The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment is the

environment minister An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of the environment) is a cabinet position charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation. The areas associated with the duties of a ...

in the

Cabinet of South Africa The Cabinet of South Africa is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of South Africa. It is made up of the president, the deputy president, and the ministers. Overview The cabinet of South Africa consists of the Presi ...

. The minister has political responsibility for the

Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) is one of the departments of the South African government. It is responsible for protecting, conserving and improving the South African environment and natural resources. It ...

(DFFE). The office was established in its current form in May 2019. Before then, the environment minister had a smaller portfolio between 2014 and 2019 as the Minister of Environmental Affairs, and an enlarged portfolio between 1994 and 2014 as the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs (2009 to 2014) and the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (1994 to 2009). It has been described as one of the most efficient ministries in South Africa.

History

The environmental affairs portfolio originated in the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

era. From 1994, under President

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

, it subsumed the Ministry of Tourism, becoming the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism with responsibility for the

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism was a department of the government of South Africa from 1994 to 2009. Political responsibility for the department rested with the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. After the electi ...

. When he announced his first cabinet on 10 May 2009, President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

severed the environment portfolio from the new Ministry of Tourism and gave it the water affairs function, creating the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs. However, with the appointment of Zuma's second cabinet on 25 May 2014, this portfolio was bifurcated, creating the dedicated Ministry of Environmental Affairs to oversee the

Department of Environmental Affairs The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) is one of the departments of the South African government. It is responsible for protecting, conserving and improving the South African environment and natural resources. It ...

(and a separate Ministry of Water and Sanitation to oversee water affairs). Throughout the post-apartheid era, forestry and fisheries had not been handled by the environment portfolio, but instead were the responsibility of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry (until 2009) and later the

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries may refer to: * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Cambodia) * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan) * Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Niue) * Depart ...

(from 2009 to 2019). When he announced his second cabinet on 29 May 2019, President

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

assigned forestry and fisheries to the environment portfolio, creating the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.

Barbara Creecy Barbara Dallas Creecy (born 17 June 1958) is a South Africa, South African politician and former Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who has been the Minister of Transport since July 2024. She was formerly the Minister of E ...

was the inaugural holder of that office.

List of ministers

References

External links

Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

Department of Water Affairs
(2010)

(2012) {{SouthAfrica-gov-stub Water and Environmental Affairs

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Lists of political office-holders in South Africa Water in South Africa

History

List of ministers

See also

References

External links