announcements, tablings and committee reports - Parliament of ...

Tuesday, 29 October 2013] 491147 Correction by deleting section 97A transitional provision based on earlier versions of the Act,which were subsequently changed, was erroneously retainedand is creating confusion. Section 97 currently saves activitieswhich were previously listed in a schedule. It was subsequentlydecided to integrate these activities with the NEMA EIAprovisions and this section no longer serves a purpose.48 Proposed insertion of new section 97AParliament excluded certain portions of ports from coastalpublic property prior to the Act commencing in 2009. Theexclusion had unintended and undesirable consequences forboth Transnet and the Department. Transnet found itself in aworse position after the exclusion, as the ports which werepreviously coastal pubic property now became state-ownedland, placing them in an equally precarious situation regardingtheir ownership status. From the environmental perspective, anunintended consequence of exclusion of an area of sea andsea-bed from coastal public property meant that the excludedportion of the sea and sea-bed could be privately owned,thereby subverting the principle established in the Act – that thesea and sea-bed cannot be privately owned and is held in trustby the State. It is necessary to nullify that exclusion in thelegislation, as section 7 of the Act dealing with coastal publicproperty, now clearly excludes port infra-structure andstructures/assets from coastal public property and there is nolonger a need for exclusions from coastal public property. It isimportant to retain the principle that the sea and sea-bed is notcapable of ownership and is held in trust by the State. Allowingfor exclusion subverts this principle.ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS NO 147─2013