This guide is general information, not legal advice. Invasive species lists change, so check the current list, and speak to your conveyancer about a specific sale.
The short answer
South Africa’s biodiversity law (NEMBA) lists hundreds of invasive plants, including several trees common in Cape Town gardens: Port Jackson, rooikrans, syringa, some gums and some pines. What you must do depends on the tree’s category: Category 1b trees must be controlled, and Category 1a species eradicated. When you sell, those duties pass to the buyer with the land, so many offers to purchase now deal with invasive species in writing.
Jump to:
- What makes a tree invasive?
- NEMBA categories 1a, 1b, 2 and 3
- Which Cape Town trees are listed invasives?
- Are pine trees invasive in Cape Town?
- Gum (eucalyptus) trees
- What you’re legally required to do
- Selling a property: what’s actually required
- Seller’s checklist
- Who to contact in Cape Town
- Removing invasive trees safely
What makes a tree “invasive” under South African law?
A tree is legally invasive in South Africa when it appears on the national Alien and Invasive Species Lists published under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 (NEMBA). Being non-indigenous isn’t enough. Many exotic garden trees, such as most oaks and planes, aren’t listed at all. This guide uses the lists published on 18 September 2020 (Government Gazette 43726) and the regulations of 25 September 2020; check for later amendments. Each listed species is given a category. For some trees the category depends on the province, or on where the tree grows.
NEMBA categories 1a, 1b, 2 and 3: what each means for a homeowner
| Category | What it means | What the owner must do |
|---|---|---|
| 1a | New or emerging invaders targeted for eradication | Combat or eradicate it immediately, and allow authorised officials to inspect. |
| 1b | Established invaders that must be controlled | Control it, following any official management programme, and allow inspection. Planting, propagation and trade are prohibited. |
| 2 | Invaders allowed only under a permit, in a defined area (for example plantations or windrows) | A permit is required, and you must stop it spreading beyond the land or area the permit covers. |
| 3 | Invaders that may remain, subject to restrictions | Planting, propagation and trade are prohibited, and you must stop it spreading. In riparian areas (along rivers and streams) it’s treated as Category 1b. |
Any owner or person in control of land with Category 1a, 1b or 3 species must prevent them spreading and control any that escape (regulation 7 of the 2020 regulations).
Which common Cape Town trees are listed invasives?
These are the categories in the 2020 lists for trees often found on Cape Town properties. Where a rule depends on location, the Western Cape or Cape Town wording applies.
| Tree | Scientific name | Category (2020 list) |
|---|---|---|
| Port Jackson, Port Jackson willow | Acacia saligna | 1b |
| Rooikrans (red eye) | Acacia cyclops | 1b |
| Long-leaved wattle | Acacia longifolia | 1b |
| Silky hakea | Hakea sericea | 1b |
| Chinese wax-leaved privet | Ligustrum lucidum | 1b in the Western Cape |
| Oleander | Nerium oleander | 1b |
| Australian myrtle | Leptospermum laevigatum | 1b |
| Stink bean (Australian albizia) | Paraserianthes lophantha | 1b |
| Syringa | Melia azedarach | 1b, but 3 in urban areas |
| Black wattle | Acacia mearnsii | 2 (existing plantations exempt) |
| Australian blackwood | Acacia melanoxylon | 2 (existing plantations exempt) |
| Grey poplar | Populus × canescens | 2 |
| Cluster pine and Monterey (radiata) pine | Pinus pinaster, Pinus radiata | 2 in plantations and windrows, 1b elsewhere, with a large-tree exception in urban Cape Town (see below) |
| Aleppo pine | Pinus halepensis | 3 in the Western Cape |
| Australian silky oak | Grevillea robusta | 3 |
| Camphor tree | Cinnamomum camphora | 3 in the Western Cape (National Heritage and Monument Trees not listed) |
| White mulberry | Morus alba | 3 (the fruit isn’t listed when used for food) |
| Tipu tree | Tipuana tipu | 3 |
| Jacaranda | Jacaranda mimosifolia | Not listed in the Western Cape (1b only in some northern provinces) |
| New Zealand Christmas tree | Metrosideros excelsa | 1a in the Overstrand only; not listed elsewhere |
| Loquat | Eriobotrya japonica | 1b in the Western Cape, but not listed in Western Cape urban areas |
| River red gum, sugar gum and 4 other gums | Eucalyptus camaldulensis, E. cladocalyx and others | Depends on location (see the gum trees guide) |
| Blue gum | Eucalyptus globulus | Not listed |
The full list covers far more species, including shrubs, creepers and aquatic plants. If a tree isn’t in this table, check the full list before assuming it’s allowed or listed.
Are pine trees invasive in Cape Town?
Cluster pine and Monterey (radiata) pine are listed invasives. The Cape Town rule has an important exception for big, established trees. Both species are Category 2 in plantations and windrows and Category 1b elsewhere. But specimens whose trunk circumference was over 1.256 m at a height of 1 m when the list was first published (August 2014) are not listed in urban areas of Cape Town, the Overberg and the Cape Winelands, unless the tree:
- grows in a riparian area,
- is in, or on a property directly next to, a protected area, or
- has been ruled a wildfire risk.
Trees that meet any of those conditions stay Category 1b. National Heritage Trees and National Monument Trees are not listed at all. Aleppo pine is Category 3 in the Western Cape.
