The Environmental Case Law Index is a collection of judgments from 10 African countries on topics relating to environmental law, both substantive and procedural. The collection focuses on cases where an environmental interest interacts with governmental or private interests.
Get started on finding judgments that are relevant to you by browsing the topic list on the left of the screen. Click the arrows next to the topic names to reveal a detailed list of sub-topics. Most judgments are accompanied by a short summary written by subject-area expert postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town.
Read also JIFA's Environmental Country Reports for SADC
Kamuzu (Administrator of Deceased Estate) v Attorney General (Civil Cause No. 1839 (A) of 1997) (of) [2004] MWHC 3 (10 January 2004); 
EL Index Declaratory Relief Civil Remedies Injunction Injuctions and interdicts Civil Remedies Locus standi in environmental litigation Litigation of environmental issues Environmental law Land use Human exploitation of the environment Environmental law African customary law and rights of indigenous peoples Human and environmental rights Environmental law
Namibia Grape Growers and Exporters Association and Others v Ministry of Mines and Energy and Others (SA14/02) [2004] NASC 6 (25 November 2004); EL Index Injunction Injunctions and interdicts Civil Remedies Locus standi in environmental litigation Litigation of environmental issues Environmental law Procedural Fairness Justice and fairness Civil Procedure Minerals, oil and gas Minerals and energy Environmental lawThis case was an appeal in the Supreme Court of Namibia against a judgment that dismissed the application brought by the appellants on an urgent basis and discharging a court order issued on 5 May 2000. This matter concerned provisions of the Minerals (Prospecting and Mining) Act No. 33 of 1992. An Exclusive Prospecting Licence 2101 (EPL 2101) was transferred to the third respondent, involved in diamond mining, on 25 June 1997 but it was alleged that its renewal happened without any notice to the landowner, involved in growing and marketing grapes, and who is one of the appellants in the case. The third respondent intended to excavate four pits of which two were situated within the area demarcated for further grape cultivation.
The appeal focused on three main issues, namely the constitutionality of Part XV of the Minerals Act, the review application regarding the renewal of EPL 2101 in 1998 and the application based on the provisions of section 52 of the same act.
The court concluded that Part XV was enacted in the public interest and for a legitimate object and is a reasonable mechanism whereby similar contesting rights are balanced to ensure equal protection of those rights in terms of the Constitution. It was on this basis that it could not be said that the provisions of Part XV of the Minerals Act are unconstitutional. Accordingly, the appellants’ appeal was dismissed with costs including those for the postponement of the appeal and further argument.
Inkhanyeti Yekusasa Investments (Pty) Limited v Bennett ((444/2004)) [2004] SZHC 159 (12 November 2004); EL Index Locus standi in environmental litigation Litigation of environmental issues Environmental law Injunction Injunctions and interdicts Civil Remedies Land use Human exploitation of the environment Environmental law |
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