SPEECH – DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM
Environmental Panorama
International
March of 2007
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MS PHUMZILE MLAMBO-NGCUKA,
DEPUTY PRESIDENT, AT NATIONAL WASTE MANAGEMENT
CONFERENCE TO BE HELD ON 22 – 23 MARCH 2007
AT EMPEROR'S PALACE, EKURHULENI, GAUTENG
23 March 2007 - Speech - Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Program Director
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honorouble Members of the Portfolio and
Select Committees
Honourable Mayors and Councillors
Distinguished guests and participants
It is a great pleasure to speak at this
conference and to address a subject which
is not often spoken about, but which has
a fundamental impact on the quality of life
of our communities.
Across the length and breadth of our country,
I have witnessed the consequences of absent
or inadequate waste management. It results
in health hazards, pollution of the environment,
and is often the root cause of damage to
municipal infrastructure such as storm water
and road systems. It is experienced as a
serious problem and in the public mind is
the most visible effect of bad environmental
management.
It is a sad fact that almost 40% of our
population, largely in rural areas and informal
settlements do not have access to waste
collection services. And it is a problem
that requires a focused and coherent strategy
designed to ensure that all our people have
access to domestic waste collection services
and that municipalities have both the resources
and capacity to guarantee this.
These issues I am told have been discussed
at length in the first day of this conference.
I would like to focus on the waste management
challenge from the perspective of solutions,
and in particular solutions that can assist
in releasing funds from municipal budgets,
building our economy, create jobs and contribute
to the achievement of our empowerment goals.
As is the case elsewhere in the world,
economic growth and increases in personal
wealth are accompanied by an increase in
the amount of waste generated. The challenge
here is to manage this problem so that the
waste stream is managed in such a way that
it is first of all avoided, secondly, reduced
and thirdly recycled. Disposal of waste
to landfill should ideally be a measure
of last resort.
Such an approach located waste management
as a central element of economic strategies,
technology choices and industrial policy.
It implies that in establishing any business,
attention is paid from the beginning to
technology choices that will result in less
waste being generated; it implies that the
waste that is produced is assessed with
a view to establishing whether it has any
value as a resource that can be recovered
and in turn fed into other industrial processes,
and it thus sees waste products as a potential
revenue stream.
In the municipal waste context, such an
approach would mean an upfront investment
in collection systems and public education
that would allow recyclable materials to
be easily recovered from the waste stream.
This would then allow municipalities to
sell these recyclables and not only cover
the costs of their additional investment,
but also generate a revenue stream that
would allow funds that are at present literally
thrown away, to be used for productive purposes.
This avoided expenditure can be significant
if one takes into account that the cost
of a new disposal site can run into hundreds
of millions of rends, and that increased
longevity of existing sites, would result
in a substantial saving on the municipal
budget over time.
I am sure we all agree that these scenarios
would clearly enhance the environmental
sustainability of our economic growth and
are preferable to what we have at the moment.
On this basis let us look at what we as
a nation would need to do to make it real.
In the first place we would need to consider
using market incentives, both in the first
and second economies, to influence production
and consumption patterns towards sustainability.
Investments in clean technology and separation
of waste materials at source in the domestic
context are key imperatives.
Secondly, we would need to create strong
partnerships between the public and private
sectors for an integrated approach to waste
management. Here, I would like to note the
fact that we in South Africa already have
a robust recycling industry that has consistently
indicated it willingness and desire to work
with government to ensure that waste materials
are reused.
In particular I would like to note the
sterling work done by organizations such
as Collect-a-Can, the Glass Recycling Company,
and the PET, paper and plastics industries
in establishing both infrastructure and
systems for recycling. We also note the
fact that these organizations have explicitly
committed themselves to both job and enterprise
creation in the way they do their work.
We note the positive achievements thus far,
and challenge them to work with government
to enhance their achievements and to take
their efforts to a new level by putting
in place the mechanisms that would ensure
that the SMME’s and jobs created are sustainable
into the long term.
The growing environmental goods and services
sector, an in particular the emergence of
new companies focused on waste management
at a range of levels is a national resource
that has the potential for substantial growth
and in that for new employment and new business
opportunities in a growing environmental
goods and services sector.
I would like to spend a few minutes to
look at this sector and its role players
in order that we can identify the growth
potential and contribution to economic development
in this sector. And here I refer to municipal
infrastructure itself, the waste collection
and transport industry, the waste treatment
industry as well as those who run disposal
facilities, recycle waste as well as consultancy
industry and suppliers.
Currently our waste management sector is
dominated by a few large enterprises with
national and even international operations.
