Weeds Eradication Act (No. 18 of 1969)

THE WEEDS ERADICATION ACT 1969 Table of Arrangement Section 1. Short title 2. Interpretation 3. Declaration of plants to be weeds 4. Duty to eradicate weeds 5. Information as to the presence of weeds and pswer to enter on land 6. Eradication of weeds by officers 7. Offence to obstruct, etc . 8. Offence to place weed in river, road , etc. 9. Repetition of offence 10. Penalties and compensation 11. Power to make regulations 12. Repeals Schedule: Weeds Gazette 23 Short title Inte rpre ta tion Declaration of plants to be weeds THE WEEDS ERADICATION ACT 1969 No. 18 of 1969 [Date of Assent: 23rd April , 1969] [Date of Commencement: 16th May, /969] ACT To amend and consolidate the law relating to the eradication of injurious weeds, and to provide for incidental or connected matters. Enacted by the Parliament of Lesotho. 1. This Act may be cited as the Weeds Eradication Act, 1969. 2. In this Act and in the regulations, unless the context otherwise requires "Chief" has the same meaning as is ascribed thereto in sub section (1) of section 2 of the Chieftainship Act 1968; "eradicate" in relation to a weed means to destroy that weed in such a manner that neither the weed nor any seed nor any portion thereof remains in a viable condition; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for agriculture; "officer" means any member of the Lesotho Mounted Police and any officer of the Ministry of Agriculture, and in cludes an officer in the public service who, under the general or special authority of the Minister, exercises the powers and perfoms the duties of an officer under this Act; and "weed" means a plant that is, und er section 3, a weed for the purpose of this Act. 3. (l) The plants named in the Schedule are weeds for the purpose of this Act. (2) The Minister may by Notice in the Gazette (a) amend the Schedule by removing from it the name of a plant; or (b) amend the Schedule, or revoke and replace the Schedule, for the purpose of declaring an injurious plant to be a weed. (3) A reference to the Schedule is a reference to the Schedule as amended or replaced under this section. 4. (l) Every person who occupies land, or who is allocated land, shall eradicate all weeds growing on that land. (2) A chief or an officer may require any person who occupies land, or who is allocated land, on which weeds are grow ing to eradicate those weeds within a period specified by the chief or officer and , if that person fails without reasonable excuse to eradicate those weeds within that period or within such further period as the chief or officer may allow, he is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to the penalty prescribed in section 10. (3) Every chief shall summon matsema for the purpose of eradicating all weeds growing on land within his area which is not occupied by or allocated to any person. (1) For the purpose of obtaining information as to the presence or absence of a weed on any land, a chief or an officer may without warrant enter upon that land at any time. (2) Any person who occupies that land, or who is allocated that land, shall render personally, or cause to be rendered, to that chief or to that officer such assistance as the chief or officer may reasonably require of him for the said purpose. Such person who fails without reasonable excuse to render or cause to be rendered such assistance is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to the penalty prescribed in section 10. 6. (l) If a person who occupies land, or who is allocated land, has been required under subsection (2) of section 4 to eradicate weeds growing on that land within a specified period and he has failed without reasonable excuse to eradicate those weeds within that period (or within such further period as may be allowed under that subsection), the Minister may cause those weeds to be eradicated by an officer. That officer may for the purpose of that eradication take and have with him upon the land the labourers, animals, vehicles, implements, appliances, chemicals or other things that are necessary for that purpose for so long as may be necessary to complete the eradication. (2) The Minister may recover the costs reasonably incurred under subsection (l) from any person who has failed without reasonable excuse to eradicate those weeds within the period specified in a requirement to him under subsection (2) of section 4 (or within such further period as may have been allowed under that subsection. 7. A person who resists, hinders, disturbs, obstructs, knowingly misleads or otherwise interferes with or impedes a chief or an officer acting lawfully in the exercise of a power or in the perfomance of a duty conferred or imposed on him by or under this Act or a regulation made under this Act, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to the penalty prescribed in section 10. 8. A person who without reasonable excuse places or causes or permits to be placed any weed or portion of weed in a river, water course or water furrow or on any public road , stock path or footpath is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to the penalty prescribed in section 10. Duty to eradicate weeds Information 3 5 to the presence of weeds and power to enter on land Eradication of weeds by offirers Offence to obstruct etc . Offence to place weed in river, road, etc. Repetition of offence Penalties and compensa lion Power to make regula lions Repeals 9. If a failure or refusal in respect of which a person has been convicted under any provision of this Act or of a regulation made under this Act is not remedied within fourteen days after that conviction, that person, if he is at the material time the per son who occupies the land or who is allocated the land, is guilty of a further offence under that provision and is liable on convic tion to the penalty prescribed in respect of an offence against that provision. 10. (1) A person who commits an offence under subsection (2) of section 4, subsection (2) of section 5, section 7, or section 8 is liable on conviction to the imposition of a penalty which, in relation to a first conviction for an offence, may be a fine not exceeding fifty rands or, in default of payment thereof, imprison ment for a period not exceeding three months, and, in relation to a subsequent conviction for a similar offence or for a repetition of th e offence, may be a fine not exceeding one hundred rands or, in default of payment thereof, imprisonment for a period not ex ceeding six months. (2) Upon the imposition of a fine by a court under subsec tion (1), the court is empowered to order that, in addition to the imposition of the fine , compensation not exceeding one rand shall be paid to any chief who has taken the case to court. 11. The Minister may by Notice in the Gazette make regula tions for carrying out the principles, purposes and provisions of this Act, and in particular but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing (a) conferring powers and duties on chiefs and officers; (b) empowering chiefs and officers to require persons to do, or to omit to do, things to which this Act relates; (c) constituting offences with regard to the contravention of, or failure to comply with, a provision of the follow ing (I) a regulati on; and (ii) a requirement of a chief or of an officer under a regulation; (d) prescribing punishments, not exceeding those in this Act, that may be imposed on a person on conviction of an offence constituted in a regulation. 12. The laws set forth below are hereby repealed: The Paramout Chief's Rule Number 26 of the Rules com monly known as Part II of the Laws of Lerotholi (Revised Edi tion, 1959). The Paramout Chief's Order Number 3 of the Orders com monly known as Part III of the Laws of Lerotholi (Revised Edition, 1959). The Weeds Proclamation, Number 47 of 1951. SCHEDULE English Name Sesuto Name Botanical Name Spear Thistl e Tsoangtsoang Cirsium Vulgare or HIabahlabane (Savi) Airy-Shaw Burr Weed Mokaola or Xanthiurn Hlabahlabane Spinosum Linn Cockle Burr Hlabahl abane Xanthium Pungens Wallr. Wild Oats Belete Habore Aven Fatua Thorny Apple Letjoi Datura Stramonium Black Bindweed Seharane Polyganum Mora ran Convolvulus Dodder Cuscuta sp.