Court beckons for company that 'severely pruned' R600k worth of trees in Joburg

Landscapers accused of cutting six extremely valuable acacia trees that were blocking billboards in Fourways, Johannesburg, will appear in court on November 4. 

They have been charged with malicious damage to public infrastructure.

The treefelling incident happened last Wednesday, when six acacias were “pruned” at the Leaping Frog Shopping Centre by landscapers from Top Turf, a Bidvest company.

The trees are about 30 years old, indigenous and uncommon in the city.

According to Joseph Ndou, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo's regional manager, they were valued at R600,000.

On the day, Mmankwe Sebatjane, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo’s senior arboriculturist, and Ndou were in Fourways conducting site visits.

Driving along William Nicol Drive, they encountered the team allegedly illegally pruning the trees.

According to a statement by Bryne Maduka, the MD of Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, the acacias were “severely pruned”.

“Employees of the company say they were acting on instruction by their superiors, who were commissioned by the adjacent shopping centre to increase the visibility of advertising signage along this busy main road,” he said.

Ndou called the police who, with members of the Johannesburg metro police, detained the employees and their supervisors. Their vehicles and tools were also confiscated.

Each of the six received R1,000 bail and appeared in court the next day.

Ndou said this was the first case reported to the police with people arrested and charged.

“We are planning to lay more charges against other people who have removed trees illegally,” he said.

Though the landscapers said the centre instructed them to “prune” the trees, Accelerate Property Fund, the owners of Leaping Frog, said they had not given the landscapers permission to do so.

Bidvest declined to comment as “all the parties are in consultation and we wouldn’t want to prejudice the process”, but said the company was “proudly based in Johannesburg and we always strive to make a positive contribution in making Johannesburg a world-class city”.

Ndou said: “We have confidence in our justice system that with all evidence submitted, justice will be done with regard to damage done to the six indigenous trees.”

He said the city used the Helliwell valuation system to determine the value of trees and that this value was according to intangible factors. The system allocates point scores under a number of different factors, such as:

• size of a tree;
• life expectancy;
• importance of position in the landscape;
• presence of other trees;
• surrounds and aesthetic;
• the form – the shape, size, height and look of a tree;
• special factors – the botanical value of species; and 
• growth rate.

Once this is determined, the various factors are combined to establish the monetary value of the tree. 

“The tree in question is not endangered but indigenous and plays an important role in an urban setting like Johannesburg,” said Ndou.

“Trees are moderating the urban micro-climate and thereby play a vital role, assisting to control adverse conditions for life in the City of Johannesburg. They assist in increasing air quality by absorbing pollutants, thereby making our city a healthier place to live in.

“[They help in the] sequestration and storage of carbon, storm and water management, providing windbreaks and reducing rainwater runoff. They reduce noise pollution and assist in increasing biodiversity, providing plants and animals with favourable habitat, food and protection.

“There are not a lot of acacias trees in the City of Johannesburg, making these trees special.”

City Parks and Zoo said it was concerning that the severe pruning of the trees had happened during Arbor Month, held each year in September to highlight the plight of trees and encourage tree planting.  

Meanwhile, beer brand Amstel has teamed up with non-profit Food & Trees For Africa, and spent Monday planting trees in the city.

In October 2019 Amstel, owned by Heineken, came under fire for cutting trees in the city centre's Maboneng precinct to make way for a billboard.

The incident led Amstel to commit to planting 50 trees in Johannesburg.

TimesLIVE