GENERAL NOTICE

NOTICE 426 OF 1998

Government Gazette Vol. 393, No. 18742, 13 March 1998

BOARD OF INVESTIGATION INTO THE INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR NATURE CONSERVATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Dr Z. Pallo Jordan, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, has appointed a Board of Investigation in terms of section 15 of the Environment Conservation Act, 1989 (Act No. 73 of 1989).

Mr. Justice Mark Kumleben, a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal, has been appointed its chairperson. The two other members are Dr John Ledger, the director of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, and Prof. Stan Sangweni, the chairperson of the Public Service Commission.

The terms of reference of the Board are to investigate and make recommendations on—

  1. the management of national parks as a part of the State's responsibilities and functions in respect of nature conservation;
  2. the functionality of the present division of administrative competencies and functions relating to protected area management between institutions of the national government (South African National Parks) and the provinces (the provincial nature conservation authorities) and its effect on service provision;
  3. the future management of South Africa's system of national parks and other protected areas with specific reference to bringing decision-making and benefits closer to local communities;
  4. the role of the provinces and the South African National Parks in the management of the existing national parks and in the identification and proclamation of future national parks;
  5. the constitutional (if any) and institutional arrangements as well as legislative and financial measures required to give effect to the most appropriate alternatives;
  6. the application of the existing criteria for the classification of protected areas in South Africa in the light of the current constitutional dispensation, present practices and international trends.

All interested and affected parties are invited to submit written memoranda to the secretary of the Board of Investigation into the Institutional Arrangements for Nature Conservation in South Africa, Private Bag X447, PRETORIA, 0001, on or before 20 April 1998. In the light of the written submissions the board will decide whether, or to what extent, interviews are to be arranged or public hearings are to be held.