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R/£ Laws on the environment flouted in 140 developments
'disturbing western cape trend'October 21, 2003 Edition -1
Jo-Anne Smetherham
In a shock disclosure, it was revealed yesterday that developers had flouted environmental laws in 140 cases in the Western Cape in the past year.
Nine of the cases have been referred to the public prosecutor and 67 others to the head of environmental affairs and planning for decisions on possible action.
The department said in its 2002/2003 annual report it had received 807 impact assessments and had observed "an increasing and disturbing trend" of the breaking of environmental laws.
Responses to development applications had been delayed because the applications were becoming increasingly complex, many were "highly controversial", and interested parties were becoming "progressively more critical", the report said.
At a press briefing yesterday, ANC spokesman on planning Garth Strachan said it was disturbing that the department had "chosen" not to give details of the cases that had been referred to the public prosecutor or the standing committee on the environment and planning.
"If this is the case, we will follow it up," said Ozzie Gibson, spokesman for planning MEC Johan Gelderblom.
Strachan called on the provincial cabinet to intervene so that the backlog of development applications could be worked through speedily.
"A lack of capacity in the department has to be addressed as a matter of urgency," he said.
Meanwhile, a row broke out between the ANC and the Democratic Alliance yesterday over illegal developments.
The ANC has requested that the "illegal" construction of the Olive Grove Dam and the construction of a pipeline and purification plant in Stilbaai should be referred to the director of public prosecutions.
It has been established that environmental impact assessments, which are required by law, have not been completed for these developments.
The provincial government repeatedly warned the Langeberg municipality that the dam should not be built, the ANC said, but the municipality "wilfully" ignored these warnings.
The dam was found to have been built on a sensitive wetland and milkwood trees had been chopped down, the ANC said.
The dam is believed to have cost R3.5 million, Strachan said.
Of this, R400 000 came from municipal funds, "which have a strong bias in favour of addressing the needs of previously disadvantaged communities".
"Theuns Botha has suggested that there are 20 other incidents of the breach of environmental law," Strachan said. "As the mayor of the Langeberg municipality and the leader of the DA, he is morally obliged to come forward with these instances - which he used as legal justification for the building of the Olive Grove Dam."
The DA said the dam had been built "in a legal and regular way". "Because of the urgent need for the dam, no EIA was obtained. This was wrong. We have said so, and the matter has been rectified."
This "rectification" referred to permission, given by the department of environment affairs and planning for reasons of "safety", for building of the dam to continue once it had started.
The Democratic Alliance accused the ANC/ NNP alliance of "rushing through" a sportsfield development in Stellenbosch that "broke every law in the book".
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