ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY
MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM
Ms REJOICE MABUDAFHASI, AT THE 1st ENVIRONMENTAL
ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE.
WEDNESDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2006:
Your Excellency the British High Commissioner
for South Africa, the Right Honourable Mr
Boateng,
Director-General of the Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism,
Heads of Provincial Departments,
Partners from the Environment Agency of
England and Wales,
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with great pleasure that I address
you on this auspicious occasion of our first
Environmental Enforcement Conference. Enforcement
of our environmental legislation is of great
importance not only to us as the department,
but to the country as a whole. On many occasions
I have witnessed rocks graffited, trees
cut, rotten egg smell from industries that
pollute our air and other environmental
problems. These environmental crimes damage
our people’s quality of life.
I am sure you are aware of Thor Chemicals
and the unfortunate incidences that resulted
in the loss of lives, deterioration of health
of our people and many other ailments. Many
people who live and work in air pollution
hotspots also face the same problems. I
am sure that this conference and many other
efforts by government to put our environmental
enforcement regime on par with international
standards will liberate our people out of
the conditions they found themselves in.
The successful prosecution of the Mandara
case is a classical example, and I am informed
that the department through our tip off
hotline has received a lot of complaints
and officials in the Enforcement Unit are
following on them.
However, Programme Director, we could not
have done this alone. Since 2003, the Department
has developed a partnership with the Environment
Agency in the U.K. This partnership has
now been formalised into a three-year work
programme. The work programme is funded
by the British Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, represented here today by his Excellency
the British High Commissioner, and we are
very thankful for that High Commissioner.
The work programme is supportive of the
capacity-building work done by the Department’s
Environmental Management Inspectorate. In
particular, Environment Agency officials
have worked closely with officials from
the Department to develop the Environmental
Management Inspectors Bridging Training
course currently being rolled out.
To this extent, they have shared their
experience of both enforcement, and training,
and two officials from the Environment Agency
participated in two of the training sessions
held previously in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
In addition to the Agency’s support for
this Conference and the Environmental Enforcement
Communications Workshop that takes place
on Friday, a prosecutor from the Environment
Agency will also participate in a workshop
for magistrates on environmental crimes
which will take place soon. I am reliably
informed that Agency officials also share
their expertise with our officials on a
weekly basis on a range of issues.
I would like to take this opportunity to
acknowledge the important role of support
that the Environment Agency has played in
our capacity-building programme. I can only
hope that this partnership will continue
to our mutual benefit, and the benefit of
the environment in South Africa.
Programme Director, In July 2005, at the
start of our first prosecutor training course,
I announced an annual award of excellence
for an outstanding contribution by a prosecutor
of environmental crimes. A call for nominations
was published in December 2005.
The published criteria for this award are
the following:
the successful prosecution of a significant,
precedent-setting environmental case in
the past year;
a track record of successful prosecution
of several smaller environmental cases over
the past three years;
a track record of a high prosecution success
rate in environmental cases over the past
three years;
obtaining a significant or particularly
innovative sentence in the prosecution of
an environmental crime in the past year;
and/or
a long-term commitment to capacity-building
for the successful prosecution of environmental
crimes, including relationship-building
with investigators, Environmental Management
Inspectors and any other law enforcement
agencies involved with environmental enforcement.
Our department received nominations of eight
prosecutors for this award. The nominations
were evaluated by a panel consisting of
the Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions,
Dr Silas Ramaite; the Deputy Dean of the
Faculty of Law of the University of Kwazulu-Natal,
Prof Michael Kidd; and our Director of Enforcement
in the Department, Melissa Fourie.
The recipient of the 2005 Annual Award
of Excellence for an Outstanding Contribution
to the Prosecution of Environmental Crimes
received no less than three separate nominations:
from the Senior Public Prosecutor at the
Durban Magistrates’ Court, from Ezemvelo
KZN Wildlife and from the KZN provincial
SAPS. He has made an extraordinary contribution
to the prosecution of environmental crimes,
particularly wildlife crimes, over the past
ten years.
More specifically, the recipient holds
the astonishing record of a 100% prosecution
success rate over the past 10 years. He
has a convincing track record on a series
of successful environmental prosecutions,
and has led the prosecutions of several
successful precedent-setting environmental
cases.
The evaluation panel was provided with
evidence of a number of innovative sentences,
and a passionate commitment to building
relationships and supporting all role players
in the prosecution of environmental crimes,
including magistrates, other prosecutors
and investigators.
Programme Director I am now happy to announce
the name of, Mr Robert Mortassagne , prosecutor
at the Durban Magistrate’s Court as our
inaugural winner of the annual award of
excellence for an outstanding contribution
by a prosecutor of environmental crimes.
To you we say congratulations and well
done. May we learn from you and continue
to make this country of ours worth living
in.
Thank you.
