Bulldozing a mountainside to build a car park for snow sightseers has destroyed highly sensitive altimontane fynbos, the Western Cape government said on Friday.
Now the owners of Matroosberg Private Nature Reserve in Ceres have been ordered to cease activities on the reserve and the neighbouring Valschgat Kloof, and to stop snow tourists driving up the mountain.
The Western Cape environmental affairs and development planning department said additional damage was caused by the use of informal roads in an area with a highly sensitive botanical ecosystem and threatened plant species. Site inspections were conducted by the department's environmental management inspectors and CapeNature, said a statement on Friday.
“Our inspectors [Green Scorpions] have confirmed that significant pollution and/or degradation of this highly sensitive environment has taken place,” said spokesperson Rudolf van Jaarsveldt. “Therefore the directive in terms of section 28 of the National Environmental Management Act was issued to the owners to prevent and/or minimise the pollution and/or degradation from continuing.”
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