Deputy Speaker, it is important for this House to note that this oversight trip took place after communities pleaded with us in a committee meeting to deal with the unacceptably high levels of air pollution in priority areas. They came to hold us to account for the promise uTata Madiba made in 1995 for cleaner, less toxic air for communities around industrial plants.
The oversight visit made it abundantly clear to us that strong action was needed to uphold their constitutional "right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing; and ... to have the environment protected" from pollution and ecological degradation.
Research studies, including those done by the World Health Organisation, attribute brain, heart and lung conditions that result in premature death to air pollution. Air pollution also degrades the surrounding land and water resources.
The department included industry during the development of the progressive National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act of 2004 and the listed activities and minimum emissions standards of 2013, which placed limits on these emissions.
Industry has known for over a decade what was to come, yet 36 big polluters still applied for postponements. The National Framework for Air Quality Management of 2012 guides what needs to be done in the case of postponement of applications. It clearly states that postponements may only be granted if there is compliance with current national ambient air quality standards. Priority areas do not comply, yet 23 of the approved applications come from these priority areas and were thus unlawfully granted, as admitted by the Department of Environmental Affairs.
Research indicates that as a result of this postponement Eskom alone will cost the fiscus billions of rands every year in accrued health costs and productivity. More gravely, an estimated 20 000 people will die prematurely, of which 1 600 will be children. Eskom's response? Ironically, they blame the poor for the air pollution. The people without electricity, who rely on fires to cook and warm themselves, are blamed.
By granting postponements the ANC government has given polluting industries the licence for at least another five to ten years to poison the only air that vulnerable communities have to breathe. Approving postponement applications in air pollution priority areas has undermined committee intervention, defied legislation and given industry the licence to kill, which assaults section 11 of the Constitution guaranteeing the right to life.
We call on the Minister to retract any postponement granted in any identified priority area. Thank you. [Applause.]