Please take note that the Department of Environmental Affairs officially launched the National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report (hereinafter referred to as “NECER”) 2010/11 on Thursday, 03 November 2011.
The full document can also be accessed at on our website
>Member Section>>Legislation Library
>>> NECER
Also note that for your ease of reference, previous NECER reports are also accessible through the Legislation Library. If you are not able to view the latest editions to our site, please ensure that you have registered as a member to gain access to the secure member zone. This is free of charge, and will only take a few minutes.
The objective of the NECER is to provide a national overview of environmental compliance and enforcement activities undertaken by the relevant institutions across the country during the period 01 April 2010 to 31 March 2011.
The report reflects the work of all environmental compliance and enforcement officials operating at a national and provincial level, with certain sections focusing particularly on the Environmental Management Inspectorate (EMI - Green Scorpions).
The Environmental Management Inspectorate is a network of environmental compliance and enforcement officials from different government departments (national and provincial). EMI's are popularly referred to as the Green Scorpions. The Inspectorate was created when an amendment to the National Environmental Management Act, 107 of 1998 (NEMA) came into effect on 1 May 2005.The 2010-11 report is the 04th National Compliance and Enforcement Report to be published. The project was initiated in conjunction with commencement of the Environmental Management Inspectorate and the report represents the work of 9 provincial environmental and 4 provincial parks authorities, DEA, Sanparks and the Isimangaliso Wetland Park Authority.
Objectives of the Report
· To raise awareness amongst a wide range of stakeholders (including regulatory authorities, the public, NGOs as well as the regulated community) of the activities and performance of the environmental compliance and enforcement sector.
· To provide a comparison on key compliance and enforcement indicators between various EMI Institutions and between financial years (within institutions).
Report Methodology and Approach
· Excel spread sheet reporting template designed and agreed upon through MINTECH WGIV;
· Reporting template includes numerous data fields/performance indicators related to compliance and enforcement activities;
· At the end of each financial year, DEA requests the reporting institutions to submit their templates;
· Data is collated, analysed and a consolidated national report is compiled.
Report Constraints
· The national report is a relatively new publication (4th year) and EMI institutions are constantly working to improve the accuracy of the statistics reflected therein;
· The report is compiles solely on the input received by the reporting institutions – no independent verification/auditing process takes place;
· The performance indicators are purely output driven (i.e. number of inspections, investigations etc.) – have not yet reached the stage where outcome analysis can be performed and included.
Report Content
The report includes sections dealing with:
· Compliance and enforcement capacity in the country;
· Enforcement (criminal, administrative, civil) and compliance monitoring activities (proactive, reactive inspections);
· Most prevalent types of environmental crimes per institution;
· Legislation;
· Court cases and sentences relating to environmental matters
· Capacity-building interventions and joint operations with key stakeholders
Capacity – Building: Magistrates/ Prosecutors
· During the course of 2010/11, 67 magistrates and 177 prosecutors received training/awareness-raising interventions aimed at developing their capacity to understand the nature, scope, impacts and legislation related to environmental crimes.
· This included the advanced training course of prosecutors which focussed on those prosecutors that have been identified by the NPA as undertaking environmental crime prosecutions.
Pro-active Compliance Inspections
Proactive compliance monitoring and enforcement work in relation to the following priority sectors is on-going:
· Ferro-Alloy, Steel and Iron Sector
· Refineries Sector
· Cement Sector
· Paper and Pulp Sector
· Health Care Risk Waste Treatment / Disposal
· Hazardous landfill sites
· Power Generation
· The national report is a relatively new publication (4th year) and EMI institutions are constantly working to improve the accuracy of the statistics reflected therein;
· The report is compiles solely on the input received by the reporting institutions – no independent verification/auditing process takes place;
· The performance indicators are purely output driven (i.e. number of inspections, investigations etc.) – have not yet reached the stage where outcome analysis can be performed and included.
Report Content
The report includes sections dealing with:
· Compliance and enforcement capacity in the country;
· Enforcement (criminal, administrative, civil) and compliance monitoring activities (proactive, reactive inspections);
· Most prevalent types of environmental crimes per institution;
· Legislation;
· Court cases and sentences relating to environmental matters
· Capacity-building interventions and joint operations with key stakeholders
Capacity – Building: Magistrates/ Prosecutors
· During the course of 2010/11, 67 magistrates and 177 prosecutors received training/awareness-raising interventions aimed at developing their capacity to understand the nature, scope, impacts and legislation related to environmental crimes.
· This included the advanced training course of prosecutors which focussed on those prosecutors that have been identified by the NPA as undertaking environmental crime prosecutions.
Pro-active Compliance Inspections
Proactive compliance monitoring and enforcement work in relation to the following priority sectors is on-going:
· Ferro-Alloy, Steel and Iron Sector
· Refineries Sector
· Cement Sector
· Paper and Pulp Sector
· Health Care Risk Waste Treatment / Disposal
· Hazardous landfill sites
· Power Generation
Highlights from this report include the following:
· As at the end of 2010/11, there are 1076 EMIs. Besides SANPARKS which has 603 EMIs, there are 413 operational compliance and enforcement EMIs that are divided into the following sub-sectors: 183 are responsible for pollution, waste and EIA; 229 are responsible for biodiversity and protected areas; and a single EMI is responsible for integrated coastal management.
· There has been a 31.27 % decrease in the number of reported environmental incidents, from 5 739 in 2009/10 to 3 944 in 2010/11.
