Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
PRESENTATION TO THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES BY MINISTER Z. PALLO JORDAN ON ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS ATIONALISATION BILL
28 OCTOBER 1997
Chairperson, the principal aim of the Bill before this House is to extend the application of laws relating to the environment to the entire national territory of the Republic of South Africa. The laws concerned are the Sea-Shore Act of 1935, the Prince Edward Island Act of 1948, the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act of 1965, the Sea Birds and Seals Protection Acts of 1973 and the Dumping at Sea Control Act of 1980.
To understand the principal aim of the Bill, I must briefly refer to the arrangement brought about by Section 229 of the previous Constitution and which is maintained by the new Constitution. In terms of Section 229 of the Interim Constitution, all laws which, prior to the commencement of that Constitution, applied in any part of the area which constitutes the national territory of the Republic, continued to apply in that area. This means that all laws relating to the environment which were enacted by a competent authority, such as the former TBVC States and self-governing territories, continued in force in the respective former national territories and territories of those states and self-governing territories. In order to rationalise the relevant legislation it is proposed in the Bill that the laws specified in Schedule 1 be extended to the last mentioned territories which are collectively defined in the Bill as the "affected area".
The Bill also seeks to amend a number of laws, so as to update certain outdated expressions and references. (See Clause 2 and Schedule 2.) One amendment merits special attention. This is the amendment of the South African Citizens in Antarctica Act of 1962, so as to provide that for jurisdictional purposes Antarctica shall be deemed to be situated within the maisteial district of Cape Town instead of Pretoria as is the case at present. The purpose of the amendment is to bring the Act in line with the Antarctic Treaties Act of 1996 and the Prince EdwardIsland Act of 1948.
Apart from the small substantial amendment that I have specially mentioned, the Bill is merely a technical measure that does not introduce any new principles. I should also add that the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism is presently undertaking a full audit of all environment-related legislation. The results of this legal audit and review will enable the Department to drat the necessary legislation to give effect to the White Paper on Environmental Management Policy for South Africa.
However, for present purposes, the Bill before the House has to be confined to the more modest aim that I have sketched earlier. This is nevertheless an essential but also uncontroversial measure and I trust that Honourable Members will lend their support to this Bill.
Thank you.