The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has cleared the air on its earlier communication which sought to license any generator above 5kVA saying this can only apply at a commercial level.
Last week, EMA had reportedly ordered residents to pay a fine of ZWL$100 000 for illegally operating “an air polluting appliance (generator) without a license”.
EMA had said the fixed penalty of (ZWL$100 000), is prescribed in terms of Section 64 of the Environmental Management Authority Act.
The agency warned offenders that failure to pay the fixed environmental penalty within seven days by 20 February 2023, will result in an application by EMA for a warrant of their arrest.
However, in a new twist, EMA said the announcement had caused: “Unnecessary panic among members of the public, especially those using generators at the household level or for domestic purposes.”
The agency said the licensing applies to commercial usage as stipulated in Section 64 of the Environmental Management Act (Cap 20:27) which states that: “No owner or operator of a trade or any establishment shall emit a substance or energy which causes or is likely to cause air pollution without an emission license.”
Thus, EMA said, indicates that this is an operation at the commercial level or for industrial use.
The agency further stated that the appliance of operation is buttressed under Statutory Instrument 72 of 2009(Environmental Management [Atmospheric Pollution Control] Regulations, 2009), where an appliance means any stationary fuel-burning appliance or apparatus which is capable of consuming more than 5 kilograms per hour of fuel or other combustible matter, whether such fuel or combustible matter is in a solid, liquid or gaseous state.
In this case, EMA said, a generator becomes the appliance and if it is consuming more than 5kg per hour of fuel, and is used for commercial purposes or industrial use, then it must be licensed by the Agency.
On the other hand, the statement added, the law clarifies that the appliance, and it this case generators, are defined on a fuel consumption basis and NOT on a power basis that the public has been made to understand.
“On that note, the Agency wants to implore members of the public to always look at the brighter side of this piece of legislative narrative which seeks to prevent air pollution and ensure members of the public enjoy access to clean environment (air) which is not harmful to health as enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27),” said EMA.
Zimbabwe is currently facing acute power shortages and many residents have resorted to alternative sources of electricity including generators the stiffer penalty was likely to worsen the situation in a country where most people are struggling to survive.
