STATEMENT BY THE OFFICE
OF MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK, MINISTER OF
ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM AT THE
LAUNCH OF THE ASBESTOS REGULATIONS, PRETORIA,
27 MARCH 2008
27 March 2008 - For
immediate release - MINISTER ANNOUNCES A
PROHIBITION ON THE USE, PROCESSING OR MANUFACTURING
OF ASBESTOS OR ASBESTOS CONTAINING PRODUCTS
The Minister of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism today announced a prohibition
on the use, processing or manufacturing,
of any asbestos or asbestos containing products.
South Africa mined crocidolite, amosite
and chrysotile asbestos extensively from
the late 1800s until 2001. As a major supplier
of asbestos to the world, SA produced 97%
of the world’s crocidolite, 100% of the
amosite and was the 5th largest producer
of chrysotile. At its peak asbestos accounted
for 3% of the value of South Africa’s mineral
exports.
Mining occurred in the
Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
The health implications of exposure to airborne
asbestos fibers were highlighted in the
1930’s and specific links to certain cancers
were first made in South Africa in the early
1960’s. Due to the extent and severity of
asbestos related problems affecting the
communities in these provinces, a multi-stakeholder
National Asbestos Summit was convened by
the Environmental Portfolio Committee in
1998.
The recommendations
from the National Asbestos Summit brought
about the development of a national strategy
to address asbestos pollution in the country.
The objective was to phase out the remaining
mining activities and to prevent new uses
of asbestos containing products.
A socio-economic impact
study was undertaken to understand the possible
implications of this objective. The conclusion
of the study was that the phasing out of
asbestos and asbestos containing products
would be beneficial to the country. Based
on these findings, DEAT received a mandate
from Cabinet to draft regulations to enforce
this objective.
The first draft of these
regulations was published for comment in
November 2005. Extensive comments were received
from many parties.
Having considered all the inputs made, significant
amendments were made to the regulations
and the regulations were re-gazetted in
September 2007 for further comment. The
comments were again considered and now the
final regulations will be gazetted for implementation
on Friday 28 March 2008.
The main objectives
of the regulations are as follows:
To prohibit the use,
processing or manufacturing, of any asbestos
or asbestos containing product unless it
can be proven that no suitable alternative
exists, in which case a phase-out plan may
be approved.
To prohibit the import
or export of any asbestos or asbestos containing
product provided that the importation is
purely for transit through the country.
Any person transporting asbestos or asbestos
containing material through the country
will be required to register with the Department
and provide certain information on an annual
basis.
To prohibit the import
of any asbestos or asbestos containing waste
material other than from a member of the
Southern African Development Community for
the sole purpose of safe disposal locally,
subject to the submission of certain information
annually.
The use of asbestos
or asbestos containing material for research
purposes will be allowed if the research
is not being undertaken to produce another
asbestos containing product. The researcher
will need to notify the Department of their
research and will have to provide a report
on the amount of asbestos used and the outcome
of the research on an annual basis. The
Minister may review the permission on an
annual basis.
A grace period of 120
days will be allowed to allow any person
or merchant who is currently dealing in
asbestos or asbestos containing materials
to clear their stocks.
Should a manufacturer
or merchant who currently sells one of a
limited range of “identified products” –
which are asbestos containing products for
which there is no immediate alternative
- wish to continue making or selling the
product beyond the grace period, they will
be required to register with the Department
within 120 days.
They will then be required
to submit a phase out plan for approval
by the Minister within one year of the promulgation
of the regulations. This plan must identify
the reason for continuing to use the product
and must identify a timeframe and activities
for the phase out of the ”identified products.”
These regulations do
not prohibit the continued use of asbestos
containing materials (such as asbestos-cement
roof sheets or ceilings) that are already
in place as the Department is satisfied
that there is no undue risk to the occupants
of houses that are fitted with these materials.
Over time, however, they should be replaced
with asbestos-free materials.
It is important to remember
that exposure to asbestos in the workplace
(including, mining, industrial, commercial,
retail and public workplaces, including
maintenance of building materials) is still
controlled by the Asbestos Regulations 2001
published by the Department of Labour. These
require employers to draw up a register
of all asbestos containing materials, conducts
a risk assessment, educate and inform employees,
protect employees from exposure to asbestos
and conduct regular dust and health surveillance.
In publishing these
regulations, South Africa joins more than
50 other countries that have put the health
of its people first.
The term “asbestos”
is applied to a group of naturally occurring
fibrous metal silicate materials. In general
the term applies to six minerals specifically:
crocidolite, amosite, chrysotile, anthophyllite,
tremolite and actinolite. “Asbestos” means
any mixture containing any of these materials
and “asbestos containing material” means
any mixture, product, component or material
to which asbestos has been added.
To view Regulations
and other documents, click link below.
http://www.environment.gov.za/HotIssues/2007/asbestos/asbestos.html
Media enquiries: Mava Scott
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SADC CLOSER TO ESTABLISHING
UNIVISA FOR TOURISTS
25 March 2008 - MEDIA
STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY
MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM
ON, TUESDAY 25 MARCH 2008
SADC CLOSER TO ESTABLISHING
UNIVISA FOR TOURISTS
The Inter-Ministerial
conference held in Luanda, Angola, on 18th
- 19th March 2008 agreed to expedite the
process of establishing One Visa (UNIVISA)
for tourists visiting the SADC region to
facilitate the efficient movement in the
region which will positively impact on tourism
revenue for all member states. The process
will bring to an end delays and the inconvenience
of visa applications.
Tourism in Africa is
growing and the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC) is positioning member states
to exploit the huge tourism business opportunities
coming from the new emerging markets. To
fully take advantage of this, the Inter-Ministerial
Committee comprising 9 SADC member states
is encouraging removal of obstacles to the
movement of SADC citizens within the region
through bilateral agreements on the Protocol
on Facilitation of Movement of Persons.
This includes waiver of Visas requirements.
The nine member states who have signed the
Protocol are: Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Mozambique,
Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania
and Zimbabwe.
The Deputy Minister
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Ms
Rejoice Mabudafhasi, who represented South
Africa at the conference, said, “Statistics
of foreign arrivals gathered in the past
few years provide clear evidence that the
SADC region is amongst the top preferred
destinations by tourists in the world.
Noting this encouraging development, the
Inter-Ministerial Committee representing
SADC member states is currently exploring
further avenues such as UNIVISA to optimize
tourism income. Tourism growth is good news
to us because it results in creation of
jobs and eradication of poverty. To boost
tourism growth and benefits even further,
we are encouraging bilateral discussions
amongst SADC member states to enable the
citizens of our region to move within the
region without a VISA. Tourists spend money
as they move and distribute income to many
enterprises, including those belonging to
communities. Although the expected benefits
of these plans are focused on medium to
long-term, we are expecting positive outcome
during the 2010 Soccer World Cup”.
The UNIVISA is being
refined to operate similarly to the European
Schengen Visa system which is by far considered
the best system. Member states still have
to resolve outstanding issues such as costs,
policy agreements, procedures and requirements
for issuing of UNIVISA.
Moses Rannditsheni, Media Liaison Officer
for the Deputy Minister
