, historical, anthropological or cultural value; |
"forest product"
means an object or substance made from forest produce by a mechanical or chemical process;
"forestry"
means the management of forests, including the management of land which is not treed but which forms part of a forest management unit;
"habitat"
means the place where a plant or animal naturally grows or lives;
"indigenous"
means indigenous to South Africa;
"Minister"
means the Minister to whom the President assigns responsibility for forests in terms of section 91(2) of the Constitution;
"municipality"
means a local council, a metropolitan council, a metropolitan local council, a representative council, a rural council or a district council as defined in section 10B of the Local Government Transition Act, 1993 (Act No. 209 of 1993), and any successor to such a council;
"natural forest"
means a group of predominantly indigenous trees—
| (a) | whose crowns are largely contiguous in its undisturbed state; |
| (b) | which may represent any successional stage or state of forest degradation, in which case crowns may not be contiguous; |
| (c) | which occur in association with characteristic plants or animals recognised in vegetation science as diagnostic species of a specific natural forest type; or |
| (d) | which have been declared by the Minister to be a natural forest in accordance with section 7(2); |
[Definition substituted by section 1(d) of the National Forests Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 1 of 2022), Notice No. 1131, GG46650, dated 1 July 2022 - effective 4 December 2024 per Commencement Proclamation 233 of 2024]
"new land use"
means any human activity leading to the use of land which would require the removal of natural forest, which is not restricted to land uses requiring land use approval, zoning or rezoning
[Definition inserted by section 1(e) of the National Forests Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 1 of 2022), Notice No. 1131, GG46650, dated 1 July 2022 - effective 4 December 2024 per Commencement Proclamation 233 of 2024]
"organ of State"
means—
| (a) | any department of State or administration in the national, provincial or local sphere of government; and |
| (b) | any other functionary or institution exercising a public power or performing a public function in terms of any legislation, |
but excluding a court or judicial officer;
"person"
includes a juristic person and a community;
"plantation"
means a group of trees cultivated for exploitation of the wood, bark, leaves or essential oils in the trees;
"prescribe"
means prescribe by regulation;
"previous forest legislation"
means—
| (a) | the laws referred to in the Schedule to the Forest Act, 1913 (Act No. 16 of 1913); |
| (b) | the Forest Act, 1913 (Act No. 16 of 1913); |
| (c) | the Forest (Demarcation) Act, 1917 (Act No. 14 of 1917); |
| (d) | the regulations made in terms of the Development Trust and Land Act, 1936 (Act No. 18 of 1936), and published in Government Notice No. 494 of 2 April 1937; |
| (e) | the Forest Act, 1941 (Act No. 13 of 1941); |
| (f) | the regulations made in terms of the Black Administration Act, 1927 (Act No. 38 of 1927), and the Development Trust and Land Act, 1936 (Act No. 18 of 1936), and published in Government Notice No. R191 of 8 September 1967; |
| (g) | the Government Notices referred to in regulation 27 of the Government Notice referred to in paragraph (f); |
| (h) | the Forest Act, 1968 (Act No. 72 of 1968); |
| (i) | the laws referred to in column 1 of Schedule 1 to the Forestry Laws Rationalisation and Amendment Act, 1994 (Act No. 51 of 1994); |
| (j) | the laws referred to in Schedule 1 to this Act; |
| (k) | any other law which allowed for the demarcation of forests or the acquisition or reservation of land for forestry; and |
| (l) | any amendments to the laws referred to in paragraphs (a) to (k); |
"protected area"
means an area set aside by the Minister as a protected area in one of the categories referred to in section 8(1);
"protected tree"
means a tree declared to be protected, or belonging to a group of trees, woodland or species declared to be protected, under section 12(1) or 14(2);
"province"
means the premier of the province exercising his or her executive authority together with the other members of the executive council referred to in section 132 of the Constitution;
"registered owner"
means an owner as defined in section 102 of the Deeds Registries Act, 1937 (Act No. 47 of 1937);
