2.1Overview by the Department of Environment Affairs and Its Entities

1.REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS ON THE STRATEGIC PLAN 2014/15—2018/19, ANNUAL PERFORMANCE PLANS (APPS) 2014/15 AND THE BUDGET VOTE 30 OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS (DEA) AND ITS ENTITIES,DATED 8 JULY 2014.

1.Background

The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs (hereinafter referred to as the Portfolio Committee) having considered the directive of the National Assembly to consider and report on the Strategic Plan, Annual Performance Plans and Budget allocations of the Department of Environmental Affairs (hereinafter the Department) and all entities reporting to it, tabled by the Minister of Environmental Affairs, and in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (Act No 32 of 2003), reports as follows:

2.Introduction

The Portfolio Committee having being recently constituted, in the 5th democratic Parliament, invited the Department on 25th June 2014, to present the overview of its broad mandate and that of its entities to the new Committee. This interaction was to afford the new Committee members the opportunity to familiarize themselves with and gain useful insight into the work of the Department and its constitutional mandate before engaging with the Strategic Plan, Annual Performance Plans and the 2014/15 Budget Vote in the subsequent week. In this initial engagement with the Department, the department was represented by the Director General, the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and other relevant senior executive management members of the Department.

2.1Overview by the Department of Environment Affairs and its Entities

The Department has the mandate to ensure that the South African environment is protected and that natural resources are conserved. This mandate is derived from Section 24(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which stipulates that “all South Africans have a constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being, and to have the environment protected for the benefit of the present and future generations” through relevant legislations.

2.1.1Legislative mandate

The core business of the Department is underpinned by the Constitution and the following pieces of legislation:

•The National Environmental Management Act, (NEMA) 1998 (regulatory framework for the management and protection of environmental resources and coordination in relation thereto) was enacted to provide for the following subsidiary issue-specific legislation on biodiversity and heritage resources; oceans and coasts; climate change and air quality management; and waste and chemicals management.

•National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004 -regulates air quality.

•National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 - regulates and sets out the mechanisms for managing and conserving South Africa’s biodiversity, its components and institutions (e.g., SANBI).

•National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 - regulates waste management; provides for national norms and standards for regulating the management of waste by all spheres of Government; and provides for the licensing and control of waste management activities.

•National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act, 2008 (Act No. 24 of 2008) - establishes a system of integrated coastal and estuarine environmental management in the Republic; ensures that development and the use of natural resources within the coastal zone is socially and economically justifiable and ecologically sustainable; determines the responsibilities of organs of State in relation to coastal areas; controls dumping at sea and pollution in the coastal zone.

The Department fulfills its mandate through formulating, coordinating and monitoring the implementation of national environmental policies, programmes and legislation with the additional support from its entities, such as iSimangaliso WetlandPark (iSimangaliso), the South African National Botanical Institute (SANBI), South African National Parks (SANParks), and the South African Weather Services (SAWS). It is noteworthy that the main activities of the Department are divided into seven programmes, comprising of the following:

Programme 1: Administration

The purpose of this programme is to provide leadership, strategic centralised administration and executive support, corporate services and to facilitate effective cooperative governance, international relations and environmental education and awareness.

Programme 2: Legal, Authorizations and Compliance

The purpose of this programme is to promote the development of an enabling legal regime, Licencing and/or authorisation system that promotes enforcement and compliance with relevant environmental legislation.

Programme 3: Oceans and Coasts

The purpose of this programme is to promote, manage and provide strategic leadership on oceans and coastal conservation.

Programme 4: Climate Change and Air Quality Management

The purpose of this programme is to improve air and atmospheric quality, lead and support, inform, monitor and report efficient and effective international, national and significant provincial and local responses to climate change.

Programme 5: Biodiversity and Conservation

The purpose of this programme is to ensure the regulation and management of all biodiversity, heritage and conservation matters in a manner that facilitates sustainable economic growth and development.

Programme 6: Environmental Programmes

The purpose of this programme is to ensure the implementation of the expanded public works programme (EPWP) that has important implications for the environment and to conceptualise and implement green economy projects in the environmental sector.

Programme 7: Chemicals and Waste Management:

The purpose of this programme is to manage and ensure that chemicals and waste management policies and legislation are implemented and enforced in compliance with chemicals and waste management authorisations, directives and agreements.

3.Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans (APPs) of the Department and its Public Entities for 2014/15

As the national partner to provinces in a concurrent function, the Department leads the environmental sector by setting the policy and legislative framework and the norms and standards required for environmentally sustainable development in the country. This role is evident through the large numbers of policy and legislative instruments initiated, processed and administered by the Department.

