Abstract:
There has been a relatively systematic and ordered development of the environmental
legal regime in the past 17 years in South Africa. The first dedicated piece of
legislation was the Environmental Conservation Act, 100 of 1982. However it was not
particularly effective as it sought to co–ordinate environmental matters as opposed
to focusing on environmental management (Glazewski 1999:13). It was replaced
by the Environmental Conservation Act, 73 of 1989 which provided an impetus for
equitable development and environmental protection. The Act is based on the
Constitution, 1996 to promote the notion of co-operative environmental governance
which constitutes the basis of South Africa’s environmental legislation. Critical to the
process are four basic principles, namely fairness, accountability, responsibility and
transparency. A particular focus is spreading the responsibility for the interconnection
between social well-being and environmental protection across state departments
and spheres of government. Considerable emphasis is placed on citizens’ rights to be
granted opportunities for effective democratic and economic involvement in future
development processes (Hamman and O’Riordan 1999:3). The Act provided an
enabling framework for far-reaching reform in environmental governance and can
be viewed as a flagship statute of the National Department of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism (DEAT). This article critically reviews the legislative and administrative
arrangements for environmental governance in the local sphere of government in
South Africa, highlighting challenges that have to be addressed. The principles of cooperative
governance and particularly the role of local government in responding to
local environmental issues will also be critically reviewed.
