Forums such as the Qinira Estuary Management Forum are set up in terms of the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act of 2008.
They are official public stakeholder groups which are intended to provide public perceptions and information to the authorities.
In 2021, the National Estuarine Management Protocol clarified that the forums are “informal additional advisory bodies” that can help implement project plans from estuarine management plans (EMPs) and support ongoing stakeholder engagement.
Section 11 of the protocol states: “Any existing and/or planned individual estuary forums can be regarded as informal additional advisory bodies for facilitating the implementation of the project plans identified in the EMPs and to foster continuous stakeholder engagement.”
The protocol sets out its preference for all formal monitoring and reporting to take place through provincial and municipal coastal committees, but there is no public information available as to how the coastal committees meet or deliberate.
One source who attended felt it was a talk shop where officials validated their policies and positions.
Green Ripple spokesperson Dr Div de Villiers said: “It is clear that the metro is reluctant to act on environmental disasters caused by its own failure to find funds to do the obvious upgrades, repairs and secure the system.
"Forums are encouraged to keep on gathering up public reaction to the crisis, but all members of the public must be similarly encouraged to build a common resistance to this environmental destruction.
"Efforts from across all rivers, organisations and individuals are the solution to force our elected leaders to spend out tax rands in a development plan or special infrastructure grant ring-fenced towards saving us from ecological and social collapse”
The Qinira Estuary Management Forum’s estuary mouth maintenance plan was submitted to the Eastern Cape department of economic development, environmental affairs and tourism in 2022 and approved in 2023.
It is valid for 10 years until 2033 and is up for review in 2028.
As a part of their role in encouraging public participation, the forums advocate for environmental protection by raising awareness, and contributing to monitoring.
However, all law enforcement rests with the city, the Eastern Cape department and the national department of forestry, fisheries and environment.
But the forums, as interested stakeholder groups, can seek court judgments which order government action in terms of laws such as Nema.
In September 2023, Go! & Express reported that the estuary management plan enabled the forum to raise immediate threats of vandalism of pump stations, dumping, illegal hunting and fishing, and alien plant infestation.
In the same article, local marine ecologist Dr Peter Fielding said the city’s estuaries were under pressure from pollution, over-exploitation of fish and a severe decline in water quality.
He argued that municipal sewerage infrastructure repair and maintenance plans must adhere to estuary management plans.
In the face of a lack of municipal finance and response, he believed civil society had to be engaged as a practical solution.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute states in its 2025 National Biodiversity Assessment — updated in September — that the Qinira ecosystem’s threat status estuarine data (updated assessments reflecting recent evaluation) is “vulnerable”, that its ecological condition is “near natural” but its level of protection is assessed to be “poorly protected”.
