The Portfolio Committee on Forestry, Fisheries and Environment has concluded the last leg of public hearings on the Climate Change Bill [B9-2022] in Fezile Dabi District and Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Free State, over the past weekend.

The committee then took the opportunity presented by this trip to conduct another public hearing in North West, in the Bojanala Platinum District at the Madibeng White Hall in Brits on Monday morning. This decision was taken after the committee had conducted two public hearings in North West in April in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda and Ngaka Modidri Molema districts, and postponed the third public hearing. Today’s hearing thus concluded the three hearings in North West.

The same happened in Western Cape. There, the committee only managed to conduct two public hearings and postponed the last one, which was scheduled to take place in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality, to a later date.

The committee has now conducted public hearings in all nine provinces. The Chairperson Mr Ntibi Modise said: “We are confident that the committee has afforded the majority of South Africans the opportunity to make oral inputs on the Climate Change Bill. We can, therefore, say with confidence that the Bill has received overwhelming support from South Africans, pending some changes and recommendations.”

Mr Modise further said that after the outstanding public hearings in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality, the committee will then sit on its own to consider all inputs and deliberate on the Bill.

He said that the committee will then express its final position on the Bill through a committee report that will be tabled to the National Assembly for adoption.

The public hearings are conducted in line with section 59(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which requires the National Assembly (NA) to facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the NA and its committees.

The Climate Change Bill seeks, amongst other things, to enable the development of an effective climate change response and a long-term just transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society for South Africa in the context of sustainable development.

Source: Parliament of South Africa