These companies tend to be largely white
owned. In general the sector is untransformed,
although there in recently there has been
certain transformation efforts in response
to government procurement policies.
Secondly, there is a growing number of
community-based enterprises involved in
recycling activities through their linkages
to waste collection services and the operation
of buy-back centres. These enterprises must
be encouraged and strengthened. In doing
so we should however take care that we ensure
that these enterprises are supported so
that they collect their waste resource in
a way that is safe and that does not pose
a threat to human health. In particular,
where collection of recyclables is taking
place through scavenging on landfill sites,
we must take steps to ensure that this is
stopped and that safe and healthy infrastructure
is provided.
A significant barrier to the entry of new
businesses into the waste sector is posed
by the fact that the sector is by and large
capital intensive at present. This poses
a significant barrier to entry, particularly
for small businesses. It is clear that means
must be devised to open up this sector to
small and black businesses and I would like
to take this opportunity to challenge the
established waste management sector to move
with all speed to devise a transformation
and empowerment strategy that would bring
the sector into line with other sectors
that have developed BBEE Charters.
Finally, we should note that some activities
in the sector, in particular, waste treatment,
remediation of contamination and consulting,
require highly specialized technical skills.
At present these skills lie in predominantly
white and often male hands. There is significant
opportunity for active interventions to
bring young black people and women into
the sector and to build a national technical
capacity that would in itself contribute
substantively to a transformation agenda.
Finally, I would like to conclude by identifying
some of the potential second economy interventions
that could assist the waste sector in claiming
its place a sector that can make a positive
contribution to our shared growth agenda.
Our Expanded Public Works Programme has
a waste management component. In this regard,
the Department of Public Works, in partnership
with the Business Trust is planning to pilot
a number of waste management initiatives
in municipalities around the country. These
and other similar interventions are designed
to address waste service delivery backlogs,
ensure infrastructure maintenance and development
and provide sustainable employment through
community based waste collection and recycling
cooperatives.
.
Many municipalities around the country sub-contract
their waste collection services. This offers
the possibility of fostering small and micro
enterprise development and support through
preferential procurement and market development.
In particular, public private partnerships
and support for emergent contractors, through
joint ventures could be widely established.
In addition, in areas where local conditions
are not conducive to capital-intensive methods
of waste disposal, community based systems
could also be established.
Finally, I would like to conclude by noting
the fact that the far reaching transformation
of the waste management sector that I am
proposing, must be underpinned by a significant
increase in public understanding of our
approach to waste minimization and waste
management. This is a challenge to be taken
on actively by this audience and the constituencies
it represents.
I would like to know that in a few years,
anyone in South Africa who throws a piece
of paper into the street, would be looked
at with disapproval by passers by, and would
be fined by municipal police. I would like
to know that each school child would know
from the time they first go to school that
litter must be disposed of in litter bins
and I would hope that by that stage, we
would all be reducing, reusing and recycling
our waste.
I thank you.
Speech by Deputy Minister of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi
on the Occasion of the Awards Ceremony for
the Cleanest Town Competition, 22 March
2007, Emperor’s Palace, Johannesburg
22 March 2007 - Speech - Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Program Director
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honourable MECs
Honourable Members of the Portfolio Committee
and Select Committee
Honourable Mayors and Councillors
Directors-General
Distinguished stakeholders and partners
I greet you this evening with great appreciation
of your determination to continue with an
excellent work of keeping our country clean
and safe. Your overwhelming response to
participate in this competition bears testimony
to your dedication.
In the last few years following the inaugural
launch of the Cleanest Town Competition,
municipalities and communities started to
make plans and initiatives to fulfill their
Constitutional obligation of ensuring a
clean and safe environment. The competition
experienced development challenges similar
to that of an infant. We started by crawling,
later walked few steps and today we are
literally running.
I am commending the pace of progress this
evening because municipalities, as participants
of the Cleanest Town Competition, are complying
with the above-mentioned measures to protect
our environment. Our long term goal is to
move towards an integrated approach on waste
management which will be based on the 3R
(Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) principles.
This would ensure the use of fewer natural
resources which augurs well for protecting
the environment. Figuratively speaking,
the Constitution is the “Bible” of our service
delivery and set deliverable standards which
I’m confident we are fast striving towards.
We have to change our mindsets and regard
waste as a resource. In fact, waste is money.
Municipalities are waking up to the realisation
that waste management carries huge potential
to create jobs and eradicate poverty through
community-based projects. Waste management
projects in some of our communities are
progressing very well.
