Tourism, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, at the first Environmental Enforcement
Conference
22February 2006
Your Excellency the British High Commissioner for South Africa, the Right
Honourable Mr Boateng,
Director-General of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism,
Heads of Provincial Departments,
Partners from the Environment Agency of England and Wales,
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with great pleasure that I address you on this auspicious occasion of
our first Environmental Enforcement Conference. Enforcement of our
environmental legislation is of great importance not only to us as the
Department, but to the country as a whole. On many occasions I have witnessed
rocks graffiti, trees cut, and rotten egg smell from industries that pollute
our air and other environmental problems. These environmental crimes damage our
peopleâs quality of life.
I am sure you are aware of Thor Chemicals and the unfortunate incidences
that resulted in the loss of lives, deterioration of health of our people and
many other ailments. Many people who live and work in air pollution hotspots
also face the same problems. I am sure that this conference and many other
efforts by government to put our environmental enforcement regime on par with
international standards will liberate our people out of the conditions they
found themselves in.
The successful prosecution of the Mandara case is a classical example, and I
am informed that the Department through our tip off hotline has received a lot
of complaints and officials in the enforcement unit are following on them.
However, Programme Director, we could not have done this alone. Since 2003,
the Department has developed a partnership with the Environment Agency in the
United Kingdom (UK). This partnership has now been formalised into a three-year
work programme. The work programme is funded by the British Foreign and
Commonwealth Office, represented here today by his Excellency the British High
Commissioner, and we are very thankful for that High Commissioner.
The work programme is supportive of the capacity-building work done by the
departmentâs environmental management inspectorate. In particular, Environment
Agency officials have worked closely with officials from the Department to
develop the Environmental Management Inspectors Bridging Training course
currently being rolled out.
To this extent, they have shared their experience of both enforcement, and
training, and two officials from the Environment Agency participated in two of
the training sessions held previously in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
In addition to the Agencyâs support for this Conference and the
Environmental Enforcement Communications Workshop that takes place on Friday, a
prosecutor from the Environment Agency will also participate in a workshop for
magistrates on environmental crimes which will take place soon. I am reliably
informed that Agency officials also share their expertise with our officials on
a weekly basis on a range of issues.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the important role of
support that the Environment Agency has played in our capacity-building
programme. I can only hope that this partnership will continue to our mutual
benefit, and the benefit of the environment in South Africa.
Programme Director, in July 2005, at the start of our first prosecutor
training course, I announced an annual award of excellence for an outstanding
contribution by a prosecutor of environmental crimes. A call for nominations
was published in December 2005.
The published criteria for this award are the following:
* The successful prosecution of a significant, precedent-setting
environmental case in the past year;
* A track record of successful prosecution of several smaller environmental
cases over the past three years;
* A track record of a high prosecution success rate in environmental cases over
the past three years;
* Obtaining a significant or particularly innovative sentence in the
prosecution of an environmental crime in the past year; and/or
* A long-term commitment to capacity-building for the successful prosecution of
environmental crimes, including relationship-building with investigators,
Environmental Management Inspectors and any other law enforcement agencies
involved with environmental enforcement.
Our Department received nominations of eight prosecutors for this award. The
nominations were evaluated by a panel consisting of the Deputy National
Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr Silas Ramaite; the Deputy Dean of the
Faculty of Law of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Prof Michael Kidd; and our
Director of Enforcement in the Department, Melissa Fourie.
The recipient of the 2005 annual award of excellence for an outstanding
contribution to the prosecution of Environmental Crimes received no less than
three separate nominations: from the Senior Public Prosecutor at the Durban
Magistratesâ Court, from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and from the KwaZulu-Natal
provincial South African Police Service (SAPS). He has made an extraordinary
contribution to the prosecution of environmental crimes, particularly wildlife
crimes, over the past 10 years.
More specifically, the recipient holds the astonishing record of a 100%
prosecution success rate over the past 10 years. He has a convincing track
record on a series of successful environmental prosecutions, and has led the
prosecutions of several successful precedent-setting environmental cases.
The evaluation panel was provided with evidence of a number of innovative
sentences, and a passionate commitment to building relationships and supporting
all role players in the prosecution of environmental crimes, including
magistrates, other prosecutors and investigators.
Programme Director I am now happy to announce the name of, Mr Robert
Mortassagne, prosecutor at the Durban Magistrateâs Court as our inaugural
winner of the annual award of excellence for an outstanding contribution by a
prosecutor of environmental crimes.
To you we say congratulations and well done. May we learn from you and
continue to make this country of ours worth living in.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
22 February 2006
