South African family history, genealogy, heritage and interesting places, past and present. All articles researched and written by Anne Lehmkuhl. COPYRIGHT ANNE LEHMKUHL, no article can be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission. EMAIL ME
Jail time for cutting old trees
Three family members from Mooi River in KwaZulu-Natal have been sentenced by the circuit High Court for stealing a yellowwood forest. Another three members of the Malenge Tribal Authority were also sentenced for their involvement in the crime, which conservationists estimate caused damage worth R8-million to the State forest. The trees were between 300 and 400 years old. Victor Terblanche, his sons Pierre and Morne, and three members of the Malenge Tribal Authority Nkosi Wilson Ntlabathi, Eric Sithole and S.P. Satywa were convicted of cutting down 89 yellowwood trees in the Umzimkhulu area. They were arrested in 2001. The Terblanche family members and the Tribal Authority members each received an eight-year prison sentence, of which three years were suspended for five years, while the Terblanches received an additional three years in prison. The Tribal Authority members also received two-year suspended prison sentences. The men were charged with various crimes relating to the illegal cutting, possession, sale and transportation of forest products from the Gonqogonqo State Forest. Rod Potter, a KwaZulu-Natal wildlife investigator, conducted the investigation, the first court case of this magnitude heard by a high court in South Africa. The State indicated it would appeal against some of the sentences, which it felt were too lenient.