However, we need to introduce additional
waste management projects throughout the
country to spread socio-economic benefits
of our initiatives. For example, more Buy-Back
Centers and Recycling Centres for household
waste should be introduced throughout the
country. This would enable households to
sell their waste and generate income whilst
contributing to a clean and safe environment.
The plan to turn other forms of waste into
an important resource for job creation and
poverty eradication would significantly
boost local economic development. All these
efforts will result in fewer landfill sites
being required for dumping of waste.
Ladies and Gentlemen, improving the quality
of products manufactured from waste will
require us to invest in skills development
for members of our communities. Once communities
have acquired certain levels of competencies,
their products will in the long run start
to compete with those of their established
counterparts within the first economy.
In addition we need to invest in the transfer
of appropriate technology for waste management
to our communities. When we reach this stage,
socio-economic development will be a reality
in rural and poor communities and big business
will start to invest and make rural areas
attractive.
Clean areas create an environment which
augurs well for tourism promotion and supporting
the development of the commercial sector
in local areas. Tourists have always been
fascinated by local products such as beadwork
and other crafted material which they buy
and take back home as souvenirs.
We should all be aware that tourists coming
for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be keen
to visit clean areas and interact with local
people. For visitors to return to South
Africa after the World Cup, we need to create
a lasting impression on sound waste management
practices, especially the cleanliness of
our areas.
Most critical for all of us to remember
is that the Cleanest Town Competition forms
part of our campaigns aimed at promoting
responsible living in our country. It is
certainly not just another competition seeking
to provide a platform for "bragging"
amongst municipalities. Our challenge with
this competition is to make our villages
aware that they too can enter and win as
this will boost our education and awareness
campaign.
One such similar effort is Indalo Yethu,
the environmental campaign introduced to
establish an environmental endorsement system
which is underpinned by extensive marketing,
outreach and capacity building efforts.
Indalo Yethu's Chief Executive Officer,
J P Louw, is in our midst today and he indicated
that within the next month they will be
starting to roll out Indalo Yethu's campaigns.
They are already engaging a variety of stakeholders
to define some of the common programmes
to be implemented over the next year.
Particularly focused on the role each individual
can play within their domestic and/or professional
setting, Indalo Yethu's efforts aims to
mobilise South Africans around a common
call to action.
Municipalities also have a huge role to
motivate, train and coach the communities
to focus on waste management projects for
the benefit of local socio-economic development.
Every participant in the Cleanest Town Competition
is a winner regardless of not taking an
award back home. The bigger incentive should
be contributing to sustainable development
and creating a legacy one would be proud
to leave behind as a gift to future generations.
I thank you
SPEECH BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER FOR PROVINCIAL
AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT MS N HANGANA TO BE
DELIVERED AT A CONFERENCE ON WASTE MANAGEMENT
STAGED AT THE EMPERORS PALACE FROM 22-23
MARCH 2007
22 March 2007 - Speech - Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Programme Director;
Honorable Deputy Minister of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism;
MECs for Local Government and Environmental
Affairs;
Honorable Mayor of Ekhuruleni Metropolitan
Municipality, Councilor Duma Nkosi
All Mayors and Councilors Present;
Director Generals and other Senior Officials
of our three spheres of government;
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
As we pursue the targeted economic growth
of 6% set out in ASGISA, it is imperative
that we manage the proportionately higher
amount of waste as effectively and efficiently
as possible. Failure to do so will place
an insurmountable burden on the future generation
that will be left with an environment that
will be harmful to their wellbeing.
It is therefore opportune for the Department
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT)
to introduce the Waste Management Bill at
this point to create an environment conducive
for the building leaner and healthier living
space for now and the future.
Our main challenge is how we can create
a healthy balance between higher growth
in economic activities and the extent of
damage to our precious environment. All
the benefits of growth would be undone if
we fail to manage the side effected created
by the waste generated by such growing economic
activities and subsequent higher consumption
levelIt is the responsibility of Local Government
to ensure that individuals are protected
from hazardous environment. To achieve this
objective, municipalities are expected to
play a leading role in refuse removal and
the management of waste in general.
It is my assertion that the timing to host
this conference on waste management a subject
which is well documented and highly spoken
but disappointingly with little significance
of scale when it comes to outputs on the
ground. Some of you will concur with me
that waste management services is receiving
a lip service hence it is a leg behind from
all other sectors. This conference presents
to us an opportunity to change the ranging
perceptions, attitude and miscommunications
that are attributed to the non-delivery
of services by local government.
