A legal dispute over tree damage ends with Joburg City Parks removing two trees, underscoring the consequences of poor urban tree choices.
Westdene resident Grant Culhane outside his home in Johannesburg, on 14 February 2025. He has been engaged in a four-year battle with the municipality over two trees outside his property Picture: Nigel Sibanda/The Citizen
They may have won the “War of the Trees” in court but Joburg City Parks and Zoo have done what we believe is the right thing and agreed to cut down two large trees currently destroying a property’s owner’s wall and gate.
In a place known for its “urban forest”, cutting down the oxygen-enhancing trees should always be a last resort and there are many who would sympathise with the organisation’s refusal to do so… or at least on its insistence that the householder plant 15 similar trees – and their cost – as replacements.
The problem is that the decision to plant the monkey thorn and yellow fever tree was wrong in the first place, given the limited space available.
ALSO READ: City Parks agrees to remove trees outside Joburg resident’s house despite court victory
The monkey thorn (Acacia galpinii) not only has a spreading roots system, but is also one of the biggest trees in the acacia family, unsuited for a suburb with narrow street and small plots.
It should have been obvious, even 50 years ago, that trees in Johannesburg get far more water than they would in their natural, semiarid habits… and will therefore grow much bigger.
But why could this decision not have been made four years ago, saving a hugely expensive legal fight?
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