PRESS STATEMENT | Victory for communities as court orders state to clean up toxic air

Date: 22/03/2022


Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) is proud of the outcome of the Deadly Air case, upholding communities’ constitutional right to an environment not harmful to their health and well-being. LHR represented the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, Professor David Boyd, who was admitted by the court as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) in this case. GroundWork and Vukani Environmental Justice Alliance Movement in Action, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights, first instituted proceedings in 2019 in the Pretoria High Court against the South African Government for its failure to uphold its obligations regarding air pollution in the Mpumalanga Highveld region, demanding that the government clean up the toxic levels of ambient air pollution caused by coal-fired power generation projects in the region.

In order to guide the court’s understanding of the nature and extent of State obligations in safeguarding the enjoyment of human rights from environmental harm, our client Professor Boyd made submissions to the court on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

In a judgment handed down on 18 March 2022, the court held that “the undisputed evidence is that the present ambient air pollution levels by far exceed the National Standards and that the levels recorded poses a threat to a safe environment and human life and their wellbeing.”  The court found in favour of the applicants and held that “the poor air quality in the Highveld Priority Area is in breach of residents’ section 24(a) constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being.”  The court ordered the government to pass regulations to implement and enforce the Highveld Priority Area Air Quality Management Plan, which is aimed at cleaning up the air on the Highveld to meet health-based air quality standards.

This case represents an important development in South African jurisprudence around the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being, obligations of the State, and is only the second time the Special Rapporteur has entered into precedent-setting national litigation.

Jessica Lawrence, senior attorney in LHR’s Environmental Rights Programme said that “this is a significant judgment for the applicants as well as all marginalised and vulnerable communities who disproportionately carry the burden of environmental degradation and poor air quality caused by big polluters.  As highlighted by the court, it is an important reminder that the principle of sustainable development requires that ‘measures put in place to achieve economic development should not sacrifice the environment and human life and wellbeing.’”

For more information contact:

Jessica Lawrence

Phone: 011 339 1960

E-mail: jessical@lhr.org.za

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