Programme Director
MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism Mr Pitso Moloto
City of Polokwane Executive Mayor, Mr Freddy Greaver
Deputy-Director General: Ms Joanne Yawitch
Senior government officials
Stakeholders
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Members of the media
I am gratified to be part of this remarkable 5th Annual Air Quality Governance Lekgotla. It is at this juncture that as government we reaffirm the citizens’ right to clean air and to an environment that is not harmful to health and well-being.
On 1 April 2010, the Air Quality Act (the AQA) came into full effect. This event marked a milestone in South African air quality governance as it finally provided local government with a full set of regulatory powers and tools to implement their Constitutional “air pollution” governance function.
Even after only 6 months, more “on-the-ground” air quality interventions are taking place, far fewer air pollution complaints are being logged by the national department and there appears to be very few complaints around the delivery of services such as the Atmospheric Emission Licensing service. However, it is still early days and we will only start seeing the real fruits of our new air quality governance regime over the next few years.
But how is this smooth and seamless transition to better air quality coming about?Having been involved in the rollout of the new air quality governance approach since the early discussions in this regard, I believe there have been two important drivers:
- Firstly, right from the start, air quality management officials have been driving an “objectives-oriented” or “outcomes-based” approach to air quality governance. Although this approach is fully aligned with our Right to air that is not harmful to health and well-being, it also provides the basis for real progress measurement, reporting and verification. Therefore, if people are breathing poor air, we are not doing our job properly.
- Secondly, the development and implementation of the new approach to air quality governance has been a team effort.
The exchange of information strengthen cooperation and collaboration between the three spheres of government to work together in order to improve the air quality in the country. The air quality governance team, as reflected in this audience, has always appeared to me to be a cohesive and dedicated team drawn together and bound by a common objective – the delivery of clean and healthy air.
I believe that it is through team work that we are able to deliver and will continue to deliver, positive air quality and governance results. I also believe that it is this event – the Annual Air Quality Governance Lekgotla – that will maintain this focus and build this team.
Although the department no longer issues licenses, they will continue to provide you all with the support and tools you need to fulfil this function efficiently and effectively. To this end, the department will soon be publishing the licensing fee calculator and protocol for formal public comment. The dust monitoring and control regulations are also in the pipeline as well as the possible first “pro-active” national priority area declaration – the proposed Waterberg Priority Area.
On the information management front, there have also been some very important developments and more are in the pipeline – Firstly, on World Meteorological Day, the department signed a formal agreement with the South African Weather Service on the air quality information services to be provided by Weather Service.
In implementing this agreement, the department will be transferring its two priority area air quality monitoring networks to Weather Service and ultimately the Weather Service will take over the full development, operation and maintenance of the South African Air Quality Information System (the SAAQIS). Furthermore, the process of amending the Weather Service Act to reflect, among others, Weather Service’s new air quality information functions is also well underway.
However, I must point out that the power and utility of the ambient air quality component of the SAAQIS is largely dependent on all government-owned monitoring stations supplying data to the system. In this regard, I understand that some of these networks are still not providing data to SAAQIS.
Although I find it difficult to understand why this is the case, I encourage those provinces and municipalities that are not yet providing access to the nation on the state of our air through the SAAQIS to do so as a matter of urgency. Another exciting element of Weather Service’s SAAQIS work over the next few months will be the initiation of the SAAQIS Phase II project – the National Atmospheric Emission Inventory project. This project will develop a web-based emission monitoring and reporting system based on the mandatory provision of emission data.
This information will be invaluable to all air quality officers, especially those using dispersion modelling to inform their air quality management plans and interventions. On a related matter, I have noted the progress in the development of a national air quality indicator and see that further discussions on this will be taking place during the Wednesday workshop. To this end, I understand that preliminary results appear to be confirming that, although things are definitely improving in certain areas, other areas need far more attention.
With this, I am eagerly looking forward to the day when I can stand up in front of any audience and say – “South Africa’s air quality is definitely getting better” – with confidence and pride. Furthermore, I am hoping that this day is not a long way off.
Notwithstanding these important initiatives, it is not the department’s work that is the focus of this year’s Lekgotla; it is the work of the new Licensing Authorities. Hence, this 5th Annual Air Quality Governance Lekgotla is itself an important milestone as it represents the first meeting of the air quality governance team as licensing peers.
With this, I believe it is now time for the nation’s air quality governance team as a whole to start taking collective responsibility for the focus and content of future meetings if these meetings are to continue to remain relevant and valuable.
Finally, I would like to formally open this fifth annual Air Quality Governance Lekgotla and I wish you fruitful and productive discussions.
Ke a leboga, Ndo livhuwa, thank you.
