Hunters May Travel Over Provincial Borders and May Stay Over in the Hunting Camp!!!

The declaration of the invalidity and unconstitutionality of the Regulations that were published on 28 May 2020 for Alert Level 3, is suspended for a period of 14 business days from date of the judgment. This means that the regulations remain in place for the mentioned period. Your interpretation is correct, as we have received clarity from the relevant approval structures that hunting may be done in the following manner while the Alert Level 3 Regulations remain in place:

• Hunting may be done for subsistence purposes; i.e. the primary aim of the hunt is to obtain meat for personal consumption;
• Persons may travel across district, metro or provincial borders to the hunting destination, as hunting is a wildlife management service. Regulation 33(4) makes provision for such travel, amongst others, for any permitted service;
• The landowner must issue a permit to each person that travels for the hunt, indicating the following information on the permit:

o  Name of each hunter

o  Date/ period of the hunt (start date and end date)

o  Species and number of animals that will be hunted

• The hunter/s may stay over in the hunting camp of the landowner (i.e. accommodation must be provided on-site)
• The landowner is responsible to maintain health and safety protocols.

We will provide a template for the permit to be issued by the landowner, as Form 2 in Annexure A of the Regulations are not quite suited for this particular purpose. Regulation 33(4) makes provision for a permit that corresponds with Form 2 of Annexure A.

The above may change, depending on the amended regulations to be published by the Minister of COGTA within 14 business days of the judgment made by the High Court on 2 June 2020.

Source: Game & Hunt Daily

COMMENT:

• The national state of disaster lapses on 14 June after having been in place for three months.
• The High Court judgment has given Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma 14 days to amend lockdown regulations, but this deadline takes place after the national state of disaster ends.
• If the national state of disaster is not extended, the lockdown regulations will not need to be amended as they will have no legal bearing.