Legal Articles and Guides

Eskom has been instructed to shut and repair two polluting units at its Kendal power station after years of chronic non-compliance with emissions limits.

Three Western Cape High Court judges have told mushroom farmer Johannes Jacobs he can no longer make his own compost at his De Doorns farm, after a decade of complaints from his neighbours about sinus attacks and nausea because of the smell.

Western Cape environmental authorities have issued warning notices to five Elands Bay beach property owners for allegedly illegally building houses and other structures within the protected coastal zone in contravention of the National Environmental Management Act.

A court date has yet to be set in the legal fight between the City and a desalination plant managing company, Quality Filtration Services (QFS). According to a report on the IoL site, the company is hauling the City to court over a contractual dispute.

The oft-delayed trial of three former Aurora Empowerment Systems directors accused of polluting a key water source, will kick off with a pre-trial hearing on 25 February 2020 in the Springs Regional Court, reports Fin24.

The Western Cape High Court has reserved judgment on whether the authorities followed the correct procedures when moving Cape Town's ‘urban edge’ to allow development in Philippi, where urban farming takes place, notes a News24 report.

The legal battle over the Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) starts today in the Western Cape High Court. A Cape Argus report notes the PHA Food and Farming Campaign will be arguing for the preservation of a key piece of agricultural land in the city’s jurisdiction that is under threat from proposed developments.

AgriSA and Moolman & Pienaar Attorneys – acting for farmers in some of the major exploration applications – have welcomed a victory in the anti-fracking fight after a US-linked petroleum firm withdrew its application to explore for oil and gas on KZN farms.

The SCA ruled yesterday that the Minister of Mineral Resources did not have the power to make regulations for petroleum exploration and production, effectively halting the exploration of shale gas through the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) is considering legal action to compel the government to hold water-polluting coal miners in Mpumalanga to account.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is under pressure from environmental lobby groups to withdraw support for the Grand Inga hydropower project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, says a Business Day report.

The owner of Tierhoek Boerdery in Clanwilliam has been slapped with a R3.5m fine for unlawful water activities. A Cape Times report says the farmer was found guilty in the Clanwilliam Regional Court of 11 criminal charges – six related to water, and five to environmental transgressions.

BP South Africa, convicted of environmental crimes in a private prosecution, and the Uzani Environmental Advocacy have been instructed by the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) to make representations regarding sentencing in the matter by 1 November.

The company behind the V&A Waterfront desalination plant has started legal proceedings against the City of Cape Town, following months of negotiations over contractual disputes, says a News24 report.

In a landmark case, environmental activists have launched legal action against the government over its alleged poor progress in cleaning up air pollution in the Mpumalanga highveld. GroundWork and the Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), are demanding that the government clean up the air in the highly-polluted area, notes BusinessLIVE.