{"id":884203,"date":"2026-11-13T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=884203"},"modified":"2026-11-13T15:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T13:47:10","slug":"european-billionaire-who-uprooted-five-200-year-old-south-african-trees-for-his-own-private-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/884203\/european-billionaire-who-uprooted-five-200-year-old-south-african-trees-for-his-own-private-park\/","title":{"rendered":"European billionaire who uprooted five 200-year-old South African trees for his own private park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Five approximately 200-year-old South African baobab trees uprooted for a private botanical park belonging to a Georgian billionaire are at the centre of a legal dispute over the protection and export of the country’s iconic trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trees are currently being held in a warehouse parking lot in Mobeni, eThekwini, after authorities challenged the legality of their export to Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with 702 Drive<\/a>, environmental law expert and University of KwaZulu-Natal professor Michael Kidd explained that baobabs are protected under South Africa’s National Forests Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The billionaire behind the project is Bidzina Ivanishvili, a Georgian oligarch and former prime minister who made his fortune in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ivanishvili has developed a reputation for collecting enormous, centuries-old trees, which he uses to populate his private 60-hectare botanical reserve, the Shekvetili Dendrological Park, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The park was established around 2016<\/a>, next to his private estate. Ivanishvili has publicly described collecting giant trees as a personal hobby and source of entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the removal of the five South African baobabs has raised questions about whether the necessary permissions were obtained and whether the trees were legally sourced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kidd explained that baobabs are classified as protected trees under the National Forests Act. \u201cThe minister can declare any particular tree or group of trees, or trees belonging to a particular species, as protected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of baobabs, protection applies to the species as a whole, rather than only to individually identified trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section 15 of the Act prohibits cutting, disturbing, damaging or destroying a protected tree without a licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restrictions also cover possessing, collecting, removing, transporting, exporting, purchasing, selling or donating protected trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The baobab is the first species appearing on the government’s list of protected trees. However, Kidd said its inclusion does not necessarily mean the species is endangered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pending court case postponed until next year <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Ecologist Dr Sarah Venter with one of the trees sitting in eThekwini<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

South Africa has separate legislation, the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, which identifies and regulates threatened species. Baobabs are not currently listed under this legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importantly, the National Forests Act does not impose an absolute prohibition on removing or exporting protected trees. Such activities can be permitted if the relevant licences are obtained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kidd said several unanswered questions could influence whether permission should have been granted for the five trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include where the baobabs were originally sourced, whether they came from private property, and whether the landowners consented to their removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Pretoria landscaper\u2014who was exporting the trees\u2014argued in his defence that the baobabs were legally purchased from private gardens with the owners’ full consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the rejection of a retroactive permit application and its subsequent appeal, the landscaper faces criminal charges under South African forestry laws, with the pending court case postponed until January 15, 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said that the exporter, if found guilty, would have committed a first-category offence and could face a fine, imprisonment of up to three years, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until the litigation is resolved, efforts are underway to ensure the trees survive while their future remains uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ecologist Dr Sarah Venter approached Mark Read of the Everard Read Group of Galleries in Johannesburg to help secure private funding for the trees’ replanting following the controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venter said<\/a> that, despite the lengthy delays, the trees were looking \u201creally good\u201d. However, she warned that returning them to the ground was becoming increasingly important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe really critical thing is to get them back into the soil as soon as possible to allow them to recover and regenerate, because they are using up stored stem water to survive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five approximately 200-year-old South African baobab trees uprooted for a private botanical park belonging to a Georgian billionaire are at the centre of a legal dispute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":884234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2121258040590524586","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2271987826954949","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18122338007055492","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[25521,853],"class_list":["post-884203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-department-of-forestry-fisheries-and-the-environment","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":884237,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884203\/revisions\/884237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}