THE WHITE PAPER FOR SUSTAINABLE COASTAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE FUTURE OF THE SEA-SHORE ACT

Abstract

In his 2006 budget speech, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, indicated that he would present a new Integrated Coastal Management Bill to Parliament before the end of the year. This new Integrated Coastal Management Bill, the Minister explained, would promote a system of co-ordinated and integrated coastal management (see Van Schalkwyk Speech During National Assembly Debate on Budget Vote 27: Environmental Affairs and Tourism 6 June 2006).The decision to draft this new Integrated Coastal Management Bill may be traced back to the White Paper for Sustainable Coastal Development in South Africa (2003). One of the recommendations made in this White Paper is that a new coastal law should be enacted, inter alia, to replace the Seashore Act 21 of 1935 (hereinafter “the Act”). This recommendation is based, inter alia, on criticisms that have been leveled against the Act by academic and other commentators in recent years. The purpose of this note is to set out these criticisms in more detail and to examine the reforms proposed in the White Paper. Before doing so, however, it will be helpful to briefly set out the relevant provisions of the Act itself.