Groups want tougher action to improve air quality
The government’s inaction in curbing pollution and improving air quality is a breach of the constitution, environmental activists argued in court this week.
The groups, which include Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action (Vejma) and environmental justice organisation groundWork, have approached the high court in Pretoria seeking an order to declare that the poor ambient air quality in the Mpumalanga highveld is a violation of section 24 of the constitution, which states that “everyone has the right to an environment not harmful to their health or wellbeing”.
Vejma and groundWork argue that human exposure to toxic chemical compounds emitted by the coal plants — such as sulphur dioxide, heavy metals such as mercury and fine particulate matter — results in chronic respiratory illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and lung cancer, and contributes to strokes, heart attacks, birth defects, and premature death.
They want the government to take tougher action against major polluters in the region such as power utility Eskom and chemicals and energy firm Sasol. The activists highlight that in 2007 the government promised to clean up air pollution in and around the highveld by declaring it a priority area under the Air Quality Act. However, more than a decade later the air quality in the region remains poor as pollution continues unabated.
The activists pointed out in their argument in court that Mpumalanga accounts for about 83% of SA’s coal production, and 12 of Eskom’s 15 coal-fired power plants located in the area.
“The area has been plagued with deadly air quality for decades, with the high concentration of coal-fired power plants in the province, Sasol’s coal-to-liquids plant located in Secunda, and the NatRef refinery in Sasolburg contributing large amounts of pollution,” the activists said.
In an independent study attached to the court papers, Andy Gray, an expert in air and health risk modelling, found that Eskom’s and Sasol’s facilities were responsible for the lion’s share of air pollution in 2016.
Gray estimates in court papers that emissions from the facilities caused between 305 and 650 early deaths in and around the area in 2016. As many as 2,239 premature deaths annually can be attributed to air pollution from power plants in SA, the groups said.
The court application lists environment, forestry & fisheries minister Barbara Creecy as the first respondent. In her court papers on behalf of the government, Creecy accepted that air pollution remained a major problem. She said, however, the government needed to balance environmental concerns with economic factors.
“Energy transition [towards a low-carbon economy] must be just an equitable, but reality dictates that such a transition will take time and cannot be implemented overnight … a just and equitable transition to a low-carbon economy must also take into account the need for a continuance of livelihoods.
“These facilities in the Highveld Priority Area, which inevitably emit pollutants into the air, currently contribute to the national economy and drive the regional or local communities,” Creecy said.
Furthermore, the specific case is largely a municipal competence, she said.
“At the heart of the case is whether the government is under a constitutional obligation and/or legal duty to make regulations in terms of the Air Quality Act for the implementation and enforcement of specifically the Highveld Plan, in order to effectively address the air pollution in the Highveld Priority Area, while the functional area or subject matter of air pollution is a local government matter.”
Creecy said the national and provincial government are constitutionally prohibited from compromising or impeding a municipality’s ability or right to exercise its powers.
