Balancing act

When President Thabo Mbeki attacked environmental processes for being too slow last year, many environmentalists were outraged. After a Cabinet lekgotla, Mbeki said environmental legis­lation was causing development delays and had contributed to ‘a quite considerable slowing down of economic activity”.

As South Africa embarks on a programme to grow its economy, fight poverty and develop essential infrastructure, the president’s concerns about balancing the environment and development will only increase.

At the moment, the richly bio­diverse but desperately poor Eastern Cape is struggling to find a balance between economic development and conserving the environment. With most landowners along the coast between the Fish River and Plettenberg Bay planning some form of luxury housing or resort development, the province’s environmental authorities are flooded with applications for schemes from developers.

An environmental official told the Mail & Guardian that environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are conducted by consultants appointed by developers. They rarely turn down schemes, which are then approved by the provincial environmental department. ‘When permission is granted, conditions are laid down, such as density and where to build and the character of the development, but a project is rarely turned down,” said the official.

Sources say that even if the EIA finds that there will be an adverse environmental effect, developers and environmental officials generally negotiate to try and find some common ground on which to allow the development to go ahead. For example, when the Kenton eco-estate development rang environmental alarm bells, the developers offered to build a desalination plant for this water-stressed area.

‘It all comes down to politics, which developer knows which politician and the various trade-offs,” said the official. He added that the divisions between the two were not always clear-cut, because economic affairs and the environment share a ministry. ‘We have ended up with bosses who have no interest in the environment, but end up being a director of an environmental portfolio,” he said. An audit of EIAs showed that the Western and Eastern Cape account for 15% of new developments since 1997.

In theory, once a project has received the necessary approval, an environmental ‘manager” (usually a consultant) is appointed to ensure that developers adhere to environmental terms and conditions. But an environmental consultant working on a major development project in the province told the M&G that he is ignored when he reports on infringements by developers. ‘I keep reporting transgressions and the provincial department keeps on ignoring them,” he said. ‘They have washed their hands of me.”

Developers say they try to protect the environment within reasonable parameters. ‘It can’t be conservation at all costs. You have to balance poverty and the need for infrastructure development against that of the environment,” said a developer in the Western Cape, who does not want to be named. ‘You cannot stall forever and the greenies have to understand that.”

Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu enraged environmentalists last year when she said housing delivery would not be ‘held hostage by butterfly eggs”. In a letter to the M&G she explained that the government’s objection ‘is not with the principles of EIAs, but the time it takes to process them. 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 cause of their collapse.”

Last year, the department of environmental affairs introduced revised regulations aimed at speeding up the EIA process. The department told the M&G at the time that ‘government is concerned about any delay, costs and associated impacts on economic growth and development. This is why we need improved efficiency and effectiveness without compromising basic environmental rights and quality.”

The Eastern Cape provincial authorities did not respond to questions emailed by the M&G on this issue.