atha-affidavit-in-response-to-cer-a155-2019-served-2020-09-28-cd111bb9747134c6.pdf

This document is an affidavit filed by Praveer Tripathi, Senior Vice President of Atha-Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd (now Uthaka Energy), in the High Court of South Africa. The affidavit responds to a filing by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), alleging that the CER and its attorney, Catherine Horsfield, have a conflict of interest because they are acting as both legal representatives for environmental groups and as activists with their own agenda to stop coal mining. Tripathi details a decade of litigation and media campaigns led by the CER to obstruct Atha-Africa's coal-mining project in the Mabola Protected Environment, arguing that these actions follow a global 'disrupt and delay' strategy used by environmental NGOs to make fossil fuel projects unviable.

• Atha-Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd, now known as Uthaka Energy (Pty) Ltd, claims it has been delayed and obstructed for over a decade from developing its coal-mining project through "orchestrated stratagems" despite an invitation from the South African government to invest.
• The deponent alleges a conflict of interest regarding the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) and its attorney, Catherine Horsfield, asserting that they are not merely attorneys but "activist lawyers" with a direct interest in the outcome of the litigation.
• Atha-Africa identifies several critical permits and authorizations it has obtained, which it claims remain effective despite pending reviews or appeals by environmental groups: a Mining Right, an Environmental Management Programme (approved June 28, 2016), an Environmental Authorisation (approved June 7, 2016), and a Water Use Licence (granted July 7, 2016).
• The affidavit describes a pattern of litigation involving a coalition of eight environmental groups represented by the CER, including Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, Birdlife South Africa, the Mining and Justice Community Network of South Africa, the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, Groundwork, the Association for Water and Rural Development, and the Bench Marks Foundation.
• Tripathi accuses the CER of using alarmist media releases and publications to create a one-sided narrative, specifically claiming the CER falsely asserted that the mining project would cause irreversible damage to the freshwater environment and imperil water supplies for the Vaal, Pongola, and Tugela Rivers.
• The document references a 2011 Greenpeace (Australia Pacific) funding proposal titled "Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom" as a blueprint for the strategies allegedly used by the CER in South Africa. This strategy focuses on "disrupt and delay" to make projects unviable, constrain mining space, increase investor risk, increase costs, and withdraw the social license of the coal industry.
• Atha-Africa claims that the CER's strategy involves avoiding participation in public participation procedures, only to launch challenges at the administrative appeal stage to maximize delays.
• The deponent argues that the CER's opposition to coal mining ignores the constitutional mandate for sustainable development and the need to alleviate poverty and address racial discrimination.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). atha-affidavit-in-response-to-cer-a155-2019-served-2020-09-28-cd111bb9747134c6.pdf. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Atha-Affidavit-in-response-to-CER-A155-2019-served-2020-09-28.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. atha-affidavit-in-response-to-cer-a155-2019-served-2020-09-28-cd111bb9747134c6.pdf. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Atha-Affidavit-in-response-to-CER-A155-2019-served-2020-09-28.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=atha-affidavit-in-response-to-cer-a155-2019-served-2020-09-28-cd111bb9747134c6.pdf |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Atha-Affidavit-in-response-to-CER-A155-2019-served-2020-09-28.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrightsndathaaffidavitinresponsetocera1552019served20200928cd111bb9747134c6pdf, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{atha-affidavit-in-response-to-cer-a155-2019-served-2020-09-28-cd111bb9747134c6.pdf}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Atha-Affidavit-in-response-to-CER-A155-2019-served-2020-09-28.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }