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PRESS RELEASE BY DR DJ DE VILLIERS, MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM, WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY, 5 JUNE 1995
The Minister of Environmental Affairs should be placed directly under the State President with a responsibility for advising the Cabinet on environmental policy. Once that policy has been established, he should ensure compliance with that policy at all levels of government.
A minister operating from within the President's Office should have the right and responsibility to consult with any other minister or department at both national and provincial levels. The minister would become the "Environmental Champion" in the Cabinet!
This is one of the recommendations in the report of the Lorimer Committee on the restructuring of the Council for the Environment and other related matters.
The report of the committee was handed to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Dr Dawie de Villiers, today. The Lorimer Committee was appointed in September 1994. In four months' time it received verbal or written evidence from some 83 persons and organisations.
Concerning the Council for the Environment, the committee states that the overwhelming weight of evidence was that there is a need for an advisory body. The recommendation of the committee is that a Commission for the Environment, chaired by a Chief Commissioner, should be established.
The committee also expressed its concern about the fragmentation of environmental responsibility as environmental factors do not recognise political boundaries. The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism is considered to be a "Cinderella Department" with a budget too small to enable it to operate effectively.
The committee recommended that an independent assessment be carried out on the operations of the department and its role in the future. The committee believes that a strong central government environmental department is absolutely essential.
In conclusion the committee stressed that the matter requires urgent attention. "The present deteriorating state of the environment is regarded in a very serious light and urgent action is required to assist the successful implementation of the RDP".
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