The Green Connection and Natural Justice have expressed disappointment after the Minister and the Director-General of Mineral Resources (DMR) failed to meet the court-ordered deadline (26 August 2024) to deliver the record of the decision to grant TEEPSA environmental authorisation for exploratory drilling in block 5/6/7, located off the coast between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas. Despite being legally required to provide this record by (Monday) 26 August 2024, the State Attorney has yet to deliver.
According to The Green Connection’s Priyanka Naidoo, “These documents are critical to our ongoing legal challenge – launched in March 2024 – against the DMR, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) and TotalEnergies EP South Africa (TEEPSA). Reviewing the record of decision is crucial because it provides transparency and accountability in the government's decision to grant this environmental authorisation for offshore oil and gas exploration. It gives civil society a chance to scrutinise government’s basis for approving potentially harmful activities that could have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems, coastal communities, and small-scale fishers' livelihoods.”
The eco-justice organisations emphasize that their joint legal challenge is driven by the grave threat offshore oil and gas activities pose to small-scale fishers and coastal communities, who rely on healthy marine ecosystems for their livelihoods. These activities not only risk devastating fish stocks and marine biodiversity but could also jeopardise the very existence of these communities by endangering the coastal environments that sustain them.
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“With the court case now launched, the failure to meet this deadline raises serious concerns because, without access to this record, it is impossible to ensure that the decision was made in accordance with the Constitution and in the best interest of the public and the environment. This contempt of a court order also undermines the legal process and further erodes trust in the government’s commitment to uphold the rule of law,” says Naidoo.
David Mtshali from Natural Justice adds, “The fact that the DMR had to be compelled through a court order to make its record of decisions available but still failed to do so, is conduct that falls outside the ambit of what good governance means and should be condemned unequivocally.”
Both The Green Connection and Natural Justice stress the urgency for government to comply with its legal obligations.
Sign the petition calling on the South African government to stop offshore oil and gas exploration.
