Cape Town – South Africa is falling behind in its obligations to act to end poverty and inequality, warns Kaden Arguile, the GOOD party national youth chairperson.
“The clock is ticking on the United Nations (UN) Agenda for Sustainable Development,” warned Arguile on New Year’s Day, (Wednesday 1 January 2025).
Signed in 2015 by 193 UN member countries, the 2030 deadline to meet the goals of the Agenda was fast approaching.
“South Africa is falling behind in its obligations to act to end poverty and inequality, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice, and prosperity,” said Arguile.
“Not only are there economic and diplomatic ramifications for not meeting these international climate goals but the failure to act now will unfairly burden the youth.
“One of the key areas putting pressure on this deadline is waste management.”
Arguile said South Africa was failing at substantially reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reusing.
“The truth is that the close to two thousand waste disposal, handling, recycling, and export facilities registered with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment play a vital role in shaping our country’s environmental future,” Arguile said.
“Without these facilities facilitating and accurately reporting on their waste levels this future comes to a grinding halt.”
Raising the alarm on the effects of inaccurate waste reporting, Arguile warned that investments could be made incorrectly regarding infrastructure.
“Environmental decisions will not have accurate data for decision-making. And eventually, the dam will burst resulting in a complete system failure,” said Arguile.
“This reality is where we find ourselves with a minority (1/3) of these 2 000 facilities accurately reporting their waste through the department’s SA Waste Information Centre (SAWIC).
“The result of this? Millions of tons of waste are being unaccounted for.
“The brunt of this incompetence will fall on the environments surrounding these facilities as well as the communities that depend on them.”
Arguile said the department was duty-bound to ensure that these facilities reported their data accurately.
He, however, acknowledged that some “accountability” had occurred for the branches failing to report.
In that regard, Arguile said the GOOD party was calling for full transparency on the disciplinary processes and outcomes.
Arguile said industry experts, professors, and executive committee members of organisations including the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa describe the remaining third of data as “useless”.
Arguile said: “A lack of equipment, provincial capacity, and internet access combined with high staff turnover at facilities has led to this current reality.
“Urgent intervention is needed to combat this growing crisis.
“We have seen the writing on the wall for Eskom, Water, and the Postal Service. A total collapse of Waste cannot be allowed to happen.”
Arguile added: “The impact of this will fall on the next generation. The loss of our biodiversity means children are robbed of our environmental experiences.”
The GOOD party national youth chairperson called on the department to release the data on non-responsive facilities, immediately address the failure of the SAWIC system, and begin work on a new/revised system to be implemented as soon as possible.
“The youth of this country cannot afford to have rubbish robbing us of our future,” said Arguile.
