Deadly Air and the Misinterpretation of the Section 24 Environmental Right: The Groundwork Trust Case
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2023/v26i0a15833Keywords:
Section 24, progressive realisation, limitation, air pollutionAbstract
The judgment in Trustees for the Time Being of the Groundwork Trust v Minister of Environmental Affairs rests on a finding that
the right in section 24 of the Constitution consists of two separate rights in subsections (a) and (b), and that the right in section 24(a) is immediately realisable. I argue in this article that this approach is incorrect and that a logical and contextual interpretation of section 24 cannot justify the conclusion that the court reached. I argue that section 24(b) is a qualifying "internal modifier" to section 24(a), and that, in practical terms and due to the modifier in section 24(b), in many situations section 24 would have to be regarded as implementable over time, and not immediately. Such implementation would have to be reasonable. The article also considers the use of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act to address the unacceptable level of air pollution in the area known as the
Highveld Priority Area.
Downloads
References
Bibliography
Literature
Altieri KE and Keen SL "Public Health Benefits of Reducing Exposure to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter in South Africa" 2019 Science of the Total Environment 610-620 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.355
Centre for Environmental Rights Zero Hour: Poor Governance of Mining and the Violation of Environmental Rights in Mpumalanga (CER Cape Town 2016)
Currie I and De Waal J "Interpretation of the Bill of Rights" in Currie I and De Waal J The Bill of Rights Handbook 6th ed (Juta Cape Town 2013) ch 6
Du Plessis A "South Africa's Constitutional Environmental Right (Generously) Interpreted: What is in it for Poverty?" 2011 SAJHR 279-307 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2011.11865016
Euripidou R et al "The Minimum Emission Standards (MES) and the Sabotage of Public Health" 2022 Clean Air Journal 1-4 https://doi.org/10.17159/caj/2022/32/1.14026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/caj/2022/32/1.14026
Feris L "Constitutional Environmental Rights: An Under-Utilised Resource" 2008 SAJHR 29-49 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2008.11864946
Feris L "The Socio-Economic Nature of Section 24(b) of the Constitution – Some Thoughts on HTF Developers (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (HTF)" 2008 SAPL 194-207
Glazewski J Environmental Law in South Africa (LexisNexis Butterworths Durban 2013)
Humby T "The Right to Development-in-Environment and its Ecological and Developmental Thresholds" 2016 SAJHR 219-247 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02587203.2016.1210881
Kidd M "Environment" in Currie I and De Waal J The Bill of Rights Handbook 6th ed (Juta Cape Town 2013) ch 24
Kidd M "Transformative Constitutionalism and the Interface between Environmental Justice, Human Rights and Sustainable Development" in Daly E et al (eds) New Frontiers in Environmental Constitutionalism (UNEP Nairobi 2017) 117-125
Pejan R, Du Toit D and Pollard S "Using Progressive Realization and Reasonableness to Evaluate Implementation Lags in the South African Water Management Reform Process" in Kidd M et al (eds) Water and the Law: Towards Sustainability (Edward Elgar Cheltenham 2014) 305-328 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781783479627.00021
United Nations Environment Programme Regulating Air Quality: The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation (UNEP Nairobi 2021)
Wernecke B et al "Ambient Air Pollution on the Highveld: An Airshed at a Watershed Moment?" 2022 Clean Air Journal 1-3 http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/caj/2022/32/1.14070 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/caj/2022/32/1.14070
Wolf S and Stanley N Wolf and Stanley on Environmental Law 6th ed (Routledge Abingdon 2014) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315885698
Case law
BP Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd v MEC for Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs 2004 5 SA 124 (W)
Fuel Retailers Association of Southern Africa v Director-General: Environmental Management, Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Mpumalanga Province 2007 6 SA 4 (CC)
Governing Body of the Juma Musjid Primary School v Essay 2011 8 BCLR 761 (CC)
Government of the Republic of South Africa v Grootboom 2001 1 SA 46 (CC).
HTF Developers (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Environmental Affairs 2006 5 SA 512 (T)
Trustees for the Time Being of Groundwork Trust v Minister of Environmental Affairs (39724/2019) [2022] ZAGPPHC 208 (18 March 2022)
Legislation
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998
National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act 39 of 2004
Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000
Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000
Government publications
GN 1123 in GG 30518 of 23 November 2007
GN 1210 in GG 32816 of 24 December 2009
GN 144 in GG 35072 of 2 March 2012
GN 486 in GG 35463 of 29 June 2012
GN 893 in GG 37054 of 22 November 2013
GN 1207 in GG 42013 of 31 October 2018
GN 2076 in GG 46355 of 12 May 2022
Internet sources
Airshed Planning Professionals (Pty) Ltd 2006 Eskom Mpumalanga Highveld Cumulative Scenario Planning Study: Air Pollution Compliance Assessment and Health Risk Analysis of Cumulative Operations of Current, RTS and Proposed Eskom Power Station Located within the Mpumalanga and Gauteng Provinces. Report No: APP/06/ESKOM-05 Rev 1.0 (2006) https://cer.org.za/programmes/pollution-climate-change/key-information/eskom (Eskom Health Studies) accessed 27 September 2023
Centre for Environmental Rights 2017 Broken Promises: The Failure of the Highveld Priority Area https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/ Broken-Promises-full-report_final.pdf accessed 27 September 2023
Eskom 2021 Eskom Receives DFFE's Decisions on Minimum Emissions Standard https://www.gov.za/speeches/eskom-receives-dffe%E2%80% 99s-decisions-minimum-emissions-standard-15-dec-2021-0000 accessed 27 September 2023
Greenpeace Africa 2019 New Greenpeace Analysis Finds Kriel in Mpumalanga is the Second Worst Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) Pollution Hotspot in the World https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-africa-stateless/2019/08/4f7f1afa-sa-briefing_-global-air-pollution-map-so2.pdf accessed 27 September 2023
Holland M 2017 Health Impacts of Coal Fired Power Plants in South Africa https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Annexure-Health-impacts-of-coal-fired-generation-in-South-Africa-310317.pdf accessed 27 September 2023
Hugo R 2022 If Barbara Creecy Appeals Against the "Deadly Air" Judgment, it will not be a Good Look for Government https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2022-03-21-if-barbara-creecy-appeals-against-the-deadly-air-judgment-it-will-not-be-a-good-look-for-government/ accessed 27 September 2023
Kings S 2014 How Eskom's Coal Kills https://mg.co.za/article/2014-06-19-power-stations-are-deadly-internal-report-reveals/ accessed 27 September 2023
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Michael Kidd
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
.png){kind=spacer}