National Environmental Laws Amendment Bill [B35-07]; National Environmental Management: Waste Bill: final mandates

Meeting report

Environmental Laws Amendment Bill [B35-2007]
The Chairperson said that there would be no need to go into detailed discussions about each individual provincial mandate. All that was required was an indication whether the province accepted the proposed Bills or not.

The Committee was reminded that the proposed amendments had already been covered in a previous meeting. All that was needed was for the provinces to give their respective mandates.

Free State Final Mandate
Mr D Worth (DA) stated that the mandate of his province was to confer authority on its delegation to vote for the adoption of the Bill with the amendments.

Gauteng Final Mandate
In the absence of a delegate from this province, the Chairperson read out the mandate which stated Gauteng’s support of the Bill.

KZN Final Mandate
Ms M Oliphant (ANC) said KZN agreed to support of the Bill with the included amendments.

Limpopo Final Mandate
The province recommended its NCOP delegation to support the Bill with amendments after considering certain inputs listed in its mandate.
 
Mpumalanga Final Mandate
Mr A Watson (DA) stated that they accepted the Bill with the amendments.

Northern Cape Final Mandate
Mr R Tau (ANC) said his province recommended  a vote in favour of the Bill with amendments.

North West Final Mandate
Rev Moatshe (ANC) said that the North West had resolved to support the Bill and the amendments.

Western Cape Final Mandate
Mr F Adams (ANC) said the Western Cape provincial parliament conferred authority on its delegation in the NCOP to support the Bill with the amendments.

Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape delegate was not present to submit their mandate and therefore the Committee agreed to move on with the meeting and consider the motion of desirability.

Voting on the Environmental Laws Amendment Bill [B35-2007]
The provinces agreed to the Bill with the proposed amendments.

Final Mandates on the National Environment Management: Waste Bill [B39B-2007]
Free State Final Mandate
Mr D Worth (DA) stated that his province was in agreement with the adoption of the Bill as amended.

Gauteng Final Mandate
In this instance the province conferred authority on its delegation to support the Bill however there was no indication as to whether this would be with or without the amendments.

KZN Final Mandate
The province agreed to support the Bill with the amendments.

Limpopo Final Mandate
Ms Matlanyane (ANC) stated that Limpopo would adopt the proposals of the mandate and agree to them.

Mr Watson then argued that some provinces seemingly did not do their work as efficiently as they were expected to do because Limpopo failed to state whether their mandate was adopted with or without approval of the amendments.

Mpumalanga Final Mandate
The province accepted the Bill with all the proposed amendments.

Northern Cape
Mr R Tau (ANC) indicated that the Northern Cape would accept the Bill but it was also not indicated whether this would be done with the amendments or not.

North West Final Mandate
The province indicated that it supported the Bill with the amendments.

Western Cape Final Mandate
The province supported Bill with the amendments.

Eastern Cape Final Mandate
The province indicated that the Eastern Cape delegation would accept the Bill subject to the amendments.

Voting on the National Environment Management: Waste Bill [B39B-2007]
The Chairperson called for a motion of desirability and thereafter the provinces agreed to pass the Bill with the amendments.

Committee Business
Referring to the Draft Third Term Committee Programme, Mr F Adams suggested that the programme scheduling would have to be reconsidered so that members of the committee would not have to waste time and flights on attending meetings that were not necessarily imperative. He also stated that he could not see how the draft programme could be released before the Whippery had released the parliamentary programme for the term ending 26 September.

The committee secretary stated that the purpose of trying to sort out the scheduling was to iron out problems with clashing venues in the new term.

The Chairperson stated that this could all be resolved in time and the scheduling could be altered later. After considering committee minutes for 10 June and a complaint about the wording in final mandates with regard to proposed amendments, the Chair adjourned the meeting.