Deputy Minister M Sotyu: Launch community forestry agreements and handover ceremony of Mission, Nqamakwe and Mgomanzi plantations to Tobotshane, Amahlubi and Amazizi traditional councils

Butterworth, Mnquma Local Municipality, Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province
23 April 2024

Today we meet in the Eastern Cape to handover plantations to communities. The transfer of plantations is an implementation based on

• The White Paper on Sustainable Forest Management, 1996 which mandated government not to be involved in day-to-day management of plantations but to focus on its regulatory function.
• This was further enshrined in the National Forest Act, 1998 which provides for promotion of community forestry as one of its purposes. Sections 29-31 of this Act provides for the Minister to enter into Community Forestry Agreements and also outlines a process that must be followed for this to take place.
• As part of implement the above, and ensuring that there is transformation in the sector, government led by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, labour and industry developed the Commercial Forestry Masterplan which is a growth and investment plan. This plan made a number of undertakings and one of these was to ensure that the management of plantations is transferred to communities to ensure production and to achieve transformation goals.  

As a result, over the past three years, a total of 27 plantations in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal have been transferred. This is a milestone that requires commitment not only by government but by industry and the communities taking over these plantations. Government, through the DFFE is expected to provide Post Settlement Support to the communities ranging from technical to financial support where possible. The industry is expected to support these communities through investments that will ensure that the plantations are managed sustainable. The communities on the other hand are expected to ensure that they protect these plantations and management them for the benefit of all, which is why we have the Traditional Council taking the centre stage in the process.

I want to wish the communities of Tobotshane, Amahlubi and Amazizi well and to encourage them to take this responsibility seriously, this is a legacy for them and their generations to come.

I thank you