The Vice President of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADAC PF) Ms Sylvia Izaks reminded the SADC PF delegates yesterday in a symposium on climate change that SADC PF member states have a continuous commitment to tackle the climate change challenge.
Ms Izaks is a member of the South African National Assembly and the former Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces. She added that successive SADC PF plenaries, from the 45th session in Mozambique in 2019 to the 57th in Zimbabwe this year, have consistently placed the climate change crisis on their agenda and came up with resolutions.
She acknowledged that, while the SADC region has systems and frameworks designed to guard against the ravages of climate change, implementation remains a challenge. “We have the frameworks, we have the national contributions, we have the national adaptation plans, yet we are failing the ultimate test – the test of implementation. We need to master the art of implementation,” she suggested.
The symposium was part of the second day of the week-long 58th SADC PF Plenary Session Assembly programme. Delegates also received presentations from the South African Human Settlements Minister, Ms Thembi Simelane, who spoke about the impact of climate change on human settlements and the provision of adequate housing.
She acknowledged that climate change poses a threat to development gains, deepens historical inequalities and undermines the constitutional right to adequate housing, adding that a regional approach is the way to go in mitigating the effects. “Parliaments across SADC play a central role in building client-resilient human settlements. They shape the laws, budgets, oversight and standards that determine whether our region is prepared or unprepared for the future.”
Minister Simelane, calling on regional lawmakers to take decisive action, said there is a need to ensure that land use planning legislation integrates climate risk, setting norms and standards for resilient infrastructure. She also called for the alignment of human settlements laws with the Climate Change Bill and regional frameworks.
The Deputy Director-General in the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Mr Maesela Kekana, agreed that parliaments hold powers that are central to climate action. He called on parliaments to enact or update national climate change laws that are aligned with international commitments, such as the Paris Agreement and other international climate change frameworks and consider mitigation and adaptation.
Mr Kekana also called on parliament to use their oversight role to ensure accountability and to ensure that legislation and strategies on climate change are timeously implemented. In addition, national budgets must reflect climate priorities, especially adaptation financing for vulnerable communities, and ensure that women and youth are part of climate decision-making.
Another focus for the symposium was the impact of droughts on small-scale farmers in the eThekwini municipality. The municipality’s Ms Lungile Dladla from the Agro-Ecology Directorate said that interventions to mitigate this impact could include adopting sustainable practices, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting natural resources and strengthening climate resilience.
Business and civil society also formed part of the symposium, and they too had their own challenges requiring urgent intervention from SADC law and policy makers. Following the 2022 floods in KwaZulu-Natal, the Durban Toyota South Africa plant was damaged, leaving it with no water, power, sanitation nor connectivity.
Although Toyota had recorded losses during this time, it managed to assist communities nearby by donating R400 000 to Gift of the Givers and making a R1.1 million contribution in a form of clothing to help victims of floods. Toyota also approached Abahlali base Mjodolo (the residents of the shacks) to provide ablution facilities to help residents in a pilot project, but they were told that the assets they wanted to use for this belonged to the city and the provincial government.
This resulted in the residents not receiving the urgent help they required. Toyota’s Senior Vice President, Mr Suben Moodley, said policy makers must ensure that there is some level of flexibility in how governments accommodate private sector interventions in crisis situations.
Speaking on the challenges of relocation and resettlements, Mr Thapelo Mohapi of Abahlali Basemjondolo believes the problem is two-fold. On one side, you have receiving communities, especially in affluent areas, not willing to accommodate the victims of disaster because of fear of decline of value of houses. On the other, you have victims themselves refusing to be relocated due to sentimental attachment to the area and convenience.
Abahlali Basemjondolo believes that government should be empowered to use its land to relocate victims and not be dictated to by communities. To deal with victims’ resistance, Abahlali Basemjondolo believes that government officials should engage with residents and not simply come to inform them of the relocation.
Temba Gubula
2 December 2025
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