The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the publication of the National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report for 2008-09. It provides an opportunity to access the extent to which the national environment department, the various provincial departments and relevant state entities police transgressions of environmental law. However, now that the environment and water departments fall under the same Minister, there is an urgent need for this compliance report to be expanded to include the policing of the National Water Act. Minister Sonjica has made strong statements during her recent water indabas that illegal water users and those users that pollute water will from now on feel the strong arm of the law. For this reason, the Minister must show in the next edition of the compliance report the extent to which transgressors of the water law have had directives issued against them, as well as the number of criminal cases instituted and successfully concluded. An extended annual compliance report will send an important message to transgressors of water law that the Department of Water Affairs is serious about enforcing the law, and it will enable the public and parliament to hold the Minister to account. While the number of environmental management inspectors increased to over 900 inspectors in the last financial year, the number of water inspectors still remains pitifully low. It is imperative that the number of water inspectors is rapidly increased in the year going forward, and that many of the existing environmental management inspectors also be accredited to police transgressions of water law. At the moment environmental management inspectors concentrate on policing laws related to conservation (green issues) and environmental quality (brown issues). In a year's time the Minister should be able to tell us how many of the 104 mines operating without valid water licences have been prosecuted or had valid water licences issued. Like the environment department has run public enforcement campaigns of big sectors like the cement industry, the water department must run similar campaigns in the mining sector. Ensuring compliance with water law is not only about prosecuting transgressors, it is also about sending the signal that the law intends to catch up with transgressors, thus forcing greater compliance without the need for directives and prosecutions. Similarly the Minister must report annually in a compliance report on the number of directives issued against municipalities that discharge untreated effluent into our water courses, and the success in obtaining remediation on the part of municipalities. Lastly, it is worrying that the number of complaints that the environment department received from the National Environmental Crimes and Incidents Hotline decreased from 382 complaints in 2007-08 to 235 complaints in 2008-09. This decline could mean that the public does not feel confident that their complaints will be acted on, or that the level of awareness originally created with the launch of the hotline has now faded away. The Minister must urgently increase awareness about this facility, and publicly commit that complaints will be acted upon by the relevant authority.