Case Decision - 380590

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 EMPr:

• 38(4)a – The SAHRA Development Applications Unit (DAU) has no objections to the proposed development;
• 38(4)b – The recommendations of the specialists are supported and must be adhered to. The following additional specific conditions must be adhered to;
• The recommendations issued in the 2017 Interim Comment are valid and must be adhered to;
• The borrow pits that could not be surveyed as a part of the PIA must be ground truthed prior to any excavations. Frequent monitoring of the ongoing excavations within the borrow pits must be conducted by a qualified palaeontologist and monitoring reports must be submitted to SAHRA;
• An Archaeologist and Palaeontologist must be appointed to monitor the progress of the development and the compliance of conditions as set out by SAHRA;
• An Archaeological and Palaeontological monitoring report must be submitted to SAHRA as soon as possible;
• The Chance Find Procedure submitted by Dr G. Groenewald must be adhered to;
• Any material/fossils that have been removed/identified must be reported to SAHRA and a palaeontologist be appointed to assess the in- and ex-situ material;
• The recommendation of the removal of the trackway (site 28) is supported and must be adhered to. A permit in terms of section 35 of the NHRA must be applied for from SAHRA prior to any further construction in the immediate area;
• 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 (Boitshepo Motsodisa/[email protected]) must be alerted as per section 35(3) of the NHRA. Non-compliance with this 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 DAU (Boitshepo Motsodisa/[email protected]) must be alerted immediately as per section 36(6) of the NHRA. Non-compliance with this 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(1) of the NHRA regarding offences;
• 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 EMPr must be submitted to the SAHRIS Case for record purposes;
• The decision regarding the EA application must be submitted to the SAHRIS application for record purposes.