President Mbeki in his State of the Nation
Address of 9 February 2007 encouraged us
to renew our pledge, to act in partnership
to realize the happiness for all that should
come with liberty, to work together to build
a South Africa defined by a common dream.
Our common dream Deputy Minister should
be to empower municipalities to breakthrough
the repulsive and ugly state of our environment.
The Polokwane Declaration adopted in 2001
has mooted to reduce waste generation and
disposal by 50% and 25% respectively by
2012. Information drawn from the IDP Hearings
held in 2005,showed that overall waste management
especially the management of refuse removal
was one of the foremost backlog challenge
to be addressed by municipalities in all
Provinces. Waste management receives less
prominence in municipal strategies and plans
despite the potentially negative impacts
on the health and safety of poor communities
and the integrity of the environment.
Various IDP Assessments highlighted a range
of issues such as (1) a lack of institutional
structural capacity, (2) insufficient technical
capability and skills, and (3) inadequate
intergovernmental collaboration, which have
impeded negatively on the potential of integrated
development planning to adequately address
the development challenges and issues facing
the communities residing and conducting
business in the metros and districts of
our country. Integrated development planning
across the spheres is important in guiding
infrastructure investment, service delivery
and economic development at a local level.
In taking stock of this sector my preliminary
examination informs me that the contributory
factors include:
Failure to elevate waste management on
equal footing with other sectors.
False assumption that public sector can
single handedly attend to all waste management
challenges.
Acute lack of deployment of resources to
prioritize waste management.
Lack of coherent planning framework at local
government.
In particular, accelerating service delivery
will also contribute to the Accelerated
Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
(ASGISA), and will assist in achieving the
targeted economic growth rate of 6% through
job creation as well as the establishment
of well-serviced areas conducive for economic
investment and development.
Accelerating service delivery requires
us to creatively introduce new ways of supporting
local government to develop the capacity
to discharge its mandate as a sphere of
government. The Five Year Local Government
Strategic Agenda adopted by Cabinet proposes
three priorities, namely
Mainstreaming hands on support to local
government in order to improve municipal
governance, performance and accountability,
Addressing the structure and governance
arrangements of the state in order to strengthen,
support and monitor local government, and
Refining and strengthening the policy, regulatory
and fiscal environment for local government.
In order to achieve greater acceleration
in service delivery, towards meeting the
millennium development goals, hands on support
should be channeled to municipalities to
intensify the current capacity.
Programme Director, I must say that the
Waste Management Bill could not have come
at a better time. It comes at a time when
the whole focus of government and other
key stakeholders is channelled to strengthen
the capacity of local government to realize
universal access for all citizens. Universal
access must mean all South Africans must
access basic predictable and reliable service
levels in the key areas we have already
committed. The first decade of our freedom
was about breaking the back of mass access
to services; the second decade has to be
about universal access to critical services.
In our deliberations we should discuss
the Waste Management Bill in relation to
the roles each sphere of government should
give to municipalities. Chairperson the
role of DEAT is to establish the legal framework
for waste management and ensure that local
government have the necessary capacity and
resources to effectively carry out waste
management responsibilities.
We need to provide local government with
guidelines, capacity building measures to
ensure that they have the technical know
how to fulfil their waste management responsibilities.
Capacity should be enhanced on planning,
adequate budgeting, cost accounting, financial
monitoring and evaluation. Most municipalities
do not have accurate information on the
real costs of operations. Introduction of
improved planning tools, accounting and
financial analysis should be the thrust
of the broader efforts to increase the efficiency,
accountability and commercial orientation
of waste management.
In order to achieve waste minimisation,
we have to look into partnership arrangement
between municipalities and private sector,
especially where waste collection is insufficient.
To extend service coverage especially in
low-income areas the use of low-cost areas,
community managed collection systems should
be encouraged.
Waste generation is conditioned by people’s
attitudes towards waste, their patterns
of material use, their interest in waste
reduction and minimisation is influenced
by general awareness. Awareness building
measures should therefore be introduced
to improve waste handling practices.
I wish you well in your deliberations
Thank you
OPENING ADDRESS by Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi
Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism at the Waste Management Conference
on 22 March 2007
22 March 2007 – Speech - Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Program Director
Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Members of Executive Councils
Members of the Portfolio Committee and Select
Committee
Mayors and Councillors
Distinguished delegates and participants
Allow me to thank Executive Mayor Duma
Nkosi for his words of welcome. I am sure
we will all enjoy our stay in Ekurhuleni.
We meet here today just a day after we
celebrated Human Rights Day. It is therefore
befitting that I reflect on measures that
we have taken to give effect to Section
24 of the Constitution which guarantees
the right of all South Africans to an environment
that is not harmful to their health and
well-being.
