30 Nov -0001

It is important for all stakeholders involved in phane harvesting to understand and respect their roles.

An official of the Department of Forestry and Range Resources, Mr Wazha Lucas said in an interview that the village leadership and members of the community where there was mophane vegetation should not prevent people in possession of harvesting permits from harvesting phane.

He said his office was inundated with reports of people who denied lawful harvesters from harvesting phane in some localities, claiming that harvesters were trespassing in their private property.

According to the law, harvesters were not allowed to harvest in an area within one kilometre radius of private owned boreholes.

Mr Lucas noted however that harvesters should notify the village leadership of their presence in their localities prior to harvesting. In addition he said his department would hold kgotla meetings with village leadership to clear the mist on issues pertaining to harvesting phane, since there had been lack of understanding that resulted in conflicts between harvesters and village leadership.

Mr Lucas said prior to harvesting, his office made “round checks” in areas with mophane vegetation to assess the amount of phane available and the information was vital for issuance of harvesting permits.

He, however,  said that his office did not manage to issue enough permits as a result of delay in printing permit books hence interested people registered with dikgosi in their respective localities as well as forestry department offices in their respective areas.

He said those who had registered had to make payments as soon as permit books were ready.

A harvesting permit cost P2, dealers permit, P50, while exporters’ permit was P500 for citizens or P1 000 for expatriates working in the country or P2 000 for non-residents.

Mr Lucas said expatriates were not allowed to harvest phane, but were rather allowed to buy from the local people. Harvesting without a permit, he said was an offence that attracted P1 000 charge or 12 months imprisonment.

Mr Lucas stated that his office was monitoring the situation in various localities to ensure that people did not disturb the life cycle of mophane worm such as harvesting at infancy or during burying stage. ENDS