MBOMBELA – Environmental activists achieved victory over the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) this week in their battle to safeguard the Elands and Crocodile rivers and Dullstroom’s trout farms.

The Pretoria High Court granted an order to compel the minister of mineral resources to make a decision on the two appeals lodged by BirdLife SA and the Escarpment Environment Protection Group (EEPOG) against the DMR’s granting of a mining right on Tuesday.

The minister has 30 days to decide, explained Ms Anette Gibbs from the Centre for Environmental Rights, which represents the two organisations.

“This will then allow BirdLife SA and EEPOG to continue with a court case to set the mining right aside. The court also granted a punitive costs order against the minister.”

The mining right in question authorises a coal mine to be developed in an environmentally sensitive area adjacent to a declared protected environment. It is in a strategic water-source area. The section surrounding the proposed mining area was declared a protected environment, called Greater Lakenvlei Protected Environment.

The activists appealed the grant of the mining right to the mining company, William Patrick Bower, in 2013 already.

They also appealed the granting of the water-use licence that was issued to the mining company, WPB Colliery.

“Successive ministers of mineral resources have failed to make a decision on these appeals,” said Gibbs.
WPB Colliery has already appointed a construction company to clean out the area and remove trees. The clearing out started two weeks ago. The activists are not fazed by this.

The Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE) will go to court next Tuesday to obtain an interdict to stop the mining company from any further activities on the site until the minister has made a decision on the appeals.

“We want to prevent them from damaging the environment until a verdict has been cast because once a coal mine has been established, it is very difficult to rehabilitate the environment,” said Dr Koos Pretorius from FSE.

• Latest news as of 20 April is that work at the site has been halted. This will mean that the urgent interdict scheduled for 25 April will no longer proceed on that date. A spokesperson of FOSAF, Mr Peter Arderne said that normal court action will probably follow.”We may still need to resort to an urgent interdict later. We have already incurred considerable costs in this matter.”

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