The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), the South African Institute of Environmental Health (SAIEH), the Department of Health (DoH) and the Tshwane University of Technology - Department of Environmental Health (TUT) signed a memorandum of understanding mandating TUT to proceed with the offering of a short learning programme to capacitate practising Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP) to be appointed as Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIs).
In terms of section 31G of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), the function of an EMI is to monitor and enforce compliance with a law for which he or she has been designated. The undertaking of compliance and enforcement activities forms a critical component of implementing the NEMA and the specific environmental management Acts (SEMAs), and is an executive function allocated to national, provincial and local organs of state according to the Constitution. The short learning programme (SLP) will be offered within the Centre for Environmental Health at TUT.