9 August 2010

Welcome!

Welcome to the new Enviro Matters, a newsletter keeping you in touch with what's happening in the portfolio of environment and water affairs.

• Introductory Letter
• Western Cape government tables 2014 sustainability goals
• Acid Mine Drainage
• The Green Drop Report
• Mining in Sensitive Areas
• The state of Hartbeespoort Dam
• Mines operating without water licences
• Enviro Minister wrong to change CITES listing for abalone
• Debt owed to Water Boards continues to grow
• DA welcomes establishment of CSIR Chair in Food & Water Quality
• Provinces must follow Western Cape’s lead in developing water service development plans
• Did you Know?

 
Introduction:

The Portfolio Committee of Water and Environmental Affairs conducted an oversight visit to Gauteng and Mpumalanga last week where MPs were exposed firsthand to the growing acid mine drainage problem. The water in the Central Basin is now only 600m below the City of Johannesburg, and is rising by between 0.6m and 0.9m each day. Acid mine drainage is probably the greatest immediate environmental threat facing South Africa. Government has been aware of this problem for well over a decade now, and I hope that the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs will announce a far reaching response in the coming weeks.

The escalation in rhino poaching is also grabbing headlines. I warned the Minister within the first few days of 2010 that this year would see a dramatic increase in poaching. That has indeed occurred with at least 130 rhinos killed by poachers thus far this year. Despite some high profile arrests, government needs to redouble its efforts.

I am pleased that the Auditor General (AG) has finally completed his report into alleged procurement irregularities in the Department of Water. The Director General of the Department was suspended on full pay in July 2009 pending this investigation. The AG’s report has uncovered many millions of Rands worth of irregular expenditure in this Department. Corrective action now needs to be taken against the responsible officials. This matter will no doubt be scrutinised by the Select Committee on Public Accounts in the coming weeks.

The Departmental budget deliberations were concluded in May. The DA supported the budget of the Department of Environmental Affairs, but opposed the budget for the Department of Water for the third year in a row. We remain concerned that the latter budget does not adequately address the maintenance of bulk infrastructure, nor does it sufficiently address the critical shortage of skills in the water sector.

In the last session of Parliament we proposed three motions on environmental matters for debate, including one on the state of our protected areas with special reference to the ongoing destruction of the Ndumo Nature Reserve in KZN. Regrettably the ANC has thus far not agreed to any of these debates.

Sincerely
Gareth Morgan MP
Shadow Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs

Western Cape:

Western Cape government tables 2014 sustainability goals

In July, the DA-run Western Cape provincial government released details of its strategic objective on mainstreaming sustainability and optimising resource-use efficiency. The government intends integrating sustainability into the activities and spheres of influence of all the provincial departments. The plan contains goals related to climate change mitigation, pollution and waste management, biodiversity management and water management, among other things.

Read more...

Gauteng:

Acid Mine Drainage: Government must act before Joburg sinks

In July, DA MPs Gareth Morgan and Annette Lovemore toured various sites on the East and West Rand where acid mine drainage is currently decanting. Representatives of mining organisations and civil society also briefed them on the rising water in the Central Basin, below the City of Johannesburg. At the rate at which the water is currently rising in the Central Basin there is likely to be a decant of acid mine drainage in the City in early 2012. Gareth Morgan, the DA Shadow Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs called on the Minister to provide a concrete response in the coming weeks. “The Minister’s own reputation is on the line,” said Morgan. “She will be measured on how she responds to this emergency.”

Read more...

Green Drop Report:

DA welcomes release of Green Drop Report

The release of the Green Drop Report in April was welcomed by Annette Lovemore, the DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs. She had been calling for its release since November 2009. The Green Drop Report assesses the state of waste water treatment works in South Africa against certain stringent criteria. Only 45% of works assessed scored more than 50% on the ratings. “It is most disturbing that the Department of Water Affairs still does not have an action plan which details a set of urgent measures to address the obviously extreme level of dysfunctionality within this sphere of the water service sector,” said Lovemore.

In late July, Lovemore visited the Brits waste water treatment works which is one of the most dysfunctional treatment works in the country. Following this visit she called for stronger action against municipalities that failed to maintain their sewerage infrastructure.

To read more on the Green Drop report.

To read more on the Brits WWTF.

