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Five years of silence — who is assessing the assessors of SA’s environmental future?

Daily Maverick · 🇿🇦 public South Africa · · 1402 words · By Tony Carnie
Institutional Transparency Environmental Governance Professional Accountability
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What to know about Institutional Transparency

The Legal Practice Council is responsible for investigating complaints and recommending the suspension or striking-off of attorneys and advocates for malpractice.

Claims checked 14
Techniques found 2
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center83%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

The Legal Practice Council is responsible for investigating complaints and recommending the suspension or striking-off of attorneys and advocates for malpractice.

Why it matters

The Engineering Council of South Africa also has procedures to ensure professional service and ethical behaviour from engineers, with the outcomes of disciplinary action published in the Government Gazette.

Common ground

Similar principles apply to members of the Environmental Assessment Practitioners Association of South Africa (Eapasa).

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Exaggeration / Hyperbole: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-23-five-years-of-silence-who-is-…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.
warning
Exaggeration / Hyperbole 70% confidence
Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing exaggeration / hyperbole helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 6
schedule Pending 4
check_circle Corroborated 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
verified Verified By Reference 1
schedule
Claim 1: “In a press statement on 17 June, Eapasa announced the names of its new 11-member board”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 2: “the new policy states that the details of disciplinary hearing outcomes and appeals “may” be published, at the discretion of the disciplinary committee”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 3: “They would only become liable for expulsion if found guilty for a fourth time, and are then blacklisted for up to five years before becoming eligible to reapply for Eapasa registration.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support the claim regarding expulsion and a five-year blacklist upon a fourth offence.
schedule
Claim 4: “The 2021 policy states: “All the charged EAPs and their contraventions and penalties will be advertised on the Eapasa website for a period not exceeding 5 years.””
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 5: “The Engineering Council of South Africa also has procedures to ensure professional service and ethical behaviour from engineers, with the outcomes of disciplinary action published in the Government Gazette.”
SINGLE SOURCE
Wikipedia confirms ECSA is the statutory body for the engineering profession in South Africa, but the specific claim regarding the publication of disciplinary outcomes in the Government Gazette is not corroborated by the provided search results.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) is the statutory body for engineering profession in South Africa. Its functions are to accredit the engineering programs and to register the engineering …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_Council_of_South_A…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) is a professional association representing electrical and electronic engineers, technologists and technicians in Southern Africa. The organi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Institute_of_Ele…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_South_Africa
+ 3 more evidence sources
check_circle
Claim 6: “The Legal Practice Council is responsible for investigating complaints and recommending the suspension or striking-off of attorneys and advocates for malpractice.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that the Legal Practice Council (LPC) investigates complaints and has the authority to recommend suspension or striking-off of legal practitioners.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Legal practice in India is governed by the Advocates Act 1961; an act passed by the Indian Parliament which provides for laws relating to legal practitioners in India and for the constitution of the B…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_practice_in_India
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — In South Africa, Attorneys are lawyers who provide legal advice and representation to clients, aiding individuals and businesses in their legal dealings, and as required, handling related corresponde…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorneys_in_South_Africa
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bar Council of India (BCI) is a statutory body established under section 4 of the Advocates Act 1961 that regulates the legal practice and legal education in India. Its members are elected from amongs…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Council_of_India
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 7: “the Legal Practice Council (LPC) currently has a list of nearly 50 attorneys who were either suspended or struck from the roll during 2026.”
SINGLE SOURCE
No evidence was found to support the specific claim about a list of 50 attorneys suspended in 2026. The search results were irrelevant.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The Legal Practice Council, after the incident in 2020, said it was launching an application to have him either struck from the roll of attorneys or suspended from the attorney’s profession.
https://iol.co.za/pretoria-news/news/2023-05-23-foul-mouthed…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Страница «Cover Remix 2026» на Zamvixo содержит треки: Александр Барыкин - Букет (Cover Remix, 2026), Embek - Мне по б…. Здесь можно слушать музыку онлайн, открыть MP3-страницу и скачать нужную песню.
https://zamvixo.com/show/cover-remix-2026
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Смотрите онлайн «Check-In (2026)» от автора Pinoy Tambayan. Хорошее качество видео без регистрации в бесплатном видеокаталоге VK Видео. Опубликовано 20 мая 2026.
https://m.vkvideo.ru/video-165473791_456240262
schedule
