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This briefing details a judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) delivered on 11 April 2025, which affirmed that poor air quality in South Africa's Highveld Priority Area breaches constitutional rights. The court ruled that the Minister of Environmental Affairs has a legal duty to prescribe regulations under section 20 of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act 39 of 2004 (NEM:AQA) to implement and enforce the Highveld Priority Area Air Quality Management Plan, finding that the Minister had unreasonably delayed in doing so.

The High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Pretoria, ruled in the #CancelCoal case that the South African government's plan to add 1500 megawatts of new coal-fired electricity generation to the 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) was unlawful and invalid. The court found that the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) failed to consider the environmental and health impacts of this additional capacity, particularly regarding the rights of children.

The Gauteng High Court upheld a decision by the MEC for Economic Development, Environment, Agriculture and Rural Affairs to grant environmental authorisation for a light industrial township in Johannesburg on the condition that a stream remain in its natural course, rejecting the developer's preference to divert it.

The New South Wales Court of Appeal upheld the Minister of Planning's decision to refuse the Rocky Hill Coal Project proposed by Gloucester Resources Limited, citing significant negative impacts on land use, society, and the climate.

A case study regarding a legal challenge by the Global Environmental Trust and others against Tendele Coal Mining (Pty) Ltd, where the High Court of South Africa dismissed an application to stop coal mining operations near the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Nature Reserve.

The Pretoria High Court set aside a decision by the Minister of Environmental Affairs and the Minister of Mineral Resources to allow Atha-Africa Ventures 16 (Pty) Ltd to mine in the Mabola Protected Environment, citing procedural unfairness, lack of transparency, and failure to apply environmental management principles.