"State forest"
| (a) | means— |
| (i) | State land, other than trust forests, acquired or reserved for forestry in terms of this Act or any previous forest legislation, unless it has been released under section 50(3); |
| (ii) | State land, other than trust forests, designated as demarcated State forest or a similar designation in terms of any previous forest legislation, unless it was withdrawn from demarcation and is no longer used for forestry; and |
| (iii) | trust forests; and |
| (b) | includes— |
| (i) | State plantations, State sawmills and State timber preservation plants; |
| (ii) | land controlled and managed by the Department for research purposes or as a tree nursery; |
| (iii) | areas protected in terms of sections 8(1)(a) and (b) and 9; |
| (iv) | an area of State land which has been set aside in terms of previous forest legislation for the prevention of soil erosion or sand drift; |
| (v) | an area referred to in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b)(i) to (iv), the ownership or control of which is transferred to a person or organ of State contemplated in section 53(2)(g)(i); |
"State land"
means land which vests in the national or a provincial government—
| (a) | including— |
| (i) | land held in trust by the Minister of Land Affairs or the Ingonyama referred to in the KwaZulu Ingonyama Trust Act, 1994 (KwaZulu Act No. 3 of i993); and |
| (ii) | land which is not owned by the State but is managed by the national or a provincial government exclusively or jointly with the owner in terms of an agreement; but |
| (b) | excluding land belonging to a municipality; |
"the Act" or "this Act"
means the National Forests Act, 1998, and includes the regulations made in terms of the Act;
"the Trust"
means the National Forest Recreation and Access Trust, established by section 41;
"the Trust funds"
means the funds referred to in section 41(5) together with any money subsequently received by the Trust;
"timber"
means—
| (a) | logs; or |
| (b) | wood that has been sawn or otherwise mechanically processed; |
"tree"
includes any tree seedling, sapling, transplant or coppice shoot of any age and any root, branch or other part of it;
"trust forest"
means State land which—
| (a) | was reserved for forestry or declared as demarcated State forest or a similar status in terms of any previous forest legislation; and |
| (b) | has at any time vested in— |
| (i) | the South African Development Trust established by section 4 of the Development Trust and Land Act, 1936 (Act No. 18 of 1936); |
| (ii) | the government of any area for which a legislative assembly was established in terms of the Self-governing Territories Constitution Act, 1971 (Act No. 21 of 1971); or |
| (iii) | the governments of the former Republics of Transkei, Bophuthatswana; Venda and Ciskei, |
despite any subsequent ,withdrawal, retraction or amendment of the status of the forest as reserved or demarcated, the boundaries being those which were most recently surveyed or otherwise accurately described in terms of any law;
"vehicle"
includes any vessel or aircraft;
"woodland"
means—
| (a) | a group of indigenous trees which are not natural forest but whose crowns cover at least 5% of the area they occupy, and which may, in a degraded state have a crown cover of less than 5%; or |
| (b) | any vegetation type declared by the Minister to be a woodland by notice in the Gazette. |
[Definition substituted by section 1(f) of the National Forests Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 1 of 2022), Notice No. 1131, GG46650, dated 1 July 2022 - effective 4 December 2024 per Commencement Proclamation 233 of 2024]
| (2) | Words derived from the words defined have corresponding meanings, unless the context indicates otherwise. |
| (3) | A reasonable interpretation of a provision which is consistent with the purposes of this Act must be preferred over an alternative interpretation which is not. |
| (4) | Neither— |
| (a) | a reference to a duty to consult specific persons or authorities; nor |
| (b) | the absence of any reference to a duty to consult or give a hearing, |
in this Act exempts the official or authority exercising a power or performing a duty from the duty to proceed fairly in respect of all persons entitled to be heard.
| (5) | Explanatory notes, printed in bold italics, at the beginning of Chapters and Parts must not be used to interpret this Act. |
