Redisa gets a tongue lashing by Minister Edna Molewa

THE RECYCLING and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa’s (Redisa) failed miserably in achieving the targets of its own waste tyre plan.

Environmental affairs minister Edna Molewa said in an affidavit in support of a successful Cape High Court application for Redisa’s liquidation that one of the aims of the Redisa plan was to create the 10 000 new and permanent jobs in the green economy.

But Molewa said the 3 254 jobs allegedly created by Redisa also included an alleged 128 employees at depots, the head office and the 2 155 micro collectors, which left only 1 099 jobs actually created.

Redisa therefore created only about 15 percent of the projected target of jobs in terms of the approved Redisa plan, she said.

Redisa reported in May last year that it had supported 121 transporters, but 2 900 transporters should have been engaged in year four of the plan. “This constitutes a massive under performance by Redisa in terms of the targets set in its plan,” Molewa said.

The claim by Redisa that its activities had resulted in the creation of 226 small businesses could not be verified, because proper documentation was not provided.

She said that from the information provided by Redisa, it seemed that about 60 000 tons of waste tyres a year were not collected, leaving about 180 000 tons of waste tyres not accounted for over a three-year period, excluding historical stockpiles of waste tyres previously in circulation.

In contravention of the Redisa plan, waste tyres were also exported to China and India.

Redisa alleged that the department gave them permission to do so, but could not provide any proof of such permission by the department.

Molewa said Redisa was “very economical with the truth” in claiming that it had met and in certain aspects exceeded its ambitious performance targets, adding there was a lack of integrity in the documentation emanating from Redisa and clear and deliberate misrepresentations. Redisa spent more of the public funds it collected on “management” and other expenses than on the implementation of its plan, which was supposed to be its core business.

“There seemed to be a high and continuous set-up cost with limited implementation and roll-out of the tyre recycling activities,” she said. roy.cokayne@inl.co.za