STACEY JANSEN: Dion George wastes chance to pick low-hanging fruit

As 2024 drew to a close, many publications released “report cards” on the performances of ministers in the government of national unity (GNU) cabinet. And with the government departments now setting out their priorities for 2025, a lot of attention will be placed on the so-called “big portfolios” such as finance and agriculture.

The forestry, fisheries and environment portfolio doesn’t often attract media attention, but it is in fact a vital one — environmental sustainability underpins everything from economic production to protecting our country’s natural assets. 

That is why it is so disappointing to see forestry, fisheries and environment minister Dion George escaping censure for failing to pick the low-hanging fruit and rack up quick wins for such an important department. He somehow got passing grades on his report cards, and all indications are that his department will continue in 2025 in the way it exited 2024 — with no significant changes made or gains achieved.

The broad issues of climate and conservation were mentioned in George’s “report cards”, and he has been widely photographed on numerous overseas trips, but no tangible outcomes appear to be on the horizon, while one of the few areas in which he could have made concrete changes relatively easily and quickly — waste management — has been ignored. 

Economic research has shown that monetising the 38 different waste streams in SA through recycling could add 1.75% to our economic growth rate. This growth would be underpinned by small and medium enterprises, which have most potential to create employment. When recycling is done correctly it also opens up markets for new products.

For many reasons, not least being the stellar progress made in 2012-2017, waste tyres offer an especially quick win in SA through setting up formalised collection and recycling systems, creating a model that could then be expanded to other waste streams.

This type of future-orientated focus was lacking in the strategies of previous ANC ministers, and tragically it is still lacking under the DA’s George. The Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of SA  (Redisa) had high hopes for a fresh start under a new minister, but his inexplicable inaction so far on the waste front, specifically waste tyres, has been disappointing.

George and his department have simply ignored the waste tyre crisis. SA discards between 253,000 and 259,000 tonnes of waste tyres every year. This enormous volume poses a serious environmental threat. In the informal economy hundreds of waste tyres are burnt every day to access scrap metal, causing extreme air pollution, and most of the rest end up in dumps or languish in enormous and growing used tyre depots.

Many industry players have warned that SA’s waste tyre depots are over capacity and in breach of fire regulations, posing a serious fire risk. Last year a devastating fire broke out at the Biesiesvlei Waste Tyre Storage Depot in Lichtenburg, with severe environmental and financial repercussions. The other over-capacity depots are ticking time bombs. 

This dire state of affairs could have been avoided. In fact, SA was a world leader in formalising the waste tyre stream just seven years ago. Between 2012 and 2017, Redisa, a nonprofit company, pioneered a plan alongside the government that built 22 tyre collection centres, employed more than 3,000 people, created 226 SMMEs and offset 59,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year. It accelerated the recycling economy, empowered unskilled workers and stimulated entrepreneurship.

But controversial environment minister Edna Molewa, a Jacob Zuma appointee, got rid of Redisa, irrationally and unlawfully approaching the court for liquidation orders on trumped-up charges so that she could move the programme (and its revenues) under the control of her department. Redisa was fully exonerated by a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in January 2019, which called Molewa’s actions “patently unlawful” and a violation of Redisa’s constitutional rights.

Instead of resurrecting a similar model to the Redisa one and righting a manifest wrong, George chose last year to rather support the previous incumbent’s fatally flawed Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan. He is doing so seemingly on the advice and counsel of the selfsame officials who presided over the current disastrous state of affairs. 

This latest plan claims to be a way of addressing the waste tyre problem, but it sets unachievable targets, contains numerous inconsistencies, lacks any budgetary detail and was created and approved in an improper manner. It is the type of irresponsible plan-making that has come to define ANC inefficiency. And with George’s support it will soon define DA inefficiency too. 

Should this plan be implemented, it would be a disaster. Waste and recycling entrepreneurs would suffer further. After trying for months, with no success, to communicate in good faith with the department and George, Redisa had no choice but to approach the courts to stop the plan.

And the response from the government? It has ignored every legal deadline since the case was brought against it, displaying arrogant disrespect. Only after Redisa applied to have the case decided on an unopposed basis did the department slowly stir to action — a huge embarrassment for George, SA and the GNU. 

There is deep irrationality in the department’s choice not to communicate with Redisa and not to seek some kind of settlement. The last thing anyone wants is to waste resources on endless legal challenges — unless, of course, you are spending taxpayers’ money. Since the management of waste tyres became government-controlled under the Zuma cabinet, small-scale players in the waste industry have expressed serious concern about the general lack of rationality and basic compliance. Importantly, while an environmental levy of R2.30 on each kilogram of tyre sold is still being imposed, less than half of the levies collected have been applied to managing waste tyres. 

Yet George seems unfazed by this and continues to fail to address an entirely fixable problem. He chose not to go back to a workable waste tyre model, one that could then be used as a starting point for similar initiatives in the other waste streams. It is a great disappointment that real, practical gains for SA are being denied because there is no will to disrupt the government intransigence and opaque operations instituted in the Zuma days. The result is an economy and environment that continue to suffer.

SA needs bold, decisive action on waste management in 2025. It is time for George to act. 

• Jansen is a Redisa director.