Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, at the First Session of the National
Waste Conference
22 March 2007
Programme director, Ms Pam Yako
Director-General of the Department Environmental Affairs and Tourism
(DEAT)
Executive Mayor of the host Metropolitan Council, Councillor Duma Nkosi
Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mme Joyce
Mabudafhasi
Deputy Minister of Provincial and Local Government, Ms Nomatyala Hangana
Members of Executive Councils (MECs) and mayors from other provinces
Members of Mayoral Committees and councillors present
Heads of government departments and Directors-General and Deputy
Directors-General present
Guests from beyond the borders of South Africa
Government officials present
Representatives of the business community
Non-Governmental Organisations and Community Based Organisations
Invited guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a pleasure and honour to have been given this opportunity to chair
this first session of this auspicious conference and to make a few remarks. The
theme for today's conference is, "Waste management for a cleaner South Africa -
A Local Government Perspective."
Conventional wisdom correctly informs us that population growth rates,
socio-economic development, the Gross Domestic Product specifically, increasing
production and utilisation both hazardous and non-hazardous elements are
amongst key drivers of waste. South Africa is a developmental state that has
its fair share of these waste drivers, including an economy that continues to
notch higher growth levels. This being the case, I do believe that the country
as a whole will also enormously benefit from this meeting, especially as it
should help enrich and consolidate the country's Waste Bill.
I do believe that the presence and active participation of local
municipalities, in this meeting, shall also further enhance the quality of our
deliberations and possibly the rate at which we should be able to deal with the
issue of effective waste management. A pilot project initiated by the United
Nations, on Waste Management in Africa, has shown that municipalities are
critical for effective waste management strategies. The pilot project, covering
municipalities in Ndola, Zambia, Malindi in Kenya and Accra in Nigeria showed
that municipalities are indeed indispensable in the quest for effective waste
management. This derives from the reality that waste is generated in industries
and homes located within municipalities. The project also dialectically linked
effective waste management with projects that meet other pressing social needs,
including fighting poverty and job creation through, amongst others, waste
recycling projects.
Municipalities participating in this project focused on, amongst others,
rehabilitations of existing dump sites, provision of waste management equipment
and vehicles, review of regulatory frameworks and capacity building amongst
communities and local authorities. Pilot projects to showcase environmentally
sound waste management practices were also set up in the participating
municipalities.
The project not only showed dramatic improvement in the quality of
intra-governance between municipalities and communities, it also increased
community awareness and participation. The youth of these municipalities also
benefited from waste collection services that were initiated. I do hope that
the presence of this third tier of Government will indeed benefit us all in our
collective quest to restore the ecological integrity of the cities, protect
biodiversity and work with communities to keep these areas clean so that they
can become places of leisure, improving the quality of life for all our
people.
With these few words, allow me Programme Director to invite the metaphorical
thousands of flowers to bloom and the figurative thousand schools of thoughts
to contend.
During this session we will be welcomed by Mr Duma Nkosi, the Executive
Mayor of the host city and listen to the Deputy Minister of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, who will do the opening address,
as well as to the Deputy minister of Provincial and Local Government, Ms
Nomatyala Hangana who will address us on Accelerated Service delivery at Local
Government.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Gauteng
Provincial Government
23 March 2007
