Dedicated courts to deal specifically with infringements against the South African environmental policies, were likely to become effective within the next six months, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the launch of the National Compliance and Enforcement Report, Sonjica said that she had met with Justice Minister Jeff Radebe in September to discuss the issue. The discussions led to the decision to move forward with the process of re-establishing the environmental courts.

“Officials within the relevant departments are now working on details and processes which will be submitted to the ministers for consideration. It is envisaged that the establishment of dedicated courts would have a profound impact on the fight against environmental crime.”

Sonjica noted that the biggest issues surrounding the re-establishment for the dedicated courts were funding arrangements and skills development. However, she noted that the Department of Environmental Affairs had been hard at work to develop the necessary skills.

Between April 2008 and March 2009, the number of environmental management inspectors had increased from 866 to 903.

She also added that the dedicated courts would make use of already-established infrastructure, and would operate in a similar manner as the labour courts, having certain days within a month dedicated towards environmental matters. Once there was a decline in environmental transgressions, the courts would once again be used for the prosecution of mainstream criminals.

“You must not have a picture of new buildings popping up for environmental courts. We are going to use the exiting infrastructure in a creative way,” Sonjica said.

The National Compliance and Environmental Report has stated that between April 2008 and March 2009, the total number of reported environmental cases had increased to 4 661, and the number of criminal dockets registered was 2 412, compared with the 1 762 recorded in the previous reporting period.

However, the report also noted that nationally, only 258 convictions were obtained during this period, compared with the 784 in the previous reporting year.

Environmental Affairs director of compliance and enforcement support Mark Jardine stated that the report did not specifically deal with the reasons behind the fluctuations in the rate of convictions, but specifically looked at the numbers. He added, however, that the next report would take this into consideration.

Jardine further noted that during this period, the total number of environmental cases, which the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute increased from 116, in 2007/8, to 100 during the period under review. This was an increase of 525%.

Sonjica noted that the NPA’s lack of prosecutions, as far as environmental cases were concerned, cut directly to the need for dedicated courts.

“[Environmental prosecution] is not the core function of the NPA. So probably the NPA was inundated with offences that constituted their core function, and what do they do? They prioritise that. They will not prioritise environment, and that is the reason we want dedicated courts, because now all of those offenders might be getting away with murder.”

Sonjica further noted that the National Compliance and Enforcement Report would assist with establishing these courts, as it would point out the weaknesses and strengths of processes and infrastructure already in place.