Globally, our environment experiences unprecedented
stress and millions of people struggle in
poverty while relentless degradation of
ecosystems continues. It is always said
that we need to think globally and act locally.
The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development
was convened to map-out a detailed plan
of implementation at all levels including
community initiatives.
We have a profound responsibility to enhance
our plan of implementation to eradicate
poverty and change unsustainable patterns
of production and consumption. It is always
important to address the three pillars of
sustainable development, which are economic,
social and environment in order to achieve
our environmental goals.
Having recognized the devastating effects
of poor waste management practices of the
past on the majority of South Africans,
especially the poor, we set out to reform
the policy and regulatory framework governing
waste management in South Africa.
South Africa had to join the rest of the
international community by becoming a signatory
to conventions on waste management such
as the Basel Convention on Transboundary
Movement of Hazardous Waste and others.
The policy and law reform process which
we have embarked on has certainly improved
our compliance with the provisions of these
conventions and strengthens our position
to influence waste management decisions
at an international level.
At a national level, this reform process
led to the development of the policy on
integrated pollution and waste management
in 2000. The policy emphasizes the importance
of preventing pollution and waste, and avoiding
environmental degradation, as opposed to
the focus on end-of-pipe treatment of previous
policies.
It espouses government's vision to develop,
implement and maintain an integrated pollution
and waste management system that contributes
to sustainable development and a measurable
improvement in the quality of life of all
South Africans.
Central to the achievement of this vision
was the development of new pollution and
waste legislation that would, amongst other
things, address current legislative gaps,
and clarify and allocate responsibilities
within government and other stakeholders
for pollution and waste management.
The department has over the past few years
been engaged in a law reform process that
has led to, among other things, the development
of the National Environmental Management:
Waste Management Bill. For us, the Waste
Management Bill represents an important
instrument in our efforts to secure ecologically
sustainable development while promoting
sound economic and social development.
We recognize that, due to its crosscutting
nature, pollution and waste management is
neither the exclusive preserve of the Department
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, nor
of government. The private sector and civil
society have important roles to play in
promoting integrated pollution and waste
management.
The fostering of partnerships across all
spheres of government, and between governments,
the private sector and civil society is
necessary for sustainable and effective
pollution and waste management to take place.
It is in this spirit of co-operative governance
and partnership building that we are gathered
here today to deliberate on the draft legislation.
Notwithstanding these developments at a
policy and legislative level, we are acutely
aware of the many challenges that we still
face in our efforts to secure an environment
that is not harmful to the health and well-being
of our people. The provision of a basic
waste removal service to all sectors of
our society remains a challenge, particularly
in rural areas and urban informal settlements.
Recent studies indicate that, much as there
have been some commendable improvements
in the provision of basic waste services
in recent years, some 40% of all households
in the country remain without access to
a basic level of waste removal services.
Moreover, we, as a nation, are generating
increasing volumes of waste each year. Much
of the responsibility of dealing with this
escalating waste problem is borne by local
government. Evidently, we need to do much
more as a collective. Primarily, we need
to encourage behavioural change and promote
the 3Rs of reducing, re-using and recycling
our waste through community-based approaches
for awareness-raising and capacity-building.
I am aware that there are a number of community-based
initiatives that are attempting to provide
a basic infrastructure to facilitate recycling.
We need to support these initiatives and
enable them to grow from being survivalist
schemes to being sustainable enterprises.
In 2002, when we hosted the World Summit
on Sustainable Development, we successfully
demonstrated, albeit on a small scale, the
potential contribution of waste separation
and recycling to sustainable development.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup presents an even
bigger opportunity for us to promote sustainable
development and establish a lasting legacy
through the Greening 2010 initiative.
I would like to use this opportunity to
encourage our hosting and support cities,
as you move forward into what will be an
intensive phase of infrastructural planning
and development, to place sustainable development,
and waste management in particular, high
on your agenda.
We cannot allow ourselves and the nation
to drown in waste while we can use it to
create employment and eradicate poverty.
We have a responsibility to free all humanity
and generations to come from the threat
of living on a planet irredeemably spoilt
by human activities with scarce resources
that will no longer sustain us.
This conference presents a rare opportunity
for all of us across the public and private
sector to discuss the challenges that face
the waste sector and, through the Waste
Management Bill, to begin to chart a new
path for waste management in South Africa.
I trust that you will all make the best
use of this opportunity. Remember we cannot
buy another planet, our lives and those
of future generations will depend on this
planet.
I thank you.
