Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy President, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, comrades and friends, ladies and gentlemen, I rise once again on behalf of the ANC and also on behalf of the portfolio committee in once again recommending that we support this amending Bill in Parliament.
May I start off by thanking my long-suffering committee for the intellectual vigour and honesty with which they tackle their work and the tremendous diligence they show in doing the work. Again, I thank the Minister and her department for the professional and very useful assistance that we received as a committee.
This Bill may seem very technical in format, however, I think we should take note of the following few but very important governance issues. Clause 2 inserts a new section 2A and B in the Act to provide the Minister with the legal power to determine the policy framework within which the Weather Service must exercise its powers and perform its functions. The policies will be determined and published in the Government Gazette after consultation with the board.
In other words, once the Minister has set the policy framework within which the board must operate, the board has operational independence as long as it operates within that policy framework. The clause also provides the Minister with supervisory powers over the Weather Service. The amendment will allow the Minister to monitor the exercising of powers and performance of the functions by the Weather Service against the policy and the norms and standards determined by the Minister and also to intervene in operational matters by way of directive only in the case of noncompliance; only in the case of noncompliance.
Any existing policies in respect of the Weather Service will be tabled within a certain period of time. Maybe I should elaborate on this matter. As you know, the SA Weather Service is an agency which falls within the mandate of the Department of Environmental Affairs. Therefore, as an agency, it performs certain functions which the department would normally have performed. In this case, the functions being performed are of course, are those that deal with weather services.
It's very important that we look at agencies and the relationship they have with departments. In South Africa, I think we are very lax in spelling out those relationships properly. The fact that agencies are used all over the world is not a new phenomenon, but what is happening more and more as societies get more complex, as government gets more difficult, is that more functions of government are handed over to agencies. Therefore, the relationship between government and agency is very important.
In most instances in South Africa we don't spell out that relationship at all. It is something that we hope works out. Usually when there is a good relationship, there are no problems. The problem is when there is a breakdown, then not having the proper relationship becomes problematic. So, what we've tried to do here is that we made our starting-off point the Constitution. The Constitution clearly says in section 85(2)(b) that it is the national executive that develops and implements national policy. That is the preserve of the national executive of our country. It has to develop and implement policy.
Therefore, when we create agencies in our departments that are fulfilling certain functions that that department would usually fulfil, they have to do so with the department or the Minister retaining the policy formulation on that aspect. Once we have the policies, then we have operational independence for that agency to act within those policies. Of course, the Minister can only intervene in those matters where there are supervisory powers, where there is noncompliance with the policy or norms and standards.
It is this relationship that we have spelt out very clearly in this legislation. We hope that in our other agencies - we have many others in our departments - we are going to spell this out much more clearly so that this relationship can stand the test of time, with everyone clearly understanding what those relationships are.
Clauses 3 and 4 also amend the Act to extend the objectives and functions of the Weather Service so as to provide it with a legal mandate for the gathering of ambient air quality information and to designate it as the custodian of the South African Air Quality Information System, Saaqis. Clause 4 will also allow the Weather Service to issue ambient air quality warnings after consultation with the Minister.
Clause 5 will amend section 5 of the Act to ensure that the needs of air quality management stakeholders are taken into account by the Minister when appointing the Board of the Weather Service.
I again want to elaborate here somewhat by explaining this very important amendment. Firstly, in order to meet the information requirements for good air quality governance and to ensure compliance with the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act of 2004, the department and the Weather Service developed the Saaqis and what we call the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network, Naaqmn.
Secondly, since the promulgation of this Air Quality Act, the partnership between Department of Environmental Affairs and the Weather Service is governed by a memorandum of understanding. It is this memorandum of understanding that is now becoming legalised by giving that legal mandate to the Weather Service, and not only through a memorandum of understanding.
Thirdly, the Minister has pointed out one of the issues that are arising more and more in our country. When we have agencies and there is an irretrievable breakdown between the board and the chief executive officer, then if there are no proper laws and procedures to regulate this relationship, one can see that we have interminable court cases going on. At the end of the day, the courts are actually legislating for us on how to deal with this matter.
Once again in this Bill, we have gone ahead and created a full appointment mechanism with all the procedures that apply. Most importantly, we have dealt with a comprehensive removal procedure, with all the checks and balances and making sure that there is a proper audi alteram partem during the processes. Then we, or the Minister, will supplement these procedures through regulations.
Fourthly and lastly, you will recall that the most important controversial issue in this legislation when it was introduced the first time was that there was a huge uproar about the wording of the offences that were created in the legislation. After consultation with the department and with the public, it was very clear that everybody was happy to amend the wording. It has now been appropriately amended. No one has any problems with it anymore. Hopefully we will not ever have to use those offences to act against someone. If we do, the offences are now very clear and people will be dealt with accordingly. That will only be in instances where they give false or misleading weather warnings. Those are the instances where there will be an offence and they will be dealt with according to the law.
Thank you for listening, and I ask the House to support this Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]