Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 3: The politics of wastetsunami smashed open rusting barrels and washed them ashore. Hundreds of peoplehave been poisoned by the waste sent from Europe by corporations avoiding highdisposal fees. 31Connepp: policy openingThe IPC process had meanwhile lost all credibility and was terminated. The ANChad, moreover, adopted the idea of the waste hierarchy. In 1996, government acceptedcivil society’s argument for coherent policy. It launched the Consultative NationalEnvironmental Policy Process (Connepp) which was to provide the overarchingenvironmental policy framework within which a coherent waste policy could then bedeveloped from scratch and with the involvement of all sectors. Connepp representedthe high point of post-apartheid participatory policy development and adoptedmost of the principles that civil society had been calling for, including: sustainabledevelopment; environmental justice; the waste hierarchy; the polluter pays principle.Two years later, these principles were incorporated into the National EnvironmentalManagement Act (NEMA) of 1998.Also in 1996, and in marked contrast to Connepp, macro-economic policy wasproduced in virtual secrecy. The Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear)policy was primarily aimed at stabilising the economy on the terms of capital andproduced little growth, declining employment and no redistribution except to the rich.While Connepp proposed sustainable development based on the Environment Rightin the Constitution, Gear adopted the market discourse of economic sustainabilityimplicitly based on the Property Right. 32 Connepp appeared to limit corporate powerwhile Gear consolidated it. Subsequent ‘real economy’ policy on minerals and energyand trade and industry confirmed the subordination of environment and people tomarket imperatives.Under the Connepp umbrella, subsidiary policy on Integrated Pollution andWaste Management (IP&WM) was developed simultaneously. This was then to beimplemented through the National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS) and withinthe broad legal framework provided by NEMA. As distinct from Connepp, the waste31 Najad Abdullahi, Toxic waste behind Somali piracy, Al Jazeera, October 11, 2008.32 See The groundWork Report 2004 for a full discussion of the Environment Right and its neglect by the statein favour of the Property Right.Wasting the Nation - groundWork - 49 -