Your article, boldly titled ”Ministries aim to trash green laws” (March 17 2006), is highly inaccurate, misleading and downright wrong. Ironically, it bases its facts on an article that showed how our policies enhance the environment.
In reading your article, I was as flabbergasted as the people who wrote letters [to your newspaper] last week. I am glad of this opportunity to correct this wrong impression of the intention of the government. We have said in various publications that these two issues [development and the environment] are interdependent and interrelated, and receive the same level of importance in our accelerated shared growth initiative.
As we have stated in public many times before, we have no intention of compromising the quality of our environment nor do we wish to scrap the tools, such as environmental impact assessments (EIAs), established to regulate sustainable development processes.
Contrary to your conclusion, based on rumours and assumptions, our new housing plan (comprehensive human settlement plan) supports the creation of integrated communities with social and economic amenities.
We have agreed with our provincial ministers that all projects must be green (take into consideration the needs of the environment). On the N2 Gateway Project (in Delft, Cape Town), where we have a dire shortage of land, we have insisted that more than 29ha be left untouched to ensure that indigenous species are secure and protected. By doing this, we are creating a balance between the environment and development.
What we are concerned about is feedback and warnings from developers and investors that rapid housing delivery may be undermined if the government agencies still take a year or more to give the necessary permission.
We became worried when it was pointed out that in some cases it can take up to three years to arrive at a decision. They also warn that these delays are affecting small business development and in some cases are the causes of their collapse.
It must be emphasised here that the government has a responsibility to mediate competing interests and rights. All the rights enshrined in the Constitution have to be respected. Therefore, the creation of balance is important.
While it is absolutely necessary to preserve the environment, we have to ensure that the rights of the poor to services like housing are not compromised. Our new policy (sustainable human settlement) has as its cornerstone the very term sustainable — to ensure that all housing projects are environmentally sustainable.
We believe the government must continually review its systems, and work smarter in order to support the social and economic development of the country. We strive to have clear timelines for development processes and this must be communicated to developers in order for them to plan their developments with certainty.
We have no problem with EIAs and other required processes before approvals of any development project. We know that in this we are not alone; all of the government structures are continually reviewing their systems, benchmarking them and improving the service they offer to their clients.
Our problem is not with the principles of EIAs but the time it takes to process them. We continually work with other departments and stakeholders to ensure that unnecessary delays caused by administrative processes are removed.
We know that the environment and economic development are both essential for human life. It is for this reason we earnestly believe that there is a need to balance environmental needs and social and economic development.
Lindiwe Nonceba Sisulu is an MP and Minister of Housing