Case Decision - 350141

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:
• A 30m buffer zone around the iron aged sites 88, 509, 531, 559 must be maintained during construction and operation of Solar Energy Facility;
• The stone cairn 557 must be verified whether it is a grave or not. A permit for test excavations in terms of section 35 of the NHRA and Chapter IV of the NHRA 2000 Regulations must be applied for to SAHRA;
• A Chance Find Procedure should be implemented for any accidental discoveries made during project phases (refer to Addendum 2 of the HIA report);
• If the applicant is unable to conserve the aforementioned sites then a section 35 of the NHRA permit application in terms of Chapter IV of the NHRA 2000 Regulations must be applied for further investigation and mitigation of the sites;
• 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 Final EIAr must be submitted to the case for record keeping;
• The decision regarding the EA Application must be communicated to SAHRA and uploaded to the SAHRIS Case application.