Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning
What role should the (a) national, (b) provincial and (c) local governments play to ensure the introduction of more Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIs) to combat environmental crimes across the province?
[1] Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIs) are designated as such at national, provincial and local government spheres to combat environmental crimes within their respective mandates. These mandates overlap to a lesser or greater degree amongst the three spheres, for example, national environmental legislation provides for functions to be carried out by all three spheres. The overlapping of mandates may relate to the same incident. Ordinances/provincial acts and by-laws apply exclusively to provinces and municipalities, respectively.
[2] With the advent of austerity measures all spheres of government have financial constraints and there are insufficient funds available to employ additional EMIs at provincial sphere. Currently there are 66 EMIs employed in the Department, of which 14 are exclusively law enforcement EMIs, whilst the remaining 52 monitor the compliance with environmental legislation; 50 at CapeNature and 45 at municipalities (25 at the City of Cape Town) within the province.
