LETTER: Be aware of ‘tree cutters’ so proper action can be taken

On Friday 27 October, I witnessed a group of men hacking branches off from old trees on the road reserve along the R102, just past Schonenberg Estate in Somerset West.

They were wearing orange vests and had put orange cones out, but their vehicles didn’t look official and the trees looked maimed. I contacted a friend who works for the municipality, and he went out to have a look and confirmed the action was illegal.

He called Law Enforcement and they were apparently issued with a R300 fine.

I am afraid they will be back to further maim the trees and would like to bring this to the attention of the authorities, so they are aware of this and can take action to protect the trees by prosecuting the men and doing regular patrols in the area

Margaret Frey,

Jandré Bakker, spokesperson for the Western Cape’s Mobility and Infrastructure Department, responds: “The matter was brought to the attention of the department by the author of the letter and the Department of Infrastructure has taken note.“Routine maintenance patrols are done but we are not a law enforcement agency so do not have the mandate to patrol routes for criminal behaviour. We thank the writer who flagged this with law enforcement officials. We urge the public to flag unlawful behaviour with law enforcement entities to apprehend those suspected of unlawful behaviour.”