The National Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment and Tourism has been investigating the impacts of the asbestos issue within South Africa.. In 1996, the portfolio committee on environment and tourism in the national parliament was informed of the severity of the asbestos as it affected different communities and during 1997/8, members of parliament visited various communities who were affected by asbestos.

The portfolio committee realised that it would be important for the asbestos issue to be publicly discussed in South Africa and it was agreed that a national summit on asbestos would allow South Africa to make informed decisions regarding the way forward. The national asbestos summit would enable much relevant information to be gathered and shared and lead to healthy debate and finally solutions which would help those affected communities and workers.

• To provide an opportunity for information about asbestos and its effects on the people of South Africa to be shared by representatives of all stakeholder groups.
• To set out and prioritise the main areas of concern and explore possible strategies for addressing them.
• To encourage government and other key role players to commit themselves to specific action-orientated strategies following the summit.

Specific objectives include:

• Exchange of accessible information.
• Assess all the steps along the asbestos "supply chain" and prioritize the issues/problems.
• Explore strategies for dealing with asbestos and enable informed choices to be made.
• Present the public with a full clear picture of the history of asbestos in South Africa and the extent of the health and welfare problem that exists.
• Develop strategies for health care for people who contract asbestos related diseases both current and future.
• Afford affected communities an opportunity to express their experiences of asbestos contamination and thereby be recognized and empowered.
• Create an opportunity for both government and the asbestos-related industry to take fresh responsibility for relevant aspects of the problem and its solution.
• Promote the raising of funds for remedial, compensatory and rehabilitation work.
• Identify legislative needs and related regulatory issues.

The Summit will provide a unique opportunity to bring together representatives of all interested and affected parties including:

• communities affected by asbestos,
• civic bodies
• trade unions,
• health service providers,
• scientists,
• industrialists,
• non-government organisations,
• government officials
• politicians

and will enable participants to debate the asbestos issue with all available information, and to propose strategies which will assist government to deal with the asbestos issues in an integrated manner.

The Parliamentary portfolio committee on Environment and Tourism took on the task of convening the summit. They formed an asbestos subcommittee, chaired by Mr. Jerry Ndou MP.

This subcommittee initiated a core working group whose task is to assist the portfolio committee in preparing for the summit. The seven members of the core working group are:

• Ms Liz McDaid, convenor.
• Mr. Gopolang Sekobe, from the Department of Health,
• Mr. Hendrik Naude from the Department of Minerals & Energy,
• Mr. Brian Gibson from the asbestos industry,
• Mr. Fred Gona from Labour
• Dr. Sophia Kisting from the Industrial Health Research Group
• Mr. Peter Willis from the NGO, Environmental Monitoring Group.

In order to ensure that communities would be able to participate from an informed position, it was agreed that the asbestos subcommittee would ask provinces to hold provincial workshops in preparation for the summit.

To empower participants, particularly from trade unions and communities, to participate in the national summit.

Participants in the workshop could include:

• Relevant trade unions
• Local housing forums
• Community leadership and community civic bodies, SANCO
• Local health workers, NPPHC
• Relevant NGO’s, for example, EJNF, SANGOCO representatives
• Local government representatives
• Provincial government representatives or local offices of national departments for the following depts: Environment, Health, Labour, Housing, Water Affairs, Mineral Affairs, Public works

Provincial delegates would be elected at these workshops to attend the summit and take the conclusions of the workshop to the summit.

For more information regarding the Provincial workshops:

Northern Province: 11^th November
Contact - Ms Ephenia Kganyago - 015 2911424 for further details

Northern Cape Province: 14^th November
Contact - Ms Seyathie Mitha - 0531 800771 for further details

Western Cape Province: 14^th November
Contact - Ms Trish De Villiers - 9488198 for further details

North West Province
Contact - Mr Billy Lekepi - 083 457 1839 for further details

Free State
Contact - Mr David Mofokeng - 083 7725198 for further details

Mpumalanga 17^th November
Contact - Mr Ike Ndlovu - 013 7594055 for further details

Eastern Cape
Contact for further details (to be confirmed)

Kwazulu Natal
Contact Ms Sarah Allen - 0331 471820 for further details

Gauteng
Contact for further details (to be confirmed)

For more information about the national summit:

Ms Gwen Mahlangu MP
Chairperson, Portfolio Committee on Environment and Tourism - 083 441 6163

Mr Jerry Ndou MP
Chairperson, Asbestos subcommittee - 083 440 6190

Ms Liz McDaid
Asbestos Working Group convenor - 082 333 1214