SUBMISSION BY LIZ BURROUGHS: NEMA AMENDMENT BILL

Dear Ms Kakaza,

I would like to take this opportunity to indicate that I, as an ordinary South African, wish through this not to you, to voice my concern to the relevant Portfolio Committee regarding the proposed amendments to the NEMA Act, since the amendments affect South Africans' basic Constitutional rights to a safe and healthy environment. Allowing the Minister to waive the need for any form of Environmental Impact Assessment, especially in the absence of any form of guideline or regulation in this matter, seems to open up the possibility of developments which are not in the interests of the people most likely to be affected by the impact of those developments.

1 therefore add my voice to those of others who really think that these proposed amendments are not in the long-term interests of South Africa or its inhabitants.

Yours sincerely,

Elizabeth Burroughs

Manager: Research and Development Umalusi