Weather bill to get more input

THE Department of Environmental Affairs is to submit redrafted amendments to SA’s Weather Service legislation after a public participation process that would include specific “interaction” with those who sharply criticised an amendment bill it put into the parliamentary process in January, spokesman Albi Modise said yesterday.

The South African Weather Service Amendment Bill was withdrawn, without reasons given, in a June 15 parliamentary notice. The bill joined several other pieces of legislation criticised for poor drafting, adding to growing concern over the government’s ability to draft laws. Commentators said aspects of the bill were unconstitutional.

“It was only after the public com- ment period had closed and during the parliamentary process that an intense public interest in the bill surfaced. As a result, a number of possible amendments to certain aspects of the bill were proposed and debated, which, if accepted, would have significantly changed the bill from that published for public comment,” Mr Modise said. There was no date yet for resubmission, and dates for engagement had not been finalised, he said.

The bill was criticised primarily for seeking to introduce criminal penalties for issuing weather or air pollution-related information without the Weather Service’s permission; and the supply of false or misleading weather information and of information that “detrimentally affects or is likely to detrimentally affect the Weather Service”.

Mr Modise said the bill’s purpose was to amend the South African Weather Service Act to extend the service’s “objectives and functions” in dealing with ambient air quality information, to align the Weather Service board provision with the Public Finance Management Act, and to limit the service’s liabilities.

The clauses dealing with ambient air quality worried the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance and the Vaal Environmental Justice Organisation. These organisations conduct independent monitoring of air quality and advise the public, sometimes through the media, of the results of their analyses.

The bill would have had them facing a R5m fine (and/or five years’ imprisonment) for a first conviction for issued air quality information without written permission from the South African Weather Service.