Mining:

Mining in Sensitive Areas: Investigations welcome, but not enough

The DA welcomed in July the intention by the Departments of Environmental Affairs and Mineral Resources to investigate mining in sensitive areas. This arose out of mounting pressure on the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs to intervene in the Minister of Mineral Resources’ decision to grant a new order mining licence for a mining operation close to the sensitive Mapungubwe area. “The DA has long called for increased co-operative governance initiatives between these two departments,” said Gareth Morgan, the DA Shadow Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs. “The Department of Mineral Resources has a record of granting a significant number of mining rights in areas that cannot handle the impacts of mining.” Morgan however called on the Departments to extend the project beyond a task team, and to formalise a dedicated advisory forum with a focus on the effects of mining on the environment.

Read more... 

Hartbeespoort Dam:

Water Department must take responsibility for state of Hartbeespoort Dam

In June the Department of Water Affairs reacted defensively to threats of criminal charges by civil society organisations against the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs for the poor condition of Hartbeespoort Dam. The Department defended its dam remediation programme in a media statement. Gareth Morgan, the DA Shadow Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs responded by saying that water officials needed to admit that they are not doing enough to protect South Africa’s water resources from various sources of pollution. In respect of Hartbeespoort Dam, Morgan wrote to the Minister requesting that an audit of the dam remediation programme be conducted.

Read more...

Water Licences:

Mines operating without water licences

A reply to a DA parliamentary question in June revealed that 125 mines in South Africa are operating without water licences. Of these mines, 54 of them are in Mpumalanga province. Gareth Morgan, the DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, expressed concern at how mines could even begin operating if they were not in possession of a water licence. “The Minister and her Department have not attempted to close any mine down for operating without a water licence, which seems to suggest that, at least in some cases, the provision of a valid water licence is merely a formality and not a matter of substance,” said Morgan.

Read more...

Abalone Fishery:

Enviro Minister wrong to change CITES listing for abalone

In June the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries conditionally re-opened the abalone fishery. The previous Minister of Environmental Affairs had closed the fishery entirely in early 2008, a decision which the DA opposed. It emerged however on the eve of the re-opening of the fishery that the Department of Environmental Affairs had without consultation requested the removal of the main species of abalone from Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, a decision which the DA said would undermine the efforts of the government to curb poaching of the resource.

Read more...

Water Boards:

Debt owed to Water Boards continues to grow

The DA has over the last year been monitoring the growing debt owed by municipalities to Water Boards. As at the latest date for which information was available, R1.4bn was owed to Water Boards, of which R704m was debt in arrears. “There should be punitive measures taken against municipalities that are tardy in paying,” said Gareth Morgan, the DA Shadow Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs. “The considerable amounts outstanding to some Water Boards increase the financial risk of these organisations, and compromise their ability to engage in capital expansion projects.”

Read more...

Food & Water Quality:

DA welcomes establishment of CSIR Chair in Food & Water Quality

In July, Annette Lovemore, the DA Deputy Shadow Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, welcomed the establishment of a dedicated unit to conduct critical investigations into food and water quality in South Africa by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Lovemore commended the funders of this project, but expressed concern that no support had been forthcoming from the Department of Water Affairs, which is the custodian of the country’s water resources.

Read more...

Western Cape:

Provinces must follow Western Cape’s lead in developing water service development plans

To date the Western Cape is one of the few provinces in South Africa that has properly formulated water service development plans for all of its municipalities, and it is the only province that regularly audits and reports on the implementation of these plans. In May, the DA-run Western Cape government tabled a comprehensive report on addressing the infrastructure backlogs in the water services sector. In response, the DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Annette Lovemore, said the rest of the provinces needed to follow suit.

Read more...

Did you know?

• In reply to a DA parliamentary question to the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs on whether she would consider introducing regulations to reduce phosphates in detergents, the Minister said that the elimination of phosphorous from detergents is “both beneficial and desirable”. The Water Research Commission is now in the process of creating a policy and a technical brief on reducing phosphates in detergents.

• A reply to a DA parliamentary question revealed that Marine and Coastal Management, while still under the control of the Department of Environmental Affairs, spent R144 000 on purchasing World Cup soccer jerseys for its staff. Yet this organisation claims to have insufficient financial resources for compliance and enforcement.

• A reply to a DA parliamentary question revealed that as of 31 March 2010 there was a 71% vacancy rate for staff that assess EIAs in Free State province. The figure was 50% for Mpumalanga, 48% for Limpopo and 46% for KZN.