Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Edna Molewa, today officially launched the National Compliance and Enforcement Report (NECER) 2011/12 in Cape Town. The report provides a national overview of environmental compliance and enforcement activities undertaken by relevant institutions across the country during the period 1 April 2011 – 31 March 2012.
The NECER includes the work of the Environmental Management Inspectorate (EMI) commonly known as the Green Scorpions. The Green Scorpions are a network of environmental compliance and enforcement officials from national, provincial and municipal government, who all share the same legislative powers and duties in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA). EMIs are tasked with ensuring the implementation of and adherence to specific pieces of national environmental legislation.
An overview of the criminal enforcement activities for the 2011/12 period shows that a total of 1 339 arrests were made by the Green Scorpions as compared to 1988 in the previous financial year. 1 080 criminal dockets were registered during the period in question compared to 718 in the 2010/11 period.
The report also indicates a slight increase in the number of convictions obtained nationally, from 72 in 2010/11 to 82 convictions in 2011/12, while the number of acquittals fell considerably from 22 to 7 over the same reporting periods. A total of 759 admission of guilt fines were paid to the value of R 470 080, while in the previous financial year, 1245 fines amounting to a total of R 867 101 were paid. Admission of guilt fines are issued to minor offenders who are given an option to pay a prescribed fine instead of being tried by a court for that offence. The amount of the fine is based on the nature of the offence as well as what a court would presumably have imposed.
The total value of money paid as a result of the issuing of section 24 G administrative fines more than doubled, from about R8.3 million in 2010/11 to about R17.6 million in 2011/12. The total number of fines issued also showed a corresponding increase from 58 to 86 in the same reporting periods. These fines are paid as a consequence of the illegal commencement of Environmental Impact Assessment and waste management listed activities.
The Department of Environmental Affairs also operates a 24 hour Environmental Crimes and Incidents Hotline. The national complaints and incidents hotline registered 564 complaints and incidents in the 2011/12 financial year, compared to 570 in the previous reporting period. A total of 140 emergency incidents were reported in terms of section 30 of NEMA, with 30 of these being assessed as being minor incidents that were not deemed to pose a serious risk to human health or the environment.
Some of the most prevalent crimes reported include the poaching of rhino in a national park, the unlawful disposal of waste, illegal cutting and collection of wood and driving in a coastal area without a permit.
A significant volume of environmental enforcement work is also undertaken through the application of administrative enforcement tools such as the issuing of directives and compliance notices. Pre-directives and pre-compliance notices issued increased slightly from 326 in 2010/11 to 362 in 2011/12. A decrease in final directives and final compliance notices issued saw numbers decline from 221 to 159.
The number of facilities inspected for compliance with environmental legislation was reported to be 1724 in 2011/12, compared to 1954 in the previous reporting period. During the course of inspecting these facilities, a total of 2482 non-compliances were reported, of which 562 were considered to require an enforcement response.
The 2011/12 financial year has seen a focus in enforcement activities in relation to proactive industrial compliance and enforcement work. The previous reporting period revealed that allowing a grace period for facilities to come into compliance was not achieving the desired results and consequently, resources are now being focussed on criminal as well as administrative enforcement processes.
In 2011, a total of 448 rhinoceros were poached in South Africa. Of these 448 rhinos, 254 were poached in the Kruger National Park (KNP), 74 in Limpopo, 34 in KwaZulu-Natal, 31 in Mpumalanga, 21 in North West with the rest of the provinces bearing the loss of less than 20 rhinos. During the same period, a total of 232 suspected rhino poachers were arrested. Of the 232 arrested suspects, most arrests were done in KNP with 82 arrests, Mpumalanga with 73, Limpopo with 34 and North West with 21.
There have been a number of cases this year related to the illegal hunting, dealing in and possession of rhino horn where the accused have been found guilty and sentenced to direct imprisonment without the option of a fine. The first few cases which resulted in this outcome were important, both from the perspective of providing a precedent to other courts but also to send out a strong message that imprisonment is the most likely consequence if you are caught engaging in such illegal activities.