So a large old pine in a suburban Cape Town garden is often not a listed invasive. A young pine, or one next to a nature reserve or a stream, usually is.
Gum (eucalyptus) trees
Six gums are listed invasives, including river red gum and sugar gum, and their category depends on where the tree grows. Blue gum isn’t on the 2020 list. See our guide to gum trees in Cape Town for which gums are listed, how to tell them apart, and when to remove one.
What are you legally required to do about invasive trees on your property?
For a Category 1b tree, the regulations require you to control it. In practice:
- Identify the species. Several invasive and non-invasive trees look alike. The City of Cape Town’s Invasive Plants Identikit helps, and iNaturalist or iSpot let experts identify it from your photos.
- Check its category in the current list, including any Western Cape or urban-area wording.
- Control or remove Category 1b plants, including the seedlings they spread. Some invasives resprout from a cut stump or re-seed from the soil, so follow-up visits are part of control, not a one-off job.
- Get a permit for any Category 2 tree you want to keep, or control it.
- Don’t plant, propagate or sell Category 1b or 3 species, or Category 2 species without a permit.
Removing an invasive tree is still tree work. Before felling, check that it isn’t a National Heritage Tree, isn’t on City land (a verge or street tree belongs to the City), and doesn’t sit in a Heritage Protection Overlay Zone. See when you need a permit to cut down a tree and what trees are protected in Cape Town. Invasive status doesn’t override those rules.
Selling a property with invasive trees: what’s actually required
Many articles and estate-agency documents still say a seller must notify the buyer in writing about listed invasive species before the sale agreement is concluded. That rule was regulation 29 of the 2014 Alien and Invasive Species Regulations. Those regulations were repealed on 25 September 2020, and the 2020 regulations that replaced them don’t repeat it. What the 2020 regulations do say:
- The duties run with the land. Whoever owns or controls the property must control Category 1a and 1b species and stop Category 1a, 1b and 3 species spreading (regulations 2, 3 and 7). After transfer, that’s the buyer.
- Category 2 permits can move with the property. The new owner of the same land can take over the permit, and must notify the issuing authority within 30 days (regulation 31).
Telling the buyer is still sensible. Many offers to purchase include a clause in which the buyer acknowledges the vegetation on the property, and disclosing up front avoids disputes later. Ask your conveyancer how your offer to purchase should handle it.
Seller’s checklist: invasive trees before you list your house
Work through this before you sign a mandate. It takes an afternoon, and it avoids a last-minute scramble during the sale.
Download the one-page checklist (PDF) to print it or send it to your estate agent or conveyancer.
- Walk the whole property, including the back boundary, the verge side, and any stream or drainage line. Note every tree and large shrub you can’t name.
- Identify anything uncertain. Use the City’s Invasive Plants Identikit or upload photos to iNaturalist or iSpot, or ask a tree professional on site.
- Check each suspect species against the 2020 list, noting any Western Cape, urban-area or riparian wording.
- List the listed invasives present with their category and rough location (for example “Port Jackson, 3 young trees, back boundary, Category 1b”).
- Find any Category 2 permits you hold, and keep copies ready for the buyer.
- Decide: remove or disclose. You can remove Category 1b trees before listing, or tell the buyer about them and let them factor in the cost.
- If you remove trees, confirm first that none are protected, heritage-listed or City-owned. Keep invoices and before-and-after photos as a record of control work.
- Put it in writing. Give the buyer a list of the listed invasives present and any permits, and ask your conveyancer to cover it in the offer to purchase.
- Keep a copy of the list and the buyer’s acknowledgement with your sale documents.
Buying? Reverse it: ask the seller for a written list of any listed invasives and permits, walk the garden yourself, and budget for any Category 1b control you’ll inherit.
Who to contact in Cape Town
- To report an invasive species sighting: the City of Cape Town’s Invasive Species Programme sighting form (on the City website). The form is for reporting sightings only, not for requesting removal. General queries: 021 444 2357.
- To check the lists and categories: invasives.org.za, the national Invasive Species South Africa site, and the gazetted 2020 lists on the DFFE website.
- For a specific sale: your conveyancing attorney.
- For removal: a tree felling company with insurance and experience lowering large trees near buildings. Invasive gums and pines are often big, and many grow close to houses and boundary walls.
Removing invasive trees safely
Invasive trees in Cape Town gardens are often the largest trees on the property: old gums and pines along boundaries, and dense Port Jackson or rooikrans stands on larger plots. Michael’s Tree Felling removes these trees as part of its tree felling and land clearing work across Cape Town, and has done since 2014. Removal typically involves:
- Identifying the species and checking its status first, so a protected, heritage or City tree isn’t felled by mistake
- Sectional dismantling where a tree stands near a house or wall, with heavy sections lowered by rope
- Stump grinding where the species or the site calls for it; see tree stump removal in Cape Town
- Chipping and removing the cuttings, so seed-bearing material isn’t left on the property
For a free quote, see tree felling in Cape Town or call +27 81 381 3804.
Sources: Alien and Invasive Species Regulations, 2020 (Government Notice R1020, Government Gazette 43735); Alien and Invasive Species Lists, 2020 (Government Gazette 43726, GN 1003, DFFE); Invasive Species South Africa, South Africa’s National Listed Invasive Species (based on the 2014 regulations); City of Cape Town, Invasive Species Programme; PGPS Attorneys, Selling a property with alien invasive species (2021, describes the 2014 rule).
Last updated: 23 September 2026
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