Case Decision - 199360

Final Comment
The following comments are made as a requirement in terms of section 3(4) of the NEMA Regulations and section 38(8) of the NHRA in the format provided in section 38(4) of the NHRA and must be included in the Final BAR and EMPr:

38(4)a – The SAHRA has no objections to the proposed development;
38(4)b – The recommendations of the specialists are supported and must be adhered to. Further additional specific conditions are provided for the development:
The recommended preconstruction survey must be conducted prior to any ground clearance. The report of the survey must be submitted to SAHRA for comment prior to any ground clearance. No ground clearance of construction may occur on site without comments from SAHRA;
SAHRA reserves the right to stipulate additional conditions, layout changes or object to the development based on the results of the preconstruction survey;
If the ruins are older than 100 years, SAHRA holds the jurisdiction over these sites. The recommended no-go buffer zones must be adhered to;
If it is not possible to avoid impacting the identified ruins, and they are defined as archaeological sites, destruction permits must be applied from SAHRA in terms of section 35 of the NHRA and monitoring by an archaeologist must take place during the destruction. If burials are identified during the site clearance, the consultation as required in Chapter XI of the NHRA Regulations must be followed and thereafter any permits required in terms of section 36 and Chapter IX of the NHRA Regulations will be required if grave relocation is found to be acceptable;
Should the ruins not be older than 100 years, but older than 60 years, the Mpumalanga Provincial Heritage Resources Authority must be approached for a decision regarding their protection;
All graves must be avoided with a 30 m buffer during construction of pylons, jeep track roads and stringing of powerline cables. Appropriate measures must be made to protect the sites from damage i.e. temporary structures such as scaffolding to be placed over graves located under the powerline cables during stringing and fences around the grave sites;
If it is not possible to avoid direct impact to the identified graves, a consultation process in terms of section 36 of the NHRA and Chapter XI of the NHRA Regulations must be followed;
If grave relocation is found to be acceptable, a permit for the grave relocation must be applied for to SAHRA in terms of section 36 and Chapter IX of the NHRA Regulations;
38(4)c(i) – If any evidence of archaeological sites or remains (e.g. remnants of stone-made structures, indigenous ceramics, bones, stone artefacts, ostrich eggshell fragments, charcoal and ash concentrations), fossils or other categories of heritage resources are found during the proposed development, SAHRA (Natasha Higgitt 021 202 8660) must be alerted as per section 35(3) of the NHRA. Non-compliance with section of the NHRA is an offense in terms of section 51(1)e of the NHRA and item 5 of the Schedule;
38(4)c(ii) – If unmarked human burials are uncovered, the SAHRA Burial Grounds and Graves (BGG) Unit (Thingahangwi Tshivhase/Ngqabutho Madida 012 320 8490), must be alerted immediately as per section 36(6) of the NHRA. Non-compliance with section of the NHRA is an offense in terms of section 51(1)e of the NHRA and item 5 of the Schedule;
38(4)d – See section 51 of the NHRA regarding offences;
38(4)e – The following conditions apply with regards to the appointment of specialists:
With reference to the mitigation work noted above, a qualified archaeologist must be appointed to undertake the work in terms of the permit applied for as noted above;
If heritage resources are uncovered during the course of the development, a professional archaeologist or palaeontologist, depending on the nature of the finds, must be contracted as soon as possible to inspect the heritage resource. If the newly discovered heritage resources prove to be of archaeological or palaeontological significance, a Phase 2 rescue operation may be required subject to permits issued by SAHRA;
The Final BAR and EMPr must be submitted to SAHRA for record purposes;
The decision regarding the EA Application must be communicated to SAHRA and uploaded to the SAHRIS Case application.