Date: 17/11/2003
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government
Title: Rooi: De Beers REEP Awards, Northern Cape
ADDRESS BY THE NORTHERN CAPE MEC FOR AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM, ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION, MR DAWID ROOI, AT THE DE BEERS REEP AWARDS, 17 November 2003
The Programme Director
Management of De Beers
Distinguished Guests
It is with deep gratitude that I accepted the honour of addressing this august occasion. As a custodian of the environment, I felt obliged to respond to the invitation. This is indeed a moment that marks the efforts we have undertaken in successfully transmitting knowledge about our shelter and provider - the environment.
In "cultivating environmental activism", we were faced with the daunting task of enlisting the support of corporate South Africa. This occasion speaks into success that is two-fold, it testifies that De Beers has not abdicated its responsibility towards the environment; the occasion also bears testimony to the fact that our environmental awareness campaigns are well targeted through youth mobilisation. We are certainly on track and we shall not go astray in highlighting what compounds a neglected environment.
What satisfies me most is the fact that De Beers has embraced government's environmental calendar by staging activities linked to the National Water Week, Earth Day, World Environmental Week, Arbour Week and others. As we all know, these activities are clearly aimed at cultivating environmental activism for sustainable development. Hence it is our duty as a collective to implement the outcomes of last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Let us do our duty to an environment that presents a package of opportunities for your own survival. We must work for the environment and it will in return work for us. Ours is to pull all stops out is making sure that each an every school prides itself with an environmental club. It is for this reason that the Education Department has designed a curriculum that is outcomes based. In attaining the best results for the curriculum, teachers also need to be targeted through a train-the-trainer initiative. That is where the challenge lies.
Better co-ordination of our activities will certainly do us good in bringing on board schools that have not responded to the benevolent initiative of De Beers. I implore all government officials - Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, DALEC and Department of Education - to assist in making the REEP plan of De Beers a very holistic one. We need to maintain the environment so that is should serve as a healthy base for the creation of employment, empowerment and the eradication of poverty.
The De Beers Environmental Education Awareness unit deserves a pat on the back for the remarkable work they have undertaken in pushing back the frontiers of poverty through knowledge. A nation's strength lies in its youth hence ours is to harness efforts in rolling out community based youth environmental programmes.
Government will continue to step up its initiatives such as the anti-litter and anti-waste campaigns. We acknowledge that a degraded and damaged environment bears a bleak future for future generations. It will definitely leave us much poorer. We need to embark on an all out effort in protecting our land, water, atmosphere, plant and animal life.
The province's waste management strategy is a critical environmental protection guideline. It is for this reason that I would like to once again commit government to a cause that ensures that all our efforts are based on our constitutional obligation towards the environment. De Beers through its responsible mining activities has done its duty in guaranteeing all South Africans a healthy and clean environment that is not harmful to their health.
Let us act against those whose actions are detrimental to the environment. No individual or company must compromise our health by dumping waste at unrestricted areas. In encouraging a behavioral change towards the environment, pollution must be seen as a crime. We cannot stick to our comfort zones whilst the ill informed degrade the environment to shameful proportions.
To the learners that are to be honoured today, I wish to extend my unending salutations to you all for assisting in the cause of the improvement of the quality of our lives. It is through your work that we will be able to live in a society where all people have sufficient food, clean air and water, homes and green spaces in their neighbourhoods.
To De Beers, we say - thank you for supporting the paradigm shift on matters pertaining to the environment for the environment is our source of life. Where we work in partnership, with a common goal, there is no doubt that we can make a real difference in building stronger communities. Together, we will use the environment to break down other barriers of economic exclusion. Like diamonds, the environment is forever; hence we will promote careers that are environmentally orientated.
May I also extend my unending gratitude to officials from the other departments who have contributed towards all other environmental activities. I thank you for pursuing a vision of a society in harmony with its environment.
