Communities win battle against Shell
Civil society, traditional communities and small-scale fishers have once again been vindicated by the courts.
It has been a tense time for the small-scale fishers who took Shell to court, back in December 2021, in a bid to stop a marine seismic survey offshore of the Wild Coast (Eastern Cape).
Since first hearing about the imminent arrival of Shell’s seismic testing vessel, the Amazon Warrior, at Cape Town harbour a month before and snowballing into a national outcry, this issue finally came to a head in a historic moment for civil society, small-scale fishers in particular.
The Makhanda High Court on September 1 ruled that the decision to grant the exploration right is set aside, as well as the decision to grant the renewal of this right.
The decision to grant a further, second renewal, has also been set aside.
In December 2021, local communities and environmental justice organisations took Shell to court, first to request an urgent interim interdict to stop the seismic testing the company had started in the Wild Coast, a few weeks earlier.
Then, in May 2022, the applicants were back, this time asking the court “to review and set aside the 2014 decision by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) to grant an exploration right to Shell and Impact Africa to conduct seismic surveys off the ecologically sensitive Wild Coast of South Africa”.
Spokesperson for the Amadiba Crisis Committee in Xolobeni, Nonhle Mbuthuma said they were very happy that the judgement was in favour of the community.
The Green Connection, an eco-justice organisation opposed to offshore oil and gas exploitation, said civil society, traditional communities and small-scale fishermen have once again been vindicated by the courts.
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