Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill: negotiating mandates; National Environmental Management: Air Quality Amendment Bill: final mandates

NCOP Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy

25 February 2014
Chairperson: Ms A Qikani (ANC, Eastern Cape)
Share this page:

Meeting Summary

The Committee considered negotiating mandates from the provinces on the Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill. The Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape voted in favour of the Bill. Amendments proposed by KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces were rejected.  The explanation given was that the concerns raised were already covered in the Bill

The Committee considered final mandates from the provinces on the National Environmental Management Air Quality Amendment Bill. The Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, Limpopo and the Western Cape had voted in favour of the Bill, while KwaZulu-Natal Province had abstained.  Free State would be able to provide its final mandate on the Bill to the Committee only later in the day. Six provinces had voted in favour of the Bill, and it was adopted by the Committee.

The Committee adopted minutes dated the 18 February 2014 unamended.

The Chairperson explained that the Committee would not be dealing with final mandates on the National Environment Management: Integrated Coastal Management Bill, as the Committee’s Programme had suggested. The Committee was expecting the Director General from the Department of Public Enterprises to brief members on amendments to the Bill later in the day, in a closed session. The Committee would consequently deal with final mandates on the Bill only on 4 March 2014.
 

Meeting report

Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill [B30B-2013]
The Committee considered negotiating mandates from the provinces on the Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill..

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature
Ms A Ponco, Chairperson of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee in the Province, stated that the Province had voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the negotiating mandate.

Free State Provincial Legislature
Mr D Worth (DA, Free State) said that the Free State Province voted in favour of the Bill, without amendments.
The Committee accepted the negotiating mandate.

Gauteng Provincial Legislature
In the absence of a permanent delegate, the Chairperson presented the Gauteng Province’s negotiating mandate to the Committee and said that the Province had voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the negotiating mandate.

Kwazulu-Natal Provincial Legislature
Ms N Magadla (ANC, Kwazulu-Natal) stated that the KwaZulu-Natal Province supported the Bill, inclusive of comments and proposed amendments, which needed to be incorporated in the Bill.  
The Kwazulu-Natal Province felt that the word “subsistence” should be retained, instead of replacing it with “small scale”. It submitted that there were two groups of fishermen -- subsistence and small scale fisherman. It was further proposed that there should be two more types of fishers including the small scale fisher definitions -- “subsistence fishers” and “traditional line fishers”.  The regulations in the Bill had to be specific on whether fishing was done with a net or a line, in order to distinguish between the two types.

Mr Desmond Stevens, Deputy Director General: Fisheries, Department of Agriculture, noted that when one looked at the small scale policy and the small scale fisher definition, the issues raised by the Kwazulu-Natal Province were covered by the all-encompassing definition. In order to give effect to the policy, there was no need for ambiguity around the types of fishers. The amendments already contained in the Bill did address the concerns of the Province. The definition had taken seven years to conceive. The definition tried to cover all the different types of fishers that there were.

The Chairperson asked whether the Department of Agriculture rejected or accepted the Kwazulu-Natal proposed amendments.

Mr Stevens responded that the proposed amendments were already covered in the Bill, and as such the Department rejected the proposed amendments.

Ms Magadla asked the State Law Advisers Office for an opinion on the proposed amendments.

Mr Herman Smuts, Principal State Law Adviser, responded that he agreed with the Department of Agriculture that the concerns raised by the KwaZulu-Natal Province were covered by the Bill.

Ms Magadla accepted the explanations given by both Mr Stevens and Mr Smuts.

Limpopo Provincial Legislature
Mr M Makhubela (COPE, Limpopo) said that the Limpopo Province voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the negotiating mandate.

Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature
In the absence of a permanent delegate, the Chairperson presented the Mpumalanga Province’s negotiating mandate to the Committee and said that the Province had voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the negotiating mandate.

Northern Cape Provincial Legislature
Mr G Mokgoro (ANC, Northern Cape) stated that the Northern Cape Province voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the negotiating mandate.

North West Provincial Legislature
In the absence of a permanent delegate, the Chairperson presented the North West Province’s negotiating mandate to the Committee and said that the Province had voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the negotiating mandate.

Western Cape Provincial Legislature
In the absence of a permanent delegate the Chairperson presented the Western Cape Province’s negotiating mandate to the Committee and said that the Province had voted in favour of the Bill, inclusive of a proposed amendment.

The Chairperson asked Mr Stevens to speak to the proposed amendment.

Mr Stevens responded that the Department of Agriculture rejected the amendment.  He noted that the small scale fishing policy spoke to the definition of the three elements mentioned in the proposed amendment. Small scale fishing communities had been given communal rights by the Department. Conflict had, however, arisen about the rights. The Department had taken a policy decision that there had to be communal rights. The Minister would be issuing regulations about specifics in terms of which areas would be regarded as small scale fishing communities.

Mr Smuts said that the way he read the definition of a “small scale fishing community”, it did not constitute four separate groups of persons, but rather a single group. He differed in opinion to the Western Cape Province, and said that the definition contained in the Bill was correct.

Mr Worth requested that the Committee be provided with written responses to what Mr Stevens and Mr Smuts had said. Both gentlemen agreed to forward written responses to the Committee.

The Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces rejected the proposed amendment by the Western Cape Province.  Mr Worth stated that the Free State Province abstained from voting on the Western Cape proposed amendment.  

National Environmental Management: Air Quality Amendment Bill
The Committee considered final mandates from the provinces on the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Amendment Bill.

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature
Ms A Ponco Chairperson of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee in the Province, stated that the Province had voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the final mandate.

Gauteng Provincial Legislature
In the absence of a permanent delegate the Chairperson, presented the Gauteng Province’s final mandate to the Committee and said that the Province had voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the final mandate.

Kwazulu-Natal Provincial Legislature
Ms Magadla said that the KwaZulu-Natal Province had abstained from voting on the Bill.

Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature
In the absence of a permanent delegate, the Chairperson presented the Mpumalanga Province’s final mandate to the Committee and said that the Province had voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the final mandate.

Northern Cape Provincial Legislature
Mr G Mokgoro (ANC, Northern Cape) stated that the Northern Cape Province voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the final mandate.

Limpopo Provincial Legislature
Mr M Makhubela (COPE, Limpopo) said that the Limpopo Province voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the final mandate.

Western Cape Provincial Legislature
In the absence of a permanent delegate, the Chairperson presented the Western Cape Province’s final mandate to the Committee and said that the Province had voted in favour of the Bill.
The Committee accepted the final mandate.

The Chairperson stated that six provinces had voted in favour of the Bill. The KwaZulu-Natal Province had abstained from voting on the Bill.

Mr Worth explained that the Free State Province would be able to provide its final mandate on the Bill to the Committee only later in the day.

The Chairperson read out the motion of desirability on the Bill, and the Committee adopted it unamended.

Committee Minutes
The Committee adopted minutes dated the 18 February 2014 unamended.

National Environment Management: Integrated Coastal Management Bill
The Chairperson explained that the Committee would not be dealing with final mandates on the Bill, as the Committee’s Programme had suggested. The Committee was expecting the Director General from the Department of Public Enterprises to brief members on amendments to the Bill later in the day in a closed session. The Committee would consequently deal with final mandates on the Bill only on 4 March 2014.

The meeting was adjourned.
 

Present

  • We don't have attendance info for this committee meeting

Download as PDF

You can download this page as a PDF using your browser's print functionality. Click on the "Print" button below and select the "PDF" option under destinations/printers.

See detailed instructions for your browser here.

Share this page: