Case Decision - 346916

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 EIAr:

• 38(4)a – The SAHRA Development Application Unit (DAU) has no objections to the proposed development;
  38(4)b – The recommendations provided by the heritage specialists are supported and must be adhered to. These further additional comments apply:
  An archaeologist must be appointed to undertake a watching brief during ground clearance activities to monitor if any heritage resources are uncovered during construction;
• A monitoring report must be submitted to SAHRA after the construction phase;
  A section 35 of the NHRA permit application in terms of Chapter IV of the NHRA 2000 Regulations must be applied for by an archaeologist, who will conduct any test excavations for further investigation activities and mitigation of heritage sites protected in terms of section 35;
• A 60 day social consultation process in terms of Chapter XI of the NHRA 2000 Regulations must be carried out to identify descendant family members and obtain consent to fence any cemeteries, develop a visitation protocol and permission to relocate graves is necessary;
• A section 36 of the NHRA permit application in terms of Chapter IX of the NHRA 2000 Regulations must be applied for by a suitably qualified archaeologist if TSF option 9 is chosen; 
• Any grave relocations must be undertaken by a qualified archaeologist;
• 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 DAU (Nokukhanya Khumalo/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 offence 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 DAU (Nokukhanya Khumalo/Natasha Higgitt 021 202 8660), must be alerted immediately as per section 36(6) of the NHRA. Non-compliance with section of the NHRA is an offence in terms of section 51(1)e of the NHRA and item 5 of the Schedule;
• 38(4)d – See section 51(1) of the NHRA;
• 38(4)e – The following conditions apply with regards to the appointment of specialists:
• i) 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 decision regarding the EA Application must be communicated to SAHRA and uploaded to the SAHRIS Case application.