Glenvista Man Held for Theft of Cycads. (3 December, 1996)

The ancient and exotic cycad managed to survive the dinosaur but it is a battle to conserve these plants in the face of greedy and status-conscious people who buy the plants without any concern for the long-term protection of the species, say conservationists from Mpumalanga. Members of the Mpumalanga Parks Board were in Johannesburg last week to follow up the theft of plants from their wilderness areas. Last Tuesday they arrested two men, one from Glenvista and the other from Oaklands in Johannesburg, for the illegal possession of plants and recovered five cycads of the species Encephalartos Laevifolius. They were able to positively identify the plants as stolen from the Mpumalanga region as they had been microchipped.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg, says Herman Erasmus of the Parks Board's special investigation unit. Even though the Parks Board has microchipped all of their most endangered species of cycad - some of which have fewer than 300 species left in the veld - the theft continues. This Erasmus attributes to the high 'snob' value of these plants and although there are severe penalties for illegal possession of the plants these are seldom imposed.

While the maximum penalty is R30 000 or twenty years' imprisonment, plus an additional fine of three times the value of the plants involved, this is seldom imposed, says Erasmus. In his experience the highest penalty imposed has been R10 000 and a five-year suspended sentence. Two weeks ago they arrested a Boksburg man for the illegal possession of cycads. The man, says Erasmus, is out on bail for two cases of illegal possession and was caught in the same bakkie he allegedly used in the previous thefts.

In order to conserve the cycads the Mpumalanga Parks Board has a vigorous microchippping programme. Each cycad is identified on a data base by species, size, location, age and other information to help officials with their theft investigations. It is sad, he added, that these endangered species do not attract the same attention as endangered wildlife. 'Imagine,' says Erasmus, looking down on the rather undramatic looking cone-shaped trunk of the cycad, 'if this was a rhino. Would the world be as casual about the conservation of the speices?' By Cecilia Russel. Courtesy of The Star.