Case Decision - 195195

Interim Comment
After an internal SAHRA discussion, the response to the email is the following:

SAHRA has identified the permit under which the trenches appear to have been conducted under. Permit 2090 (https://sahris.sahra.org.za/node/325632) was issued to Steven Walker in 2015. Condition 2 of the permit has reference: “2. This permit does not automatically approve of any housing development. It is understood that this study examines the extent of archaeological material in the archaeologically sensitive area of Kathu.”
The permit was issued with the understanding that a permit report would be submitted to SAHRA showing the results of the testing and would be incorporated into further impact assessment reports;
SAHRA requires clarity regarding the development application. Please inform SAHRA if the application for the housing development was subjected to an Environmental Authorisation or NEMA application. If an EA process was followed, we require all of the NEMA documents, and if a decision was made i.e. if the EA was granted, SAHRA requires these documents for further informed comments to be issued;
SAHRA has read the contents of the email from Steven Walker. SAHRA must highlight that Mr. Walker appears to have misunderstood the requirements of SAHRA in this regard. As highlighted by condition 2 of the issued permit above, SAHRA did not provide approval to the proposed development in 2015, and there is no record of any development application on SAHRIS, other than the permit application. SAHRA would not have waived the requirement for an impact assessment, as an impact assessment would provide relevant information in order to recommend appropriate mitigation measures;
If the development application was not subjected to a NEMA/EA process, then SAHRA will request a stand-alone Archaeological Impact Assessment to be conducted taking into account the proposed development and its activities, as well as a desktop PIA as per the Interim Comment issued on Case ID 14576;
If it is not possible to procure the 2015 report compiled by Mr. Walker in 2015, a letter noting the outstanding report and the attempts to contact Mr. Walker must be submitted to the SAHRIS application.

SAHRA awaits your response.