"issuing authority"

in relation to permits regulating the matters mentioned in section 87, means—

(a)        the Minister as contemplated in section 87A(1) or (3);

(b)        the MEC as contemplated in section 87A(2) of (3); or

(c)        an organ of state in the national, provincial or local sphere of government delegated in terms of section 42 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 or assigned in terms of section 41 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 as an issuing authority for a permit or registration of the kind in question;

[Definition substituted by section 1 (j) of Act No. 14 of 2013]