Durban - The portfolio committee for the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment was impressed by the contribution KwaZulu-Natal residents made to discussions on the Climate Change Bill.
The committee held three public hearings on the bill this past weekend. The last hearing was held at the Westville Civic Centre on Sunday and attracted a full audience. The other hearings were in Pietermaritzburg and Stanger.
Chairperson of the committee Phillip Modise said it was impressed by the attendance, the engagement and the grasp of climate issues shown by attendees of the three sessions.
Durban residents have borne the brunt of extreme weather. In April last year, heavy rainfall battered the city, destroyed homes, washed away infrastructure and led to the death of hundreds of people, while many others were washed away and are yet to be found.
“We are extremely satisfied with the overwhelming support and the input that we have received from the people of KwaZulu-Natal in the past three days,” Modise said, adding that community members and attendees to the hearing had shown themselves to be knowledgeable about climate change issues.
“They have enriched the process. They came out in their numbers. They came up with the suggestions for the committee to consider for mitigation and adaptation against the effects of climate change. This was informed by the fact that they have literally encountered those circumstances,” he said.
Among the suggestions put forward by the participants were measures to be taken against companies which continue to pollute. They called for fines and even jail terms as an imposition against such firms which pollute the environment with impunity.
“The issues that have been raised by the people are overwhelming and they are relevant,” Modise said.