Environmental Legislation, Assessment, Licensing

[Lisbeth]

Hopefully there will be other refusals, when it is not

sites of significant cultural, spiritual and historic value

but nature and ecosystem values.

[Toko]

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/201 ... rs-for-now


Holy ground safe from steel miners for now
Katharine Child | 04 April, 2016 00:19

Limpopo, in an attempt to protect a diverse provincial ecosystem, has refused an Australian mining company an environmental licence to mine iron ore.


The area in the Waterberg in which Aquila Steel wants to mine includes a cave and "holy mountain" known as Madimatle at which traditional healers pray to their ancestors.

According to the Limpopo Economic Development, Environment and Tourism Department, the area is also home to the white-tailed rat, brown hyena, Cape vulture, leopard, honey badger and 13 threatened bird species.

The provincial department cited the areas' biodiversity as a reason for refusing environmental authorisation to mine.

It said the area could "effectively help the country mitigate climate change".

Christine Reddell, an attorney for the Centre for Environmental Rights, which has been campaigning to halt the Aquila development, said: "The refusal of the environmental licence does not stop the Department of Mineral Resources from giving Aquila a mining licence.

"We hope the environmental refusal will indicate that it should not do so."

Although the provincial department has refused Aquila an environmental licence, the company can apply for one to the national Department of Mineral Resources.

Adding to the mining company's problems is that three of the its directors, who include a South African, have had criminal charges laid against them by the Traditional Healers' Association for breaching environmental laws and damaging the area during prospecting.

An investigation into the allegations is under way.

The company was given prospecting rights for the area but allegedly built 30km of road more than was permitted and destroyed vegetation.

They also blocked access to the sacred Madimatle cave. Access has now been restored.

The Traditional Healers' Association has asked the SA Heritage Resources Agency to designate the area a heritage site because of its religious significance.

If the association's petition is successful the area could not be developed.

The agency has to decide by the end of the year whether it will comply with the request. Until it does decide, prospecting will not be allowed.

[Toko]

http://cer.org.za/news/victory-for-envi ... -available



Victory for environmental rights: Department of Environmental Affairs makes environmental licences automatically available
APRIL 25, 2016 AT 7:00 AM



Last week, the Department of Environmental Affairs announced that it will now make environmental licences available to the public automatically, without requiring submission of a request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

This announcement is a huge and long-awaited victory for transparency in environmental governance, and we commend the Minister and Department of Environmental Affairs for their commitment to open governance and realisation of the Constitutional rights to access to information, just administrative action and environmental rights.

The announcement comes just ahead of Freedom Week, a series of civil society events celebrating democracy and freedom between 27 April and 3 May 2016, and signals a shift in environment authorities’ approach to citizen engagement in environmental governance.

Environmental licences and permits set out the conditions under which environmentally harmful operations may be conducted. The CER has long argued that the public has a right to know what those conditions are, and to monitor compliance with them. However until now, it has in many cases been extremely difficult for members of the public, civil society, and the media to access these documents. Failure to comply with these conditions may lead to suspension or withdrawal of licences, and is usually also a criminal offence under environmental laws.

The permits listed in DEA’s new notice published under PAIA’s section 15 include environmental authorisations, waste management licences, atmospheric emission licences, Biodiversity Act permits and General permits for Boat Based Whale Watching and White Shark Cage Diving.

While we regard this decision of the DEA as a significant victory, we also see this as a first step towards the longer-term goal of automatic, online public access not only to environmental licences, including those held by the Department of Water & Sanitation and the Department of Mineral Resources, but also to reports and data that demonstrate whether companies are complying with environmental licence requirements.

The DEA’s notice under section 15 of PAIA indicates that members of the public can email Phumzile Sabeka (PSabeka@environment.gov.za) for copies of these licences in relation to specific facilities, and that certain information may be redacted in accordance with PAIA.

http://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/20 ... -00435.pdf

[Richprins]

Thanks, Toks!

[Richprins]

New report reveals shocking failure by public and private bodies to uphold South Africans’ right of access to information

New research by the Access to Information Network (ATI Network)* has revealed a shocking dereliction of duties by public and private bodies to realise South Africans’ constitutional right of access to information.

The Shadow Report 2016 was compiled with statistics from requests for information made using the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA) by the 13 civil society organisations which make up the ATI Network. The Report covers the period 1 August 2015 to 31 July 2016, during which ATI Network members submitted 369 PAIA requests to government and private bodies. Key findings of the Shadow Report 2016 are:

46% of requests submitted to government were refused – i.e. no information was provided.
58% of these refusals were deemed refusals – i.e. the requests were ignored.
Only 34% of requests submitted to government were granted in full.
64% of the appeals submitted to government were deemed to have been dismissed – i.e. the appeals were ignored.
67% of requests submitted to private companies were refused – i.e. no information was provided.
Only 13% of requests submitted to private companies were granted in full.

These findings, in particular the number of PAIA requests and appeals which are simply ignored by government, are deeply concerning. They point to a clear failure by both public and private bodies to realise our right of access to information.

We are, however, encouraged by the progress made in the extent to which certain public bodies are expanding the number and categories of records which they will make automatically available to the public, i.e. without the need to submit a PAIA request.

It is in the State’s interests to make information widely, publicly and automatically available. Making information automatically available not only significantly reduces the number of PAIA requests submitted, and therefore reduces the associated administrative burden, it also increases public trust in and cooperation with decision-makers.

The Shadow Report 2016 contains the following key recommendations:

Public bodies must be encouraged to broaden their categories of automatically available information, and all such information should be placed on their websites.
All licences should include a condition requiring the licence holder to make a copy of its licence available on its website or to anyone on request.
Greater adherence to the severability clauses in PAIA would promote the objectives of PAIA while protecting information that should not be disclosed.
The terms “trade secrets” and “commercial information” in PAIA should be clearly defined, to prevent their use as unsubstantiated excuses for failing to disclose records which should be publicly available.
Capacity constraints within public bodies need to be addressed to ensure that the obligations under PAIA can be met.

* Formerly known as the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) Civil Society Network.

View the infographic
About the ATI Network

The ATI Network was established in 2008 in response to the need for civil society collaboration to strengthen the effective use and implementation of PAIA, the mechanism via which our constitutional right to access information should be realised. The ATI Network currently consists of the following members (in alphabetical order):

amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism

Centre for Applied Legal Studies

Centre for Environmental Rights

Corruption Watch

Equal Education Law Centre

Khulumani Support Group

Open Democracy Advice Centre

Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism

Probono.org

Public Service Accountability Monitor

Right2Know

South African History Archive

Wits Justice Project
For more about this report, contact:

Toerien van Wyk, Acting SAHA Directorate and FOIP Coordinator

011 718 2563

foip@saha.org.za
For media enquiries, contact:

Annette Gibbs, Centre for Environmental Rights

082 467 1295

agibbs@cer.org.za

[okie]

Well , what do you expect
We are living in a country with egalitarian ideals , ruled by a communist oligarchy , consisting of Zuma and his Gupta pals , surrounded by a tight group , all of whom share in the spoils

[Lisbeth]

" if you close your eyes, the complaints go away"

[H. erectus]

" if you close your eyes, the complaints go away"

Yah well indeed but so does life pass you by, unnoticed!!!

[Lisbeth]

" if you close your eyes, the complaints go away"

Yah well indeed but so does life pass you by, unnoticed!!!

Not relevant

[H. erectus]

New research by the Access to Information Network (ATI Network)* has revealed a shocking dereliction of duties

I beg to remind that we citizens would be subject to .govs rules and
accommodating, namely, the PAIA process.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... ww&cad=rja