1 October 2001
Mr Carr was suspended 10 days ago as a
direct result of complaints levelled against him by the CDC. His suspension
demonstrates that the CDC is capable of wielding inordinate coercive influence over government departments. It also confirms the PSAM's contention that neither the CDC nor government have any intention of complying with the Constitution and the regulatory framework in their implementation of this project.

The PSAM views the suspension of Mr Carr as a transparent attempt to remove
one of the few public officials prepared to stand up against the CDC and
argue for compliance with environmental and developmental legislation. Carr
has publicly insisted that the CDC comply with regulations governing mining
permits and environmental management. It is worth pointing out that as the
regional Director in charge of Mineral Development Carr had the sole
authority to award the CDC/Portnet permission to start mining rock from the
Coega Kop in order to start building the harbour breakwaters. For this
reason Carr had clearly become an obstacle to the fast-tracking of the Coega
project in ways that neither government or the CDC were
prepared to tolerate.

The PSAM is particularly disturbed by the fact that Mr Carr was suspended as
a result of a complaint from the CDC that he was delaying the Coega project.
This is extremely ironic. We would like to remind the public that Mr Carr
and the Department
of Minerals and Energy are under no obligation to enter into correspondence,
let alone cooperate, with the CDC in the first place. This is because the
CDC has no legal mandate to act as an IDZ operator. The CDC has yet to
obtain an IDZ operators
permit and cannot legally begin implementing the Coega IDZ until such time
as it is in possession of such a permit. The Coega locality, for that
matter, has yet to be legally designated by the Minister of Trade and
Industry as an IDZ.

Consequently, it is a mystery why the CDC should be approaching the
department of Minerals and Energy for mining rights on behalf of Portnet to
start with. It has no legal standing to interact with the department.

What is crystal clear, however, is that Mr Carr's suspension is directly
related to his efforts to uphold and enforce the provisions of the
Constitution, the Minerals Act, the National Environmental Management Act,
the Development Facilitation Act and the IDZ regulations.

The PSAM has previously pointed to the list of regulations and
Constitutional provisions that have been breached by the Executive arm of
the South African government and the CDC in their indecent haste to
implement this project. In addition
to those laws cited above we must add to the list the CDC and government's
failure to comply with the Constitutional requirement for effective
parliamentary oversight, and their lack of compliance with the Financial
Management Act and the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

In all, government and the CDC have wilfully failed to comply with no less
that 7 Acts of parliament. We have warned that these deliberate
infringements of the law constitute a direct threat to our new and still
fragile democracy.

The PSAM will be monitoring the conduct of Mr Carr's replacement as Director
of Mineral Development very closely. We wish to caution the Department of
Minerals and Energy that any effort to sign the Environmental Management
Plan (EMP) for the
Coega project, without complying with the above regulations, will almost
certainly result in legal action against the department. Were the
department, in turn, to attempt to defend such an indefensible decision in
court, this could only result in the fruitless expenditure of tax-payer's
money.

PSAM calls on the department of Minerals and Energy to act responsibly, and
within the law in respect of the issuing of the EMP, despite the political
pressure currently be exerted on them to expedite the Coega project.

Colm Allan, Director
Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM)
Rhodes University
Grahamstown