Belinda Beresford
The government will fight them in the gardens, it will fight them in the garden centres and it will fight them in the streets and parks – unless of course they’ve got special permission to be there.
The Department of Agriculture is about to outlaw trading in a number of invading alien plants, with jacaranda and guava trees being the most high-profile victims.
The moves are an attempt to curb the impact of non-indigenous plants. Most at risk of chainsaw massacres are plants which consume a lot of water but are not considered economically important.
The penalties for illicit trading or planting are high: a fine of up to R5 000 or two years in the slammer for the first offence, R10 000 or five years for the second.
Existing trees are safe, unless the neighbours complain about their fecundity. Anyone with a “category three” plant which reproduces in neighbouring properties has to pay for eradicating the offspring – else the parent plant gets the chop.
But what about the impact on a city such as Pretoria, where the jacaranda trees helped it win a “most beautiful city” award a couple of years ago?
Rest assured, says the Department of Agriculture. Those tree-lined avenues where the flowering jacarandas add a blue tinge to the light are not being legislated out of existence.
City councils can apply each year for a permit which will allow them to replace existing trees. Permits will not, however, be issued to private individuals.