D. Tech. Environmental Health, Tshwane University of Technology, 2012. / Implementation of existing meat hygiene legislation can be costly to the game farm owner in terms of slaughter facilities and human resources. This can consequently force farmers and processors to operate outside of the law when delivering game meat to the market. In answer to this a Game Meat Scheme was negotiated between Wildlife Ranching South Africa, represented by the researcher and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Nevertheless, the Game Meat Scheme only offers a 5 year period of grace for legal compliance for game farmers producing for the local meat market. Concerns of Wildlife Ranching South Africa on the implementation of such and other legal procedures on game farms motivated the comparative research on regulated and non-regulated game carcasses. Dependent and independent variables were researched to compare game carcasses intended for the export market (aspiring to strict requirements), and game carcasses intended for the local market (no control measures). The swabbing sampling technique used by the researcher was verified against the excision method (used by the export market). The results of this study have further led to a proposed innovation in the testing and verification of current legislation culminating in the Game Meat scheme and a new Game Meat Guide that could lead to the development of practical guidelines for the hunting process on the farm.

This thesis explores the material and non-material impacts of private game farming for a group of farm dwellers in KwaZulu-Natal. The thesis is located within the context of an increasing trend whereby farm dwellers are being relocated in order to provide farm owners with the economic opportunity that commercial game farming entails. The thesis emphasises the marginalised position of the farm dwellers and points to the fact that the farm dwellers themselves often have little control and knowledge regarding their legal rights. It further emphasises the lack of protection that this group receives from the authorities. Even though legislation has been implemented to address tenure insecurity, in reality this legislation has made little difference to the lives of farm dwellers. The thesis concludes that as a direct consequence of the relocation the farm dwellers were affected materially, but perhaps more important were their ‘invisible’ non-material losses. Their non-material losses include loss of self-esteem, increased social marginalisation and the cutting of their ties to their ancestral land. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.