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National Forests Act, 1998 (Act No. 84 of 1998)

Chapter 5 : Institutions

Part 1 : National Forests Advisory Council

34. Constitution of Council

 

(1) The Council consists of a maximum of 20 members and a minimum of 14 members appointed by the Minister in terms of this section.

 

(2) In making appointments to the Council the Minister must balance the interests of—
(a) categories of persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination;
(b) communities involved in community forestry;
(c) environmental interest groups;
(d) persons who carry on small scale plantation forestry;
(e) persons who carry on small scale timber processing;
(f) persons with expertise which can assist the Council in achieving its objects;
(g) the forest industry;
(h) the forest products industries; and
(i) trade unions representing employees in the forest and forest products industry.

 

(3) Whenever it is necessary to appoint the Council the Minister must—
(a) invite nominations by means of a notice published in at least two nationally distributed newspapers, specifying a period within which nominations must be submitted;
(b) establish an advisory committee which includes the chairpersons of the portfolio committees dealing with forestry matters in the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, or their delegates, and appoint a chairperson for the committee; and
(c) submit all the nominations received to the advisory committee.

 

(4) The advisory committee must compile a short list of suitable candidates from the nominations and submit it to the Minister within one month of receiving the nominations.

 

(5) The Minister must appoint the members of the Council after considering the short list.

 

(6) The Minister may appoint—
(a) an alternate member for any member of the Council; and
(b) a replacement for any member who vacates his or her office, on the basis of the criteria referred to in subsection (2).

 

(7) The replacement serves for the balance of the term of the person he or she replaces.

 

(8) The Minister must appoint one member of the Council as chairperson and one member as vice-chairperson.