Thank you very much, Deputy Chairperson. It might happen that it is those who have ulterior ambitions of becoming an alternative government. But if you have such ulterior ambitions, you must begin to behave very well. Start here in the House so that people out there may believe you.
I was just referring to what Mr Douglas quoted with regard to the Constitution. In terms of the Constitution, in Chapter 2 in the Bill of Rights it states:
Everyone has the right -
a) to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing; and
b) to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures ...
such as this piece of legislation we are dealing with today.
As we stand on the threshold of our third democratic order, as the ANC we stand before our people with great pride that our nation is still on course with the commitment to strengthen our collective and individual responsibilities in managing, protecting and preserving our country's environment.
It is in that light that the National Environmental Management Amendment Bill emulates and reasserts our movement's commitment to closing any gaps in realigning our environmental responsibilities, policies, programmes, etc. It clearly articulates our commitment to continue to seek more ways and strategies to relentlessly deal with the past environmental injustices and to ensure that our country is set on a path of sustainable development and environmental management.
Also, it is in that vein that the Bill before us today seeks to amend the National Environmental Management Act of 1998. The Deputy Minister also alluded to some of the matters which these amendments are trying to deliver to the country at large. I will not repeat what the Deputy Minister has said.
To conclude, I must say that as the ANC we take pride in this Bill as it is in line with the following three principles that form the cornerstone of our policy to protect our natural resources.
Firstly, environmental management must place people and their needs at the forefront of its concern and serve their physical, psychological, developmental, cultural and social interests equitably.
Secondly, development must be socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.
Thirdly, sustainable development requires the consideration of all relevant factors including, amongst other things, the following. Environmental management must be integrated. Environmental justice must be pursued so that adverse environmental impacts shall not be distributed in such a manner as to unfairly discriminate against any person, particularly vulnerable and disadvantaged persons. It must ensure equitable access to environmental resources, benefits and services to meet basic human needs and to ensure that human wellbeing can be pursued and special measures taken to ensure access thereto by categories of persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination in the past.
As we enter the threshold of our third democratic Parliament and gear ourselves for the centenary year of the ANC in 2012, I must say that as the ANC we take pride that the legislative framework that our movement has initiated in the last 14 years of democracy is building on our commitment to a better South Africa.
Deputy Chairperson, that is why the centenary of our movement must find us in a state where we are truly able to say with absolute certainty that since democracy dawned on South Africa we have, indeed, reached the threshold of prosperity for all in our advance to improve the lives of our people.
The people expect that we continue to work to implement the decisions that were made by the forbears of our movement when many of them took a solemn oath to better the lives of the people and lead them into a democratic, nonracial and nonsexist society.
We will, indeed, continue to increase the awareness of and concern for environmental issues and to assist our people to develop the knowledge, skills, values and commitments that we need for our country to achieve sustainable development and environmental management.
It is for those reasons that we as the ANC, together with all provinces that have sent their mandate, support this Bill as it will lead us to a better environmental situation in the country. Thank you.