I wish you all prosperity and a life of good living that sparkles like a diamond.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, Environment and Conservation, Northern Cape Provincial Government
17 November 2003
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government
Title: Rooi: De Beers REEP Awards, Northern Cape
ADDRESS BY THE NORTHERN CAPE MEC FOR AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM, ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION, MR DAWID ROOI, AT THE DE BEERS REEP AWARDS, 17 November 2003
The Programme Director
Management of De Beers
Distinguished Guests
It is with deep gratitude that I accepted the honour of addressing this august occasion. As a custodian of the environment, I felt obliged to respond to the invitation. This is indeed a moment that marks the efforts we have undertaken in successfully transmitting knowledge about our shelter and provider - the environment.
In "cultivating environmental activism", we were faced with the daunting task of enlisting the support of corporate South Africa. This occasion speaks into success that is two-fold, it testifies that De Beers has not abdicated its responsibility towards the environment; the occasion also bears testimony to the fact that our environmental awareness campaigns are well targeted through youth mobilisation. We are certainly on track and we shall not go astray in highlighting what compounds a neglected environment.
What satisfies me most is the fact that De Beers has embraced government's environmental calendar by staging activities linked to the National Water Week, Earth Day, World Environmental Week, Arbour Week and others. As we all know, these activities are clearly aimed at cultivating environmental activism for sustainable development. Hence it is our duty as a collective to implement the outcomes of last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Let us do our duty to an environment that presents a package of opportunities for your own survival. We must work for the environment and it will in return work for us. Ours is to pull all stops out is making sure that each an every school prides itself with an environmental club. It is for this reason that the Education Department has designed a curriculum that is outcomes based. In attaining the best results for the curriculum, teachers also need to be targeted through a train-the-trainer initiative. That is where the challenge lies.
Better co-ordination of our activities will certainly do us good in bringing on board schools that have not responded to the benevolent initiative of De Beers. I implore all government officials - Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, DALEC and Department of Education - to assist in making the REEP plan of De Beers a very holistic one. We need to maintain the environment so that is should serve as a healthy base for the creation of employment, empowerment and the eradication of poverty.
The De Beers Environmental Education Awareness unit deserves a pat on the back for the remarkable work they have undertaken in pushing back the frontiers of poverty through knowledge. A nation's strength lies in its youth hence ours is to harness efforts in rolling out community based youth environmental programmes.
Government will continue to step up its initiatives such as the anti-litter and anti-waste campaigns. We acknowledge that a degraded and damaged environment bears a bleak future for future generations. It will definitely leave us much poorer. We need to embark on an all out effort in protecting our land, water, atmosphere, plant and animal life.
The province's waste management strategy is a critical environmental protection guideline. It is for this reason that I would like to once again commit government to a cause that ensures that all our efforts are based on our constitutional obligation towards the environment. De Beers through its responsible mining activities has done its duty in guaranteeing all South Africans a healthy and clean environment that is not harmful to their health.
Let us act against those whose actions are detrimental to the environment. No individual or company must compromise our health by dumping waste at unrestricted areas. In encouraging a behavioral change towards the environment, pollution must be seen as a crime. We cannot stick to our comfort zones whilst the ill informed degrade the environment to shameful proportions.
To the learners that are to be honoured today, I wish to extend my unending salutations to you all for assisting in the cause of the improvement of the quality of our lives. It is through your work that we will be able to live in a society where all people have sufficient food, clean air and water, homes and green spaces in their neighbourhoods.
To De Beers, we say - thank you for supporting the paradigm shift on matters pertaining to the environment for the environment is our source of life. Where we work in partnership, with a common goal, there is no doubt that we can make a real difference in building stronger communities. Together, we will use the environment to break down other barriers of economic exclusion. Like diamonds, the environment is forever; hence we will promote careers that are environmentally orientated.
May I also extend my unending gratitude to officials from the other departments who have contributed towards all other environmental activities. I thank you for pursuing a vision of a society in harmony with its environment.
I wish you all prosperity and a life of good living that sparkles like a diamond.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, Environment and Conservation, Northern Cape Provincial Government
17 November 2003
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