Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the MPRDA Amendment Bill: Environment authorities are more appropriately placed to consider, issue and ensure compliance with environmental authorisations for mining activities

The submission contends that the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) lacks the human resource capacity, budget, and track record to effectively implement the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and its EIA regulations. It highlights a conflict of interest between the DMR's mandate to promote mining and its obligation to protect the environment, citing poor decision-making in sensitive areas and negligible compliance monitoring. The authors argue that transferring these powers to the DMR would be an inefficient use of public funds and potentially unconstitutional, as it impinges on provincial mandates. They recommend that the Minister of Environmental Affairs and provincial Executive Councils remain the sole authorities for issuing and enforcing environmental authorisations.

• The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) lacks the necessary human resource and financial capacity to implement NEMA and EIA regulations. In 2009, only 78 officials were dedicated to environmental protection, with 16% of those positions vacant, and no dedicated budget was reported for these functions.
• The DMR has a poor track record regarding environmental impact assessments and decision-making, often granting rights in biologically or hydrologically sensitive areas or protected environments, sometimes despite opposition from water and environmental authorities.
• There is a significant disparity between the DMR's focus on health and safety versus environmental compliance. In 2011-12, the DMR conducted 81,611 health and safety inspections compared to only 1,898 environmental inspections.
• The DMR's enforcement of environmental obligations is described as negligible, with a lack of transparency regarding criminal prosecutions and a tendency to neglect complaints of violations unless initiated by civil society or communities.
• An inherent conflict of interest exists within the DMR because it is mandated both to promote the exploitation of mineral resources and to ensure that such activities do not cause unacceptable environmental degradation.
• Transferring environmental authorisation powers to the DMR may be unconstitutional because environmental management is a functional competency shared between national and provincial governments under the Constitution.

APA

Humby, T. (2013). Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the MPRDA Amendment Bill: Environment authorities are more appropriately placed to consider, issue and ensure compliance with environmental authorisations for mining activities. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Joint-Submission-on-MPRDA-Amendment-Bill-6-Sept-2013-Appropriate-authority-for-environmental-regulation.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Humby, Tracy. Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the MPRDA Amendment Bill: Environment authorities are more appropriately placed to consider, issue and ensure compliance with environmental authorisations for mining activities. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2013. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Joint-Submission-on-MPRDA-Amendment-Bill-6-Sept-2013-Appropriate-authority-for-environmental-regulation.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Humby |first1=Tracy |title=Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the MPRDA Amendment Bill: Environment authorities are more appropriately placed to consider, issue and ensure compliance with environmental authorisations for mining activities |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=6 September 2013 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Joint-Submission-on-MPRDA-Amendment-Bill-6-Sept-2013-Appropriate-authority-for-environmental-regulation.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{humby2013submission, author = {Humby, Tracy}, title = {{Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the MPRDA Amendment Bill: Environment authorities are more appropriately placed to consider, issue and ensure compliance with environmental authorisations for mining activities}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2013}, month = sep, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Joint-Submission-on-MPRDA-Amendment-Bill-6-Sept-2013-Appropriate-authority-for-environmental-regulation.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }