Cabinet post for Knysna's Dion George

Dr Dion George, is South Africa’s new Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment.

KNYSNA NEWS - The DA’s Knysna constituency head, Dr Dion George, is South Africa’s new Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment.

George’s appointment was announced last night 30 June by President Cyril Ramaphosa when naming his new Government of National Unity(GNU) at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

The appointment of George as environmental minister has come as a surprise. He served as the DA’s shadow finance minister (or spokesman) during the previous parliament. 

As DA Knysna constituency head George has been continuously involved in solving some of Knysna’s key environmental issues. 

His work has resulted in charges being laid against the Knysna municipality around service delivery failures involving waste removal, water quality and sewerage spills, causing pollution into the environmentally sensitive Knysna lagoon.

Dion told the Knysna Plett Herald last night (30 June), following the announcement, that the portfolio provided an “enormous opportunity”.

“The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment is a fairly large portfolio and covers a number of areas vital to our economy.

“In particular it is responsible for all of the national parks, all of our forestry resources, all of our natural resources and all of our marine resources.

“It is also crucially responsible for the just energy transition - which is basically a massive transformation of our economy from a high carbon economy to a green economy – and, of course, it is responsible for the conservation of our natural resources.

“It is very much an economic portfolio. The opportunities for us to not only manage our resources better but also create the jobs we so desperately need in our economy from the sector.“This offers an enormous opportunity,” said George.

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