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.
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- PER: 2021 Volume 24 [71]