Strap National Disaster Management Centre
White Paper on Fire Services gazetted on 25 September 2020 By Dr Musiwalo Moses Khangale, director: Fire Services, Department of Cooperative Governance, National Disaster Management Centre
S
outh Africa’s White Paper on Fire Services was gazetted on 25 September 2020. The Fire Brigade Services Act, 1987 (Act No. 99 of 1987) (FBSA) is one of the pieces of legislation administered by the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) through the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC). The Department has identified the FBSA as an old order legislation that must be reviewed to closely align and harmonise it with other applicable legislation especially the post 1994 local government legislation. Initially, DCoG attempted to achieve the objectives of reviewing the FBSA through amendments and accordingly commenced with the process. Whilst this process was underway, it became evident that this approach will not enable the Department to achieve the desired objectives due to the nature of aspects that must be introduced in the revised fire services piece of legislation. In view of this and consistent with Government’s approach to policy development, a Discussion Paper on the review of Fire Services legislation was published for public comments in March 2013. The Discussion Paper was followed by the White Paper on Fire Services which will form the policy basis for the revised legislation. The department is confident that this approach will ensure that prior to the promulgation of the revised fire services piece of legislation, a clear policy framework
In March 2010, Working on Fire was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Impumelelo Awards Trust for its KwaMemela Firewise Community project, which has successfully pioneered community-based fire management concepts in rural KwaZulu-Natal. In 2009, the remarkable work done by Working on Fire in reducing the impact of unwanted fires on people and the environment was acknowledged when the programme received the Kamoso Award for Best Environmental Programme. In 2005 Working on Fire was awarded a Platinum Award, the highest accolade, by the Impumelelo 6 | FIRE AND RESCUE INTERNATIONAL
Innovations Trust, which recognises exceptional achievement by government-initiated projects that are sustainable and can be replicated. And in October 2019, Deputy Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Noxolo Kiviet, singled out the Working on Fire programme, as one of the South African Government’s most successful programmes. She made these remarks whilst accepting on behalf of the EPWP programme, an International Bronze award at the Future Policy Awards in Belgrade, Serbia, which seeks to give global recognition for the successful implementation of youth empowerment policies. Volume 5 | No 5
