Programme Director
Your Worship the Mayor of Mbombela Local Municipality, Cllr Cathrine Dlamini
MMC from Ehlanzeni District Municipality, Thoko Mdluli
Government officials
Distinguished guests
Principals, Educators and Learners
Members of the community
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
I am pleased to be part of this remarkable celebration of the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.
This event seeks to bring awareness on the preservation of the ozone layer and also to impart knowledge and bring a form of preparedness and readiness of our learners for the future. During the month of September South Africans young and old commemorate our history and celebrate our diverse cultures as an integral part of the heritage month.
This year’s Heritage Month celebrations is marked under the theme “Reclaiming, Restoring and Celebrating our living heritage”.
Our gathering here today bears great significance, since it seeks to bring to your attention one of the matters that is enshrined in our constitution, to ensure that people reside in a liveable environment that is protected and thus not harmful to their well-being.
Government remains committed to the preservation of the environment for the present and future generations. However, for this to be achieved we acknowledge that a collaborative effort between the government and the communities is necessary and important. It is for this purpose that amongst others, we need to strengthen active participation of community members both young and old.
World Ozone Day is a product of the Montreal Protocol Convention under the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), seeking to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the ozone reducing substances.
South Africa is party to both the Vienna Convention for the protection of Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the ozone layer. The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer is celebrated annually on the 16th of September.
South Africa makes use of the ozone depleting substances in the following sectors:
- Refrigeration and air-conditioning assembly and installation (coolants)
- Refrigeration and air-conditioning servicing and maintenance
- Aerosol production (minor use)
- Ship quarantine as an insecticide to preserve wood
The ozone layer is the “shield in the sky”. This is a layer of gas in a form of dense oxygen and it is produced naturally in the atmosphere. All life on earth depends on the existence of this thin layer gas, called the ozone layer. As is now widely understood, human activities release a number of gases into the atmosphere that depletes the ozone layer.
It is for this reason that government, the public and the private sector need to join hands and work together so that we can use these gases in a way that prevents their release into the atmosphere and ensure that the control measures put in place by our government are complied with. This is done all in the name of saving the ozone layer from being damaged and thus preventing the destruction of all forms of life on earth through the harmful effects of the ultraviolet rays of the sun.
This therefore means that a feature of the successful management of environmental problems will be an integrated approach to planning that takes into account the major linkages, such as the relationship between the environment, economics, public and environmental policy.
South Africa as party to the Montreal Protocol sets out to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the ozone depleting substances in accordance with the requirements of the Protocol.
Parallel to that, the country restricts and controls the use of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs) by working with other departments that control our borders and also promotes the use of ozone-friendly substances. Furthermore, the Department is in the process of developing Regulations to control Ozone Depleting Substances.
Our National Ozone Unit (Chemicals Management) has collaborated with the South African Revenue Services (SARS), International Trade Administration Commission and the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries to set up an import permit system to control trade in ozone depleting substances in order to meet the obligations the Montreal Protocol.
The department has also developed the HCFC phase-out Management Plan which has been approved by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Ozone Secretariat and this is currently being implemented.
Our ozone unit intends to train the SARS customs Inspectors at the ports of entry in Durban and Cape Town and the ones on land. The government does not only seek to ban imports of these ozone depleting substances where cost-effective alternatives are available, but also intends to prevent the loss of jobs and collapse of businesses.
Hence there are regular engagements with relevant Stakeholders with the department to ensure that compliance with the Montreal Protocol is done in a sustainable manner.
Our former President Nelson Mandela once said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. This statement informed our decision as the department to have this event hosted by schools where we are certain that we will impart knowledge to empower our children to change the world.
It is our hope that the children will teach their immediate family and the community at large. Last year, in 2012, the International day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer Awareness Event was held at Stadt Primary School in Mahikeng, North West Province. The theme was “Protecting our atmosphere for generations to come”.
Indeed the decisions, choices and actions we take concerning the environment, not only affect this generation but even the generations to come.
This year’s theme is “A healthy atmosphere, the future we want”. This year’s event seeks to echo the words of our former President Nelson Mandela and the National Development Plan on education and skills development. Three priorities stand out from the National Development Plan:
- Raising employment through faster economic growth;
- Improving the quality of education, Skills development and Innovation;
- Building the capability of the state to play a developmental, transformative role.
South Africa needs to reduce poverty and inequality by broadening opportunities and employment through economic inclusion, education and skills development. In the short term, the economy needs to create jobs for unemployed South Africans, many of whom are young and low-skilled, while upgrading skills and knowledge for a different economy in future.
Raising employment levels will have benefits beyond the empowering experience of having a job. It will help people invest in their children’s education, upgrade their homes and manage life’s risks. Work and education will enable citizens to improve their own lives.
It is therefore important that as government and stakeholders, as we work together to control and manage ozone depleting substances and introduce newer and safer alternatives, we do so in manner:
- That will not cut jobs but rather raise employment to contribute to economic growth;
- We teach our children in schools about what ozone depleting substances are so that they can be exposed to different career opportunities that would develop their skills and enable them to be innovative.
- Such an approach would build the capability of the state to play a developmental, transformative role not just locally but in the global arena.
By collaborating with educators in their efforts of producing better skilled learners that can pursue previously not known or common career fields within environmental management and specifically on chemicals management, we would have sown a seed that will grow and feed the nation as a whole.
This International day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer Awareness Event has brought us together under one roof here in Ehlanzeni District, Mpumalanga today for the sole purpose of uniting as government, the public and communities to ensure that the future we are building, particularly the environment, of which the atmosphere is a part of, is clean, safe, desirable and hopeful for our children and generations to come.
I thank you.
For media queries
Peter Mbelengwa
Cell: 082 611 8197
