The City of Johannesburg has numerous bylaws pertaining to open public spaces such as parks.
City of Joburg’s Public Open Spaces Bylaws (Published under Notice No 831 in Gauteng Provincial Gazette Extraordinary No 179 dated 21 May 2004) defines an ‘open public space’ as a space that:
(a) is owned by an organ of State, or
(b) over which an organ of State has certain real rights arising from the filing in the Deeds Office or other registration office of a general plan of a township, agricultural holding or other division of land, or any alteration, addition to or amendment of such land approved by the Surveyor-General, on which is marked the land to which the public has a common right of use; and
(c) is controlled and managed by the council; and
(d) is either –
(i) set aside in terms of any law, zoning scheme or spatial plan, for the purpose of public recreation, conservation, the installation of public infrastructure or agriculture; or
(ii) predominantly undeveloped and open and has not yet been set aside for a particular purpose in terms of any law, zoning scheme or spatial plan;
In Chapter 3 – Prohibited Conduct – the Bylaws pertaining to vegetation state:
(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2), no person may within a public open space –
(a) disturb, damage, destroy or remove any tree, shrub or other vegetation;
(b) affix or place any printed matter on a tree;
(c) plant any vegetation;
(d) alter the slope or drainage pattern so as to interfere with the access of water, air or nutrients to any tree or other plant;
Penalties regarding offences in this matter are as follows:
A person is guilty of an offence [prohibited conduct] and liable on conviction to a fine or in default of payment to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months and in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding R50, or in default of payment to imprisonment not exceeding one day, for every day during the continuance of such offence after a written notice has been issued by the Council and served on the person concerned requiring the discontinuance of such offence.
Chapter 4 – Application for Authorisation – states that: Any person who wants to undertake a prohibited activity must make application in writing to the Council for permission to do so, which application must be accompanied by the prescribed fee.
The Council must consider the application within a reasonable time and must either- (a) refuse the application; or (b) grant permission in writing to the applicant subject to such conditions.
For further details for the application process or any other bylaws relating to this matter view the City of Joburg’s Public Open Spaces by-laws.
-
-
-
-
