Africa-Press – South-Africa. Two civil society organisations have been granted leave to appeal the authorisation of a 3 000MW gas plant in Richards Bay, proposed by Eskom.
The power utility was granted environmental authorisation for the combined cycle gas power plant in December 2019. The organisations South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) and groundWork subsequently launched a legal challenge to overturn this decision.
But the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in October last year dismissed their case.
At the time, the court found that six out of seven grounds for review of the decision were without merit and could not succeed.
The court, however, had noted that the public participation process for the project was deficient as communication about the project was published in English and not isiZulu which is spoken by the majority of the community that would be affected by the plant, News24 previously reported.
The organisations, supported by Natural Justice and represented by environmental law firm Cullinan & Associates, had first sought leave to appeal the ruling from the North Gauteng High Court. The matter was heard in January, but the court had then dismissed this application for leave to appeal too.
The organisations then approached the Supreme Court of Appeal, which had granted leave to appeal.
This means the Supreme Court of Appeal will consider their case.
“This is an important ruling as it sends a strong message that flawed public participation processes that exclude impacted communities should not be overlooked. It is an unjust and unfair practice that violates people’s right as public trustees to the environment and their role in maintaining a healthy and vibrant democracy,” said Avena Jacklin of groundWork.
“People have the right to be notified and informed early, adequately and in their language of preference. They have the right to choose cleaner technologies that will benefit future generations, and not negatively impact their lives and livelihoods,” said Jacklin.
Tanica Naidoo of the SDCEA noted that the answer to the country’s load shedding challenges is not gas-to-power plants but rather renewable energy.
“Another gas-to-power plant poses even more risks to health, water, air and land in Richards Bay. Environmental impacts need to be considered by the applicants and all parties involved in the decision-making process,” Naidoo said.
“Richards Bay is already plagued with polluting industries and we do not need more,” Naidoo added.
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