South Africa’s burgeoning state apparatus appears want to legislate over everything, including the weather. Like the European King Canute who commanded the tides to go back, our politicians have sought to control the climate and all those who happen to casually remark about it. In what can only be termed Brussels Madness, Environmental Affairs found themselves responding to a public storm this week over the South African Weather Service Amendment Bill, while groups like the South Durban Environmental Alliance, were issuing pollution warnings. The department now says it would reconsider if [the bill] has “unintended negative consequences”,
Aside from the obvious problems with legislation that tackles atmospheric conditions, there is a political sub-text behind the ANC tinkering with synoptic charts. The bill is in reality, a thinly disguised attempt in the aftermath of COP17 to stop such groups from issuing warnings related to pollution by the Oil Industry. With a government firmly in the hands of polluters, the public must be wondering why the department is spending its money on barometres.
You can read their submission here.
