Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act, 1983 (Act No. 43 of 1983)

In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates—

"advisory board"

means the Conservation Advisory Board established by section 17;

"authorized person"

means a person authorized in terms of section 4(5);

"conservation"

in relation to the natural agricultural resources, includes the protection, recovery and reclamation of those resources;

"conservation committee"

means a conservation committee established under section 15;

"control measure"

means a control measure referred to section 6;

"cultivation"

in relation to land, means any act by means of which the topsoil is disturbed mechanically; and "cultivate" has a corresponding meaning;

"department"

means the Department of Agriculture;

"direction"

means a direction referred to in section 7;

"Director-General"

means the Director-General: Agriculture;

"erosion"

means the loss of soil through the action of water, wind, ice or other agents, including the subsidence of soil;

"executive officer"

means the executive officer referred to in section 4;

"grazing capacity"

in relation to veld, means the production capacity over the long term of that veld to meet the feed requirements of animals in such a manner that the natural vegetation thereon does not deteriorate or is not destroyed;

"invader plant"

means a kind of plant which has under section 2(3) been declared an invader plant, and includes the seed of such plant and any vegetative part of such plant which reproduces itself asexually;

"land user"

means the owner of land, and includes—

(a)	any person who has a personal or real right in respect of any land in his capacity as fiduciary, fideicommissary, servitude holder, possessor, lessee or occupier, irrespective of whether he resides thereon;

(b)	any person who has the right to cut trees or wood on land or to remove trees, wood or other organic material from land; and

(c)	in relation to land under the control of a local authority, that local authority,

but not a person who carries on prospecting or mining activities;

"large stock unit"

means a unit which consists of the prescribed number of animals of a prescribed kind, type, breed, age or sex, or which is in a prescribed phase of production or is of a prescribed approximate live mass;

"local authority"

means any institution or body contemplated in section 84(1)(f) of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961 (Act No. 32 of 1961);

"Minister"

means Minister of Agriculture;

"natural agricultural resources"

means the soil, the water sources and the vegetation, excluding weeds and invader plants;

"officer"

means an officer or employee as defined in section 1 of the Public Service Act, 1957 (Act No. 54 of 1957);

"owner"

in relation to land—

(a)	means the person in whom the ownership in that land is vested or in whose name that land is registered, or if that person is absent from the Republic or his whereabouts are unknown, his authorized representative in the Republic;

(b)	which in the opinion of the executive officer has been purchased by any person but has not yet been registered in his name, means such purchaser;

(c)	which in the opinion of the executive officer is subject to a usufruct, means the usufructuary;

"prescribe"

means prescribe by regulation; and "prescribed" has a corresponding meaning;

"prospecting or mining activities"

means activities which are controlled in terms of the Mines and Works Act, 1956 (Act No. 27 of 1956), and includes the use of land for the purposes of a quarry as defined in section 1 of the Physical Planning Act, 1967 (Act No. 88 of 1967);

"regional conservation committee"

means a regional conservation committee established under section 16;

"regional director"

means an officer who is in charge of the activities of the department within a particular region determined by the Minister in terms of section 16(1);

"regulation"

means a regulation made under this Act;

"scheme"

means a scheme established in terms of section 8;

"soil conservation work"

means any work which is constructed on land for—

(a)	the prevention of erosion or the conservation of land which is subject to erosion;

(b)	the conservation or improvement of the vegetation or the surface of the soil;

(c)	the drainage of superfluous surface or subterranean water;

(d)	the conservation or reclamation of any water source; or

(e)	the prevention of the silting of dams and the pollution of water,

but not a work which is constructed on land in the course of prospecting or mining activities;

"this Act"

includes the regulations;

"urban area"

means land which—

(a)	is under the control of a local authority, but excluding any commonage or any other land under such control which in the opinion of the executive officer is utilized for agricultural purposes; or

(b)	is subdivided into erven or lots and public open spaces and streets which are bounded by such erven or lots and public open spaces;

"virgin soil"

means land which in the opinion of the executive officer has at no time during the preceding ten years been cultivated;

"water course"

means a natural flow path in which run-off water is concentrated and along which it is carried away;

"weed"

means any kind of plant which has under section 2(3) been declared a weed, and includes the seed of such plant and any vegetative part of such plant which reproduces itself asexually;

"weed killer"

means any substance or remedy or any mixture or combination of any substance or remedy which is registered in terms of the Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act, 1947 (Act No. 36 of 1947), as an agricultural remedy for use in connection with the combating of weeds or invader plants.