ACCOUNTABILITY GAPS: Environmental ‘watchdog’ barks, but hides names of malpractice offenders

The statutory body charged with regulating the professional competence and ethical conduct of South Africa’s environmental consultants and assessors has cracked open the door to its secret disciplinary chambers – but just by a fraction.

Five years after Daily Maverick started asking questions on policing the ethical and professional conduct of environmental consultants, the Environmental Assessment Practitioners Association of South Africa (Eapasa) has finally released a partial record of disciplinary actions since its formation in 2012.

This professional body was established at the insistence of the government 14 years ago, but compulsory registration of practitioners only took effect in 2018 and a formal malpractice policy only appears to have been finalised in 2019.

Over this period, just five of the association’s more than 2,500 registered members have been found guilty of malpractice after the association received at least 69 complaints.

Environmental assessment practitioners (EAPs) are private sector consultants and state officials charged with preparing or assessing environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies – but Eapasa Registrar and CEO Patrick Sithole has refused to identify the five sanctioned practitioners or to provide details of the transgressions they were found guilty of.

Sithole’s refusal to disclose the identity of transgressors appears to contradict Eapasa’s former commitment to naming and shaming practitioners found guilty of malpractice, in order to demonstrate that the association “has teeth” .

Eapasa’s original malpractice policies required peremptory publication of all findings and sanctions imposed by the professional conduct and appeals committees on the Eapasa website.

But about four months ago (18 May 2026) Eapasa changed this policy to read: “The Eapasa Registrar may, at the discretion of the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) and recommendation of the Registrar and depending on the merits of the case publish the findings and sanction imposed by the PCC or the Appeals Committee… on the Eapasa website.”

When we asked Sithole to clarify whether the five sanctioned practitioners were found guilty before or after the new discretionary naming policy was introduced in May 2026, he responded: “Eapasa is not in a position to provide the names of those five individuals due to a number of administrative and legal reasons. I hope you understand.”

After ignoring written questions from Daily Maverick in May 2021 and again in June 2026, Eapasa eventually provided a response this week, stating that it wished to “take this opportunity to issue an update on complaints” lodged against registered members.

“Eapasa was formally established in 2018 and conceptualised in 2012. The association has received a total of 69 formal and informal, written complaints against registered and candidate Environmental Assessment Practitioners (EAPs) for alleged transgressions of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Practice (CCEP).