annexure-1-9c39c3da6f8e0daf.pdf

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), acting for the Highveld Environmental Justice Network (HEJN), groundWork (gW), and Earthlife Africa (ELA), submitted preliminary objections and recommendations regarding the draft Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) and draft Air Quality Management By-laws for the Nkangala District Municipality (NDM). The CER argues that the public participation process was procedurally unfair due to insufficient notice and comment periods. Substantively, the CER identifies critical gaps in the draft AQMP, including a lack of enforcement strategies, insufficient technical capacity within the NDM, and misalignment with the Highveld Priority Area (HPA) goals. The CER also proposes significant amendments to the draft by-laws to strengthen dust control, clarify authorization procedures, and ensure stricter local emission standards.

• The CER contends that the Nkangala District Municipality (NDM) failed to provide stakeholders with a reasonable opportunity to participate in the drafting of the AQMP and by-laws, citing a notification period of only 10 days before the stakeholder meeting and a comment period that the clients regard as "insufficient and unreasonable".
• The draft AQMP is criticized for being inconsistent with the Highveld Priority Area (HPA) AQMP, specifically regarding timelines; for example, a goal for optimizing government capacity set for 2015 in the HPA AQMP is listed as a 2018 goal in the NDM draft.
• There is a reported critical shortage of technical and financial resources within the NDM to perform air quality management functions, and the CER argues that fully populating the AQM structure should be the AQMP's first objective.
• The CER identifies a total lack of ambient air quality monitoring in the local municipalities of Dr JS Moroka, Thembisile, eMakhazeni, and Victor Khanye, noting that the draft AQMP does not explain this absence or how it affects the baseline assessment.
• The CER argues that the National Dust Control Regulations are flawed and inadequate for protecting human health, recommending that the NDM by-laws implement a stricter regimen based on ambient air quality standards for PM10 and PM2.5 rather than dustfall rates.
• The CER recommends that the NDM set local emission standards that are stricter than national minimums, as permitted by section 11(2) of the Air Quality Act, due to the severe health and environmental concerns in the Highveld Priority Area.
• The CER identifies several omissions and weaknesses in the draft by-laws, including the absence of noise pollution management and the failure to provide for public participation regarding authorizations applied for and granted.
• The CER proposes that the NDM adopt a single general 'compliance notice' to replace separate repair, removal, and abatement notices, and suggests that this notice should include administrative fines.
• The CER highlights a 2014 study by groundWork which identifies Eskom as the primary driver of outdoor pollution health risks in the Highveld Priority Area, noting that these emissions have dire consequences for local health.
• The CER requests that the AQMP explicitly provide public access to critical air quality data, including atmospheric emission licences (AELs), compliance reports, external audits, and meeting minutes.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). annexure-1-9c39c3da6f8e0daf.pdf. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Annexure-1.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. annexure-1-9c39c3da6f8e0daf.pdf. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Annexure-1.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=annexure-1-9c39c3da6f8e0daf.pdf |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Annexure-1.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrightsndannexure19c39c3da6f8e0dafpdf, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{annexure-1-9c39c3da6f8e0daf.pdf}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Annexure-1.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }