There are at least 205 developments underway in Gauteng – and a further 258  in the Western Cape – that have been built on environmentally sensitive areas by companies who are using a section of the Environmental Management Act to allow them to undertake the work.

According to Andile Gumede, spokesman for the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development these 205 developments are being considered by the department after it received Section 24G applications from the companies concerned.

In terms of Section 24G, companies that “unknowingly” contravene the Act can ask the province for condonation and can risk being fined up to R1-million for contravening the EMA. The provinces will seldom order a development to be demolished.

In the Western Cape, Aziel Gangerdine, spokesman for the Department of Environmental Affairs says that it is common for companies to proceed with unlawful developments and warned that the companies that did so could risk criminal charges.

He says the province is considering 258 applications that have been made in terms of Section 24G of the EMA. Some of these developments include an illegal broiler breeding plant, a solvent-processing plant and development of diesel fuel storage tanks.

He says that developers count on the fact that they can submit Section 24G applications after they have started building and then wait for the province to condone the development while building work is completed.

There is some speculation in property development circles that suggests construction companies and developers are aware of the loophole in the Act and decide, at the planning stage, to proceed with the development and budget to pay a substantial fine when they are found to have contravened the EMA.

The extent of illegal developments has not been assessed in other provinces although in Limpopo Coal of Africa was recently fined R666k for a new coal mining development after anomalies were found in the environmental impact assessment that had been submitted to the Department of Mineral Resources.

Coal of Africa has undertaken to conduct another environmental impact assessment.

In Gauteng, Leadal Property Investment was fined R335k for going ahead with an industrial development on a heritage site in Barberton while Silicon Smelters in Polokwane was apparently fined R216k for failing to submit an environmental impact assessment for this project. 

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