It has done its job.
Today there is a thriving private sector in forest plantation management.
Now the state can step back from the management of industrial forests. New legislation will come into effect at the beginning of next month. The Cape colonial authorities realised 120 years ago that the fledgling South African economy was short of a strategic resource - timber. The country is naturally short of forests, and the growing economy was placing the existing forests under strain. The Cape authorities started a dual process of developing timber plantations on the one hand, and protecting indigenous forests on the other.