The environmental affairs department has published the model air quality management by-law for easy adoption and adaptation by municipalities in the Government Gazette.

The model by-law is published in terms of the National Environmental Management Act.

It is intended to assist municipalities in the development of their own air quality management by-law. Uniformity across the country in terms of air quality management is also an intended by-product.

The model by-law has been developed to address most of the current challenges.

The notice stresses that the model by-law is not intended to have legal force and effect on municipalities nor is it to be imposed on municipalities.

Municipalities have to follow the legal process as set out in the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act in adopting and adapting the model by-law to their local jurisdictions.

The model by-law focuses on local emission standards, motor vehicle emissions, small boilers and controlled emissions.

Types of emissions looked at include dust emissions, sugar cane burning emissions, tyre burning, sand blasting emissions and noise pollution management.

The air quality management by-laws are scheduled to come into effect on a date to be determined by the respective municipal councils. The by-laws are to be published in the provincial gazettes.

The plan was revealed by Deputy Transport Minister Jeremy Cronin at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Cancun, Mexico, this week.

Cronin told reporters that the idea was to ban smoke-emitting cars.

"As a department, we are moving towards having periodic vehicle testing.

"At the moment, we only test vehicles when they change ownership, but now we are looking at annual vehicle testing," he said.

"In testing we would have to look at the level of emissions coming from that vehicle. For the moment, it's a strong proposal.

"It's a practice in many other countries."

Though the Automobile Association has welcomed the plan, the country's largest taxi association, Santaco, has said it is "seriously disturbed by the deputy minister's utterances".

Cronin said that though European countries had already introduced such standards, South Africa would have to develop its own.

"The age profile of vehicles on our roads is much older than in Europe so we need to be realistic. You can't wipe out people's desperate need for some kind of mobility. [but] we have to try to improve," he said.

"We could clean up a lot of emissions without going to the level of European requirements."

Cronin said more investment was needed to improve the country's "poor" public transport system, given that only 30% of South African households own a car.

He hinted at a plan to limit mini-bus taxis plying long-distance routes to minimise emissions.

"The public transport we have is dominated by the minibus sector and that's a fuel-inefficient way of transporting large numbers of people over long distances . as we discovered while hosting the World Cup.

"The taxi industry should not think that we will abolish minibuses but we're certainly looking to transform them and using them appropriately, not for these long hauls.

"It's inefficient from a business point of view and it's also inefficient from the environmental point of view."

Santaco spokesman Thabisho Molelekwa said Cronin "must not put the cart before the horse"..

He said the taxi industry was also concerned "about issues relating to the environment [and] we want to participate in all processes that contribute to clean air."

Cronin said that the transport sector was the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Earthlife Africa's Tristen Taylor said "reducing exhaust emissions has a lot of benefits for the air quality of our cities - they are highly polluted and exceed World Health Organisation standards by three to four times.

"In principle, it's a worthwhile measure to have cleaner cars.

"But in terms of reducing emissions, if we keep on building coal-fired power stations, it's like spitting into the wind," he said.