The South African marine environment is constantly exposed to considerable levels of pressure. These pressures undermine the near pristine marine biodiversity and the citizens' right to a clean environment. This paper critically analyses international conventions and South African legislative frameworks for addressing marine oil spills. To achieve this purpose, content analysis of international conventions and South African policy and legislative documents relating to marine oil spills was conducted. In this regard, three international conventions, two marine civil liability laws in South Africa, seven environmental and conservation management laws for marine pollution in South Africa, and two disaster risk management policy and legislative frameworks were analysed. The findings of this paper demonstrate that South African marine pollution management is on a reasonable development path. However, invariably, challenges in terms of enforcement capacity, complicated and ineffective provisions continue. This study thus calls for an institutional and legislative reform that will embrace integrated management strategies, clearer provisions of legal powers, and strict enforcement of existing laws.

南非的海洋环境不断受到巨大压力。这些压力破坏了近乎原始的海洋生物多样性以及公民享有清洁环境的权利。本文对国际公约和解决海洋石油泄漏的南非立法框架进行了批判性分析。为了实现这一目的，对国际公约和南非有关海洋溢油事故的政策和立法文件进行了内容分析。在这方面，分析了三项国际公约，南非的两项海洋民事责任法，南非的七项海洋污染环境和保护管理法以及两项灾害风险管理政策和立法框架。本文的研究结果表明，南非海洋污染管理正处于合理的发展道路上。但是，在执行能力，复杂和无效的规定方面始终存在挑战。因此，这项研究要求进行体制和立法改革，包括综合管理策略，更明确的法律权力规定以及严格执行现有法律。