Claim 8: “this procedure appears to have changed in May 2026, with a revised malpractice policy now allowing for the expulsion of practitioners for a first offence (depending on the seriousness of the offence)”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 9: “According to the council, a total of 314 legal practitioners were struck off and another 421 suspended from practice between 2019 and 2025.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results returned adult forum content and were completely irrelevant to the Legal Practice Council's statistics.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Sep 28, 2023 · When I was 18 I was raped. I had only recently become sexually active. My boyfriend and I had sex a few times at his house when his parents were out of...
https://forum.xnxx.com/threads/rape-and-my-early-sexual-expe…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Aug 12, 2025 · Laodamia’s selects its staff carefully and we look after them well so they tend to stay with us. Sara has been our administrator for many years and, of...
https://forum.xnxx.com/threads/the-amateur.714186/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Oct 10, 2023 · [ATTACH] Big Changes Are Coming to the Forum! We’ve got some exciting news to share — the forum is moving to a brand-new home! Very soon, forum.xnxx.com will move to our new domain: for…
https://forum.xnxx.com/threads/cuckold-pictures-and-captions…
info
Claim 10: “In terms of its 2021 malpractice policy, EAPs can be fined R20,000 for each breach of the code of conduct (for a first or second offence).”
SINGLE SOURCE
One web search result ('When the Pacific Ocean Reaches the Lowveld') directly quotes the claim regarding the R20,000 fine for the first or second breach of the 2021 malpractice policy. However, no second independent source confirms this specific figure.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — EAPASA Constitution 2026. EAPASA Malpractice Policy.15 November, 2021. EAPASA and CBE Sign MoU to Address Common Challenges in the Built Environment.
https://eapasa.org/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Penalties In terms of its 2021 malpractice pol-. icy, EAPs can be fined R20,000 for each breach of the code of conduct (for a first or second offence). They only become liable for tempo-rary suspensio…
https://cdnc.heyzine.com/flip-book/pdf/42eb7a208be565764fa0c…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Our API is available for the AI Detector, Plagiarism Checker, Paraphraser, Summarizer, Grammar and Spell Checker, Chatbot & Translator. Our team has developed a user-friendly API for organizations.
https://www.zerogpt.com/
verified
Claim 11: “This [Eapasa] is the official registration authority for roughly 2,600 private and state-sector professionals charged with assessing and approving mandatory environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The search results for this claim returned irrelevant adult content and general Wikipedia entries on EIA, providing no evidence regarding Eapasa's registration numbers or official status.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_assessmen…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP) formerly known as the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) is the global membership body for sustainabilit…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Environmental_Man…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Social impact assessment (SIA) is a methodology to review the social effects of infrastructure projects and other development interventions. Although SIA is usually applied to planned interventions, t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_impact_assessment
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 12: “They only become liable for temporary suspension from Eapasa (and further fines) if they are convicted of a third offence.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim is mentioned in the same source as claim 7 ('When the Pacific Ocean Reaches the Lowveld'), but there are no other independent sources to corroborate it.
info
Claim 13: “Sabelo Nkosi [is the] Durban-based practitioner [chairing the new board of Eapasa].”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results returned information about an NGO called 'Barakacity', which is entirely unrelated to Sabelo Nkosi or Eapasa.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — BarakaCity est une ONG internationale musulmane de droit français ayant existé de 2008 à 2020. Fondée par Idriss Yemmou Sihamedi, l' association vient en aide aux populations musulmanes démunies dans …
https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barakacity
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Barakacity was a Muslim non-governmental organization founded by Idriss Sihamedi and others in 2008; while it started in France, the organization had international reach.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barakacity
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Barakacity was founded in 2008 by Idriss Sihamedi as a humanitarian association aimed at assisting Muslim populations globally through charitable efforts rooted in Islamic principles such as zakat. [6…
https://grokipedia.com/page/barakacity
check_circle
Claim 14: “Eapasa’s registrar and CEO, Dr Patrick Sithole, acknowledged receipt of our queries on 2 July”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web sources (LinkedIn and IAIAsa) explicitly identify Dr Patrick Sithole as the Registrar of EAPASA.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — View Dr Patrick Sithole’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional community of 1 billion members.
https://za.linkedin.com/in/dr-patrick-sithole-96619891
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Call 012 880 2154. registrar@eapasa.org. Welcome to EAPASA. Login.EAPASA receives international recognition for formalizing internal structures and process to include continuing professional developme…
https://eapasa.org/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Dr Patrick Sithole is currently the Registrar of EAPASA.Dr Sithole is also involved in vegetation clearance and pest control projects along infrastructural projects e.g. roads, railway lines, power li…
https://iaiasa.glueup.com/event/iaiasa-north-west-branch-eve…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.