It is in this foregoing context that the newly constituted Portfolio Committee received briefings on 1st July 2014 from the Department and its entities on strategic plans, annual performance plans and budget for the 2014/15 financial year. This was to ascertain whether the allocated budget to the Department and its entities was aligned to achieve the strategic outcomes conceived in the respective strategic plans and APPs documents and also to determine whether the budget is aligned with the Government’s strategic priorities for the current 2014/15 financial year, as informed by the National Development Plan.

This report, therefore, details the findings and recommendations of the Portfolio Committee after its engagement with the Department and its entities on the matters outlined above.

In addition to the 2014/15 Budget (including the Estimates of National expenditure for the MTEF period) tabled in Parliament by the Minister of Finance, the Portfolio Committee was also briefed by the Department on the following documents, which were also tabled in Parliament:

•The Strategic Plan of the Department for 2014/15—2018/19;

•The Annual Performance Plan of the Department for 2014/15; and

•The Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans for 2014/15 of the Departments entities:

oSouth African Weather Service (SAWS);

oiSimangaliso Wetland Park (IWP);

oSouth African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI); and

oSouth African National Parks (SANParks).

3.1Department of Environmental Affairs

The Department provides leadership in environmental management, conversation and protection to ensure the sustainability of the South African environment for the benefit of South Africans and the global community in perpetuity.

3.2Departmental Strategic Goals

The Department’s strategic goals over the medium term are to:

•Ensure that the Department has optimal capacity to deliver services efficiently and effectively;

•Ensure that South Africa’s environmental assets are conserved , valued, sustainably used, protected and continually enhanced for the benefit of both current and future generations;

•Enhance socio-economic benefits and employment creation in a safe, clean and healthy environment for both present and future generations;

•Provide leadership in environmental management, conservation and protection towards sustainability for the benefit of both current and future generations of South Africans;

•Manage the interface between the environment and development to encourage the transformation of the development trajectory to an environmentally sustainable, inclusive, low-carbon and green economic growth path;

•Promote compliance with environmental legislation and act decisively against transgressors;

•Develop and facilitate the implementation of a climate change adaptation and mitigation regulatory framework;

•Work and participate in international United Nations (UN) platforms to ensure that the international climate change and global warming is fully mitigated by the international communities’

•Facilitate the transition to environmentally sustainable, job creating and low-carbon, green development pathway through the national Green Fund and environmental projects in the expanded public works programme; and

•Improve the provision of quality waste management services across the country with clear environmental health benefits for communities, particularly those without previous access to waste management services.

•Participate and contribute meaningfully in the international effort, within the ambit of the United Nations, to craft new sustainable development goals (SDGs), which will replace and enhance the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) after 2015.

3.3Budget of the Department

The Department’s budget allocation for the 2013/14 financial year was R5.206.8 billion, whereas the Department received a total allocation of R5.668 386 billion for the 2014/15 financial year. The budget increased by R461.6 million over the previous 2013/14 financial year. The allocation has been broken down into the following programmes, as indicated in Table 1:

Table 1: Departmental budget allocation over the medium term expenditure framework

Source: National Treasury (2014) Estimates of National Expenditure. National Treasury, Pretoria.

3.4Strategic Priorities for 2014/15 per programme

The Department has demonstrated that it was fully capacitated as it spent 99.7 per cent of its allocated budget for the 2014/15 financial year, although the auditing of the Department’s 2013/14 financial statements is still underway. The Department also received an unqualified Audit Report in the 2012/13 financial year.

Programme 1: Administration

Thestrategic objectives of this Programme are to:

•Finalise the construction of the new Office Accommodation;

•Improve Information Technology and Local Government support;

•Increase employment;

•Ensure effective departmental involvement in international engagements, with regard to mitigation of climate change and crafting of future Sustainable Development Goals;

•In order to better capacitate the Department, 677 vacancies had been approved and funded from the compensation of employee’s allocations in the 2014/15 financial year. This number is expected to increase to 728 in 2015/16;

•Increase employment targets for women and people living with disabilities by 50 per cent and 2.6 percent respectively;

•Recruit 100 interns per annum in accordance with the Public Service regulatory framework on internships;

•Implement 90 per cent of Security Risk Assessment recommendations; and

•The Department aims to achieve 100 per cent compliance with statutory tabling and prescripts and continues to get an unqualified audit outcome.

As part of the Cabinet-approved budget reductions, the Corporate Affairs and Office Accommodation sub-programmes budgets were cut from R182.5 million in 2013/14 to R177.9 million in 2014/15 and R294.1 million in 2013/14 to R153.9 million in 2014/15. A significant part of the budget reduction in the Office Accommodation is due to the fact that the provisions for financing the construction and, operating the new office campus is through a Public Private Partnership Agreement (PPP). The department received an upfront allocation from national treasury for two years (R220 and R146 million respectively) to reduce debt and interest payable in financing the building over a 25 year period. Notwithstanding the above reductions the department will still manage it's administrative functions within the budget whilst it will quantify future financial gaps in light of the fact that other services i.e security services, internet based solutions and connectivity will still be funded separately from the PPP agreement.

