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Press Release - 26th May 2003
Communities reject pollution bill
because it will stifle economic growth and perpetuate high pollution
This past weekend civil society representatives expressed
their disappointment and dissatisfaction with new draft legislation on
air pollution. Over 40 community representatives, most of
them drawn from South Africa’s pollution hot spots, gathered in Cape Town
to discuss the new National Environment Management; Air Quality Bill at
a two day workshop jointly hosted by groundWork
and Contact Trust.
The overarching sentiment of those present at the workshop
was that the new Bill is inadequate. They said the Bill had failed
to meet their expectations because it does not require polluting industries
to improve their operations nor does it compel industries to reveal their
emission levels.
“This Bill is not going to protect community rights
to a clean environment,” said Caroline Seipati Ntaopane from the
infamously polluted town of Sasolburg. “This Bill does not compel
industries to clean up their operations and reduce their emissions.
Besides the fact that polluting industries are making us sick, they are
also preventing the emergence of new industries because they have already
saturated the air with pollution. These polluting industries are
stifling economic growth and job creation,” she said.
Bobby Peek, director of pollution watch dog,
groundWork said that the new Bill is a step towards dealing with
the problems experienced in SA, but does not go nearly far enough in addressing
South Africa’s pollution problems.
“Up until now polluting industries have been protected
by apartheid laws,” Peek said. “This has resulted in a health and
environmental impacts which, in most cases, have disproportionately impacted
on the poor and black communities. The Bill does not produce enough
of a change in governance that will allow for the injustices of the past
to be addressed in a meaningful manner in the foreseeable future.
It in fact allows the present status quo to remain, except in a few instances
- one being that local municipalities, which have in the majority of cases
little resources and technical know-how, are now responsible for some
of the most polluting industries on the African continent if not the world!”
Another short-coming of the Bill is its failure to
compel industries to report annually on their emissions of pollutants
into the environment. This is at odds with an international trend
of mandatory reporting by companies of all their emissions. Only
last week 34 countries signed a new United Nations Protocol on Pollutant
Release and Transfer Registers - a protocol which compels companies
to report annually on their releases (into the environment) and transfers
(to other companies) of certain pollutants. (See www.unece.org)
Speakers at last weekend’s workshop included Reginald
Mabelane from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT).
Angela Andrews (from the Legal Resources Centre) and Eugene Cairncross,
(a chemical engineer who specialises in air pollution), who have advised
and supported community campaigns around air pollution for the last seven
years worked with community people this week-end to understand the challenges
the Bill posed.
A submission outlining civil society’s main concerns
with the Bill will be finalised this week and submitted to relevant government
officials and parliamentarians.
For more information please contact Bobby Peek on 033-3425662/082
464 1383 or Ardiel Soeker on 082 940 8669. | 