As part of the South African Police Services (SAPS) Joint Initiative, the Free State province had monthly special visible proactive policing operations which resulted in zero poaching incidents in the province. The province also launched various compliance blitzes to curb the sale and slaughtering of indigenous resources. In addition, the province has dedicated officials doing all private rhino horn stockpile assessments in line with the recently gazetted Norms and Standards for the marking of rhinoceros and rhinoceros horn, and for the hunting of rhinoceros for trophy hunting purposes. As per the norms and standards, the province has done DNA sampling of over 100 horns. The Free State is only one such example of successful initiatives in curbing wildlife crimes.
Furthermore, the report indicates that a total of 12 non-compliant companies to the Bioprospecting, Access and Benefit Sharing (BABS) Regulations were identified. The BABS Regulations support the sustainable use of indigenous biological resources while promoting fair and equitable sharing of benefits. Of the 12 non-compliant companies issued with a letter outlining the permit application procedure, four responded by submitting permit applications. Further engagement with the eight non-compliant companies will take place in the 2012/13 financial year.
From a pollution perspective, the Silicon Smelters (Rand Carbide) was one of the most significant cases of the 2011/12 financial year. In addition to the significant resources spent by the facility to implement environmental improvements as a result of the enforcement action, the facility pleaded guilty to two counts, i.e. contravening provisions of the air quality legislation, for which the facility was fined R2 million; and unlawfully and intentionally committing an act which caused or was likely to cause significant pollution to the environment, for which the facility was fined R1 million. Silicon Smelters only had to pay half the fine, totalling R1.5 million, with the other half suspended for a period of five years on condition that the company is not found guilty of contravening these provisions within that period.
Silicon Smelters also initiated a number of measures aimed at bringing the facility into compliance with the provisions of the law, including installing and/or improving the extraction systems at furnaces, installing water sprayers for dust suppression on raw material stockpiles and the construction of stockpile enclosures. The value of the completed improvements amounted to nearly R13 million, according to estimates provided by Silicon Smelters. The outcome of this case demonstrated to industry that fines in excess of R1 million could result from breaches of environmental law and, although these amounts may not be significant for some large corporates, this case can be seen as setting the bar for increased fines in the future.
There has been a 30% increase in the number of EMIs on the national register, from 1076 in 2010/11 to 1399 in 2011/12. A key driver of this increase has been the recent round of training and designation of Grade 5 EMIs or field rangers, who are employed at institutions such as Sanparks, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency as well as the Limpopo environmental department, to undertake compliance and enforcement activities in South Africa’s protected areas. The numbers of these Grade 5 EMIs grew from 640 in 2010/11 to 841 in 2011/12.
In March 2012, the Inspectorate held its 4th Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Lekgotla, which was themed, “Pause, Hold, Engage: Green Scorpions: Half a Decade On.” and was intended to provide the Inspectorate with an opportunity to take stock of its performance over the last five years and assess whether it has been successful in executing the Constitutional mandate to ensure an environment that is not harmful to our citizens’ health and well-being.
This event included a multi-stakeholder panel discussions with participation from the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), industry association, legal, academic and research sectors; as well as an awards ceremony aimed at giving due recognition to EMIs and prosecutors that have displayed outstanding commitment to protecting the environment.
With the foundation for environmental legislation having firmly been set in South Africa over the past decade, the greatest challenge now is that of implementation and delivery. Ensuring that such legislation is implemented and achieves its purposes is largely the responsibility of EMIs and the NECER is a collation of their experiences and findings in this work.
The 2011/12 edition marks the fifth of its kind since the inception of the Environmental Management Inspectorate (EMI), also known as the Green Scorpions. The report highlights the significant efforts of the EMI sector to ensure that the principles of sustainable development and the-polluter-pays are practically implemented through the many inspections, investigations and other compliance and enforcement activities that make up the daily routine of EMI officials. The results and impact of this work are evident in the statistics contained in the report, which show the commitment and dedication of the Green Scorpions.
Members of the public are urged to report environmental incidents and crimes to the 24 hour hotline 0800 205 005.
Click here to access the report.
For media queries contact:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
