Deputy Minister Barbara Thomson: Fifth Greenest Municipality Competition Awards winners

MEC for Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs, Mr A Gumede
Executive Mayor of the Nkangala District Municipality, Clr D Ngwenya
Executive Mayor of Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, Clr M Masina
Members of the Mayoral Committee
Councilors present
Representatives of Traditional Leadership
Officials from the national and provincial Departments Environmental Affairs
Members of the community

Ladies and gentlemen

I am honoured once again to be part of this prestigious annual event, where we recognise the important role of local government in meeting national environmental goals. The Greenest Municipality Competition has evolved into a significant contributor towards our collective response to the challenges posed by climate change and our course towards a sustainable future.

Municipalities are central to the success of any initiative that seeks to address the challenges of climate change. They have direct control over carbon emission because this is where the main GHG emitters (industry) are located. It is also where those most vulnerable to climate change effects reside (communities). It is critical therefore that our response to climate change effects must focus on opportunities in municipalities to avoid or mitigate negative impacts on the natural environment, communities and the infrastructure they depend on.

This is the context within which the Greenest Municipality Competition must be viewed. Most of the core elements or requirements for participation in the competition involves actions that can easily be linked back to adaptation. Waste management, energy efficiency, water management, tree planting, public participation and community empowerment are all inherent requirements of any strategy to make us climate resilient. These are the very same requirements for the GMC.

One can therefore confidently say that the Greenest Municipality Competition is part of our climate change response strategy. It is therefore a very important initiative that demands the participation of every single municipality in the country.

Every competition culminates in the announcement and conferring of prizes to the outstanding achievers and today marks the announcement of the best performing municipalities for the 2015/16 cycle. For the winning municipalities, this day presents a moment of joyous reflection on the difficult road travelled. It instils a feeling of pride amongst the winners, especially to those participants who defied all the odds and worked hard to reach the Finishing Line first in a tough competition, which drew many participants.

The biggest winner of this competition is our environment. When the environment wins, you and I and millions of other South Africans are the real winners. Our environment provides the resources to sustain all forms of life and help to boost economic trades. When the environment is neglected to a point of degradation, the biological life it was sustaining perishes with severe consequences for the people and animals whose survival depends on it. Humans and Nature are therefore in a symbiotic relation – the survival of the one depends on the other.

Ladies and gentlemen, as leaders in the environmental sector, we are mandated to ensure environmental sustainability in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa through the National Environmental Management Act and other relevant international agreements. Furthermore, the national and provincial spheres of government have a responsibility in terms of Section 54 of the Constitution to support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs, to exercise their powers and to perform their functions. In support of municipalities the environment sector has implemented several interventions, participated in a number of engagements directly with municipalities and through other stakeholders.

The support to local municipalities was further enhanced through the implementation of Local Government Support Strategy for the Environment Sector. Our Environmental Sector continues to provide hands-on support to municipalities with officials permanently deployed to all District Municipalities. These officials support municipalities on issues relating to Environmental Governance, Integrated Planning, Natural Resource Management, Green Economy and Climate Change. They also play an important role in managing the Departmental programmes and projects designed to address environmental issues and socio-economic challenges through job creation.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have now reached the point which brought us here, the announcement of the winners for the fifth Greenest Municipality Competition. The GMC is overseen and managed by a panel of adjudicators to ensure high level standards are followed for efficiency and fairness.

The Panel of Adjudicators have spent sufficient time at each participating municipality to ensure adequate coverage of all areas of the competition. The prize is tied to implementation of Waste, Climate Change and Green Economy related job creation projects. Funding the competition is of greater strategic importance as it helps galvanise municipalities to initiate projects that address their integrated development plans (IDPs) and forged links with our Extended Public Works Programme mandate of creating temporary employment and offering skills development opportunities.

I will now announce the winners from the Second Runner-Up, First Runner-Up and the overall Winner of the Local and the Metropolitan Municipality Category.

Starting with the local category:

• The Second Runner up is Intsika Yethu Local Municipality
• The First Runner up is Steve Tshwete Local Municipality
• The Overall Winner for the local category is Mossel Bay Municipality.

I now proceed to the Metro category:

• The Second Runner up is City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality
• The First Runner up is City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality
• The Overall Winner for the metro category is eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I conclude, I want to reiterate the need for all municipalities to get involved for the betterment of our people. If there are challenges from non-participating municipalities, we should discuss them, find solutions and move forward together.

I would like to congratulate all winners and participants once again for all the efforts made and the efforts you will continue to make to put our country on a path to sustainable development. 

Thank you