· 736 criminal dockets were registered, 234 criminal cases were handed to the NPA for prosecution, and 72 criminal convictions were reported in the 2010/11 financial year.
· 547 administrative notices were issued, including 266 pre-compliance notices.
· There has been a 40% (6) decrease in the number of civil court applications launched as compared to the 10 launched in the 2009/10 financial year.
· There has been a slight decline in the total amounts paid in respect of section 24G administrative fines from R8 874 966.10 in 2009/10 to R8 364 870 in 2010/11.
· A decrease in the number of proactive inspections from 5 701 in 2009/10 to 2 196 in 2010/11 reflecting a decline of 61.48%.
· A slight decline in the total number of reactive inspections from 596 in 2009/10 to 558 in the 2010/11 financial years.
· A dramatic increase in follow-up inspections conducted from 283 in 2009/10 to 833 in 2010/11.
· An increase in the total number of inspections that required enforcement actions to be taken from 289 in 2009/10 to 433 in 2010/11.
· SANPARKS recorded the highest number of criminal dockets registered (250) with 28 of those handed to the NPA, followed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife with 168 criminal dockets; and thirdly the Limpopo provincial department with 83 dockets registered. The lowest numbers of criminal dockets registered were in the Western Cape, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape provincial departments.
· Limpopo recorded the highest number of arrests (832) by EMIs and they also handed 51 criminal dockets to NPA.
· Eastern Cape collected the highest amount of admission of guilt fines (J534s) amounting to R262 600.
· Mpumalanga has recorded the highest number of administrative enforcement tools with 58 pre-compliance notices and pre-directives and 60 final compliance notices and directives.
· The Western Cape provincial department issued 76 warning letters, the highest compared to other EMI Institutions.
· Gauteng recorded the highest amount collected through the issuing of S24G fines, being R3 597 370 from 43 cases.
· Highest sentence of direct imprisonment without a fine option: 10 years without option of fine (Limpopo).
· Highest sentence for a pollution and waste case: Acc 1: R2 million of which R1 million suspended for 5 years; Acc 3: R100 000 of which R50 000 suspended for 3 years (DEA).
· Highest number of Section 24G fines: 58 issued of which 43 of them were paid amounting to R3 597 370 (Gauteng).
· The highest number of administrative enforcement notices issued: 118 (Mpumalanga).
We trust that this information will serve to be of assistance and that you will not hesitate to contact our offices should you require any further assistance herein. Please take note that the Department of Environmental Affairs officially launched the National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report (hereinafter referred to as “NECER”) 2010/11 on Thursday, 03 November 2011.
· As at the end of 2010/11, there are 1076 EMIs. Besides SANPARKS which has 603 EMIs, there are 413 operational compliance and enforcement EMIs that are divided into the following sub-sectors: 183 are responsible for pollution, waste and EIA; 229 are responsible for biodiversity and protected areas; and a single EMI is responsible for integrated coastal management.
· There has been a 31.27 % decrease in the number of reported environmental incidents, from 5 739 in 2009/10 to 3 944 in 2010/11.
· 736 criminal dockets were registered, 234 criminal cases were handed to the NPA for prosecution, and 72 criminal convictions were reported in the 2010/11 financial year.
· 547 administrative notices were issued, including 266 pre-compliance notices.
· There has been a 40% (6) decrease in the number of civil court applications launched as compared to the 10 launched in the 2009/10 financial year.
· There has been a slight decline in the total amounts paid in respect of section 24G administrative fines from R8 874 966.10 in 2009/10 to R8 364 870 in 2010/11.
· A decrease in the number of proactive inspections from 5 701 in 2009/10 to 2 196 in 2010/11 reflecting a decline of 61.48%.
· A slight decline in the total number of reactive inspections from 596 in 2009/10 to 558 in the 2010/11 financial years.
· A dramatic increase in follow-up inspections conducted from 283 in 2009/10 to 833 in 2010/11.
· An increase in the total number of inspections that required enforcement actions to be taken from 289 in 2009/10 to 433 in 2010/11.
· SANPARKS recorded the highest number of criminal dockets registered (250) with 28 of those handed to the NPA, followed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife with 168 criminal dockets; and thirdly the Limpopo provincial department with 83 dockets registered. The lowest numbers of criminal dockets registered were in the Western Cape, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape provincial departments.
· Limpopo recorded the highest number of arrests (832) by EMIs and they also handed 51 criminal dockets to NPA.
· Eastern Cape collected the highest amount of admission of guilt fines (J534s) amounting to R262 600.
· Mpumalanga has recorded the highest number of administrative enforcement tools with 58 pre-compliance notices and pre-directives and 60 final compliance notices and directives.
· The Western Cape provincial department issued 76 warning letters, the highest compared to other EMI Institutions.
· Gauteng recorded the highest amount collected through the issuing of S24G fines, being R3 597 370 from 43 cases.
· Highest sentence of direct imprisonment without a fine option: 10 years without option of fine (Limpopo).
· Highest sentence for a pollution and waste case: Acc 1: R2 million of which R1 million suspended for 5 years; Acc 3: R100 000 of which R50 000 suspended for 3 years (DEA).
· Highest number of Section 24G fines: 58 issued of which 43 of them were paid amounting to R3 597 370 (Gauteng).
· The highest number of administrative enforcement notices issued: 118 (Mpumalanga).
We trust that this information will serve to be of assistance and that you will not hesitate to contact our offices should you require any further assistance herein. Please take note that the Department of Environmental Affairs officially launched the National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report (hereinafter referred to as “NECER”) 2010/11 on Thursday, 03 November 2011.
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