Municipal courts and environmental justice in South African Local Government

Abstract

South African law establishes environmental justice (EJ) as among the environmental management principles to direct decision-making. EJ's inclusion as a guiding principle in the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA) is relevant because of its legacy of continuing environmental injustices and inequalities concerning natural-resource dependent services and benefits. Also, the municipal service delivery of water and sanitation, electricity, land matters and municipal health should supplement, not compromise local communities' environments, and access should be equitable. In the event of service delivery-related environmental injustices, it is to be expected that communities must have remedial options available, one of which may be access to the judicial system. Therefore, this article seeks to identify and explain the role municipal courts may play specifically in strengthening the relationship between municipal service delivery and improved grass-root level environmental justice in South Africa. The underlying question is whether such courts can be agents of (environmental) change where local communities are exposed to environmental harm due to the failure of municipal services or the environmentally harmful actions of other community members or local industries.