Two men have been sentenced to five years’ direct imprisonment for the theft of eight protected cycads near Stutterheim.
Mvakhe Tshaka, 34, and Misile Nkomonde, 54, were arrested in May last year after they uprooted eight cycads in the Bolo farming area that is located between Stutterheim and Komga.
They were charged with contravening Act 62 (1) of the Nature Conservation Ordinance 19 of 1974, theft and trespassing.
Nkomonde’s brother, Mphati, was also charged but there was a separation of trial after he fell ill at the start of the trial.
He was allegedly the driver of the getaway car. Later this month, a trial date will be set to hear his case separately.
Etienne Kitching, the assistant director of the special investigations unit at the provincial department of environmental affairs said it was believed the two ran a Gauteng-based syndicate.
“The eight cycads that were uprooted were worth R200000,” Kitching said.
Tshaka and Nkomonde appeared in the Stutterheim Regional Court.
In addition to their five-year sentences, the men were each further fined R800000 or four years’ imprisonment suspended for five years.
Some of the uprooted cycads, with the scientific name encephalators princeps, were 300 years old. After Tshaka and Nkomonde’s arrest, the cycads were replanted.
According to Kitching, South Africa has 38 different species of cycads and 15 of those species are found in the Eastern Cape.
“Three of the species in the Eastern Cape are in critical danger. In fact, one of them has less than 40 plants in the wild,” he added.
Kitching said the Gauteng syndicates sourced the cycads for collectors who wanted them for status.
“These collectors do not want to buy seedlings because cycads take between 12 and 15 years to get to adult stage, depending on the species,” Kitching added. — siyab@dispatch.co.za