Committee Observations

Based on the plans that the Department has presented, the Portfolio Committee is confident that the Department would be able tospend its allocated budget in the 2014/15 budget allocation, and achieve its planned strategic outcomes, which amongst others include:

•Sustaining the expertise needed in the Department; and

•Capacity to account and properly audit the finances allocated to the strategic plans and APPs of the Department and its entities.

Programme 2: Legal, Authorisations and Compliance

Thestrategic objectives of this Programme are to:

•Implement the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Amendment Act of 2014 by developing regulations to determine fines in terms of section 22A of this Act. The process for establishing the National Advisory Committee and issuing atmospheric emission licences was underway.

•Increase the number of inspections of authorisations in facilities located in environmentally-sensitive areas from 86 in 2014/15 to 115 by 2018/19.

•Increase the number of Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIs) from 240 in 2014/15 to 1060 by 2018/19.

•Finalise and implement the Compliance and Enforcement Strategy for the EMI Inspectorate.

•Increase the number of criminal investigations finalised from 24 in 2014/15 to 44 by 2018/19.

Key achievements and challenges in exercising functions under this programme are:

•There was improvement in cooperation between the Department and other law enforcement agencies. To date, 20 Magistrates and Prosecutors received training to equip them with key legal instruments to be applied when dealing with environment crimes.

•Integrated information system aimed at reducing turn-around time in the processing of licensing applications.

•Signing of Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) between South Africa, Mozambique, Hong Kong and Viet Nam, among others, to control rhino poaching in South Africa.

•Processing of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAs) within prescribed timeframes.

Committee Observations

The Portfolio Committee was concerned about the reduced budget in the Enforcement sub-programme, which is responsible for criminal and administrative enforcement action to ensure compliance with environmental impact assessment and pollution legislation. This notwithstanding, the programme was able to fully spend its budget in 2013/14 financial year. It has also been able to effectively enforce compliance with environmental laws and prescripts in the Republic of South Africa. The 2014/15 plans and coordination with other law enforcement agencies including South African Police Service (SAPS) and the judiciary, would ensure that environmental crimes are dealt with.

Programme 3: Oceans and Coasts

The Oceans and Coasts Programme priorities for the 2014/15 financial year include:

•Conducting a comprehensive analysis of the legislative framework for Oceans and Coasts governance;

•Developing and implementing the Marine Protection Services and Oceans Governance, Blue Economy and disaster management;

•Developing plans for collecting scientific real-time Antarctic and sub-Antarctic information as well as the long-term data sets relating to weather prediction; and climate change analysis, which are critical to inform future beneficial use of the oceans and coastal resources;

•Implementing the rapid results methodology on the oceans economy to identify opportunities with regard to job creation and contribute to GDP growth;

•Identifying priority sites for facilitating access for South Africans to the beaches; and

•Expediting the Port St. Johns sea water quality monitoring programme.

Key achievements and challenges in exercising functions under this programme

The achievements of the Oceans and Coasts Programme for the 2014/15 financial year comprise the following:

•Drafting of the White Paper on Oceans Management was approved by Cabinet;

•Completed five assessments relating to the initiatives to address land-based sources of marine pollution;

•Updated 10 Regional Oil Spill contingency plans and feasibility plan to conduct one oil spill readiness training session once a year; including this year;

•Increase the protected proportion of protected exclusive economic zone (EZZ) by 2.0 per cent;

•Compile the State of the Oceans Report; and

•Maintain presence in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean islands by completing to-date three relief voyages to the SANAE, Gough and MarionIslands within the approved budget.

Challenges under this programme comprise:

•Delays in the passing of the National Environmental Integrated Coastal Management Amendment Bill, 2013 after the mediation process at end of 4th parliament

•Revision of institutional arrangements with regard to oil spills;

•Resolving instances of resistance to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which pre-date the Constitution, or which were not addressed since 2000; and

•The national concern about shark attacks at certain locations, particularly at the PortSt JohnsCoast.

Committee Observations

•The concept of the Blue Economy is exciting and the country is indeed looking forward to a framework that encourages beneficiation of the oceans and coasts through job creation and diversification of the economy to enhance the resilience of the South African economy to withstand both local and international shocks.

•The Portfolio Committee noted with concern the recent incidents of shark attacks, resulting in loss of lives of tourists and community members in the PortSt. JohnsCoast. The Portfolio Committee felt that the attacks were not good for the international image of the country and hence the economy. This may have a negative effect for the country in terms of the tourism industry. The Department’s intervention in exploring the establishment of tidal pools as a short-term measure is commendable, but it was further encouraged to activate other interventions including consideration of other solutions especially potential use of shark nets and other devices that may make a positive contribution that would result in a sustainable solution to this threat.