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The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), acting for Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (ELA), wrote to the Department of Energy on 18 October 2016 to question the appointment of Thabametsi Power Company (Pty) Limited as a preferred bidder for a coal-fired power station. The CER highlights a pending High Court review application regarding the project's environmental authorisation, specifically the failure to conduct a climate change impact assessment, and requests clarity on whether Thabametsi disclosed this legal challenge to the Department as required by the procurement criteria.

This guide, produced by the Centre for Environmental Rights and Lawyers for Human Rights, provides information for communities and individuals in South Africa on their environmental and legal rights when facing proposed mining activities. It details the mandatory government permissions, consultation processes, and legal avenues available to affected parties to protect their land, water, and health.

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) submitted a statement to the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs in September 2015 regarding South Africa's position for COP21. The CER argues that climate change mitigation is a Constitutional obligation under section 24, and that current state decisions to build new coal-fired power stations directly contradict these legal duties and national climate policies.

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) provides a detailed table of comments and proposed amendments to the National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, 2017. The document focuses on strengthening environmental compliance, improving financial provisioning for rehabilitation, and ensuring public participation in administrative processes across several South African environmental acts, including NEMA, NEMPAA, NEMBA, NEMAQA, NEMICMA, and NEMWA.

This guide by the Centre for Environmental Rights outlines the critical importance of South Africa's 22 water source areas (WSAs), which provide 50% of the country's surface run-off despite covering only 8% of the land. The document details the threats facing these areas—including mining, agriculture, and climate change—and proposes a 'legal toolbox' of statutory mechanisms to protect these essential ecological infrastructures.

This report analyzes the public health and economic consequences of Eskom's failure to comply with South Africa's Minimum Emissions Standards (MES). It compares various compliance scenarios, concluding that Eskom's current retrofit plan provides minimal health benefits due to a failure to address sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions, and that full compliance or the adoption of Best Available Technology (BAT) would significantly reduce premature deaths and economic losses.

The Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy for South Africa is a national roadmap designed to transition the country from a raw material supplier to a global hub for processed critical minerals and high-value end products. The strategy focuses on leveraging South Africa's vast reserves of platinum group metals, manganese, and vanadium to support the global energy transition, specifically in sectors like electric vehicles, green hydrogen, and renewable energy. It outlines six strategic pillars—geoscience mapping, value addition, R&D, infrastructure, financial instruments, and regulatory harmonisation—to drive industrialisation, job creation, and economic resilience while navigating complex geopolitical tensions and promoting regional integration within Africa.

This report by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) evaluates the environmental compliance monitoring and enforcement (CME) performance of the South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) between the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years. Based on information obtained via the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), the CER concludes that the DMRE's capacity to monitor and enforce environmental laws at mines remains "woefully inadequate," citing a severe shortage of qualified inspectors and a general decline in inspection activity across most provinces.

This document is a PAIA Manual issued by the South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). It provides a comprehensive guide for the public on how to exercise their constitutional right of access to information held by the Department, in accordance with the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA) and the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).

Phillipine Lekalakala, a director of Earthlife Africa, provided a supporting affidavit in a legal case against the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone (SOC) Ltd and other respondents, confirming the accuracy of the founding affidavit submitted by Mphatheleni Makaulele.

This document is a PAIA Manual issued by the South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). It serves as a guide for the public to exercise their constitutional right of access to information held by the Department, detailing the types of records available, the process for requesting them, and the protections afforded to personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

This statement, submitted by Earthlife Africa, argues that the environmental authorisation for the Thabametsi coal-fired power station was granted unlawfully because it lacked a necessary climate change impact assessment. The document outlines the specific requirements for such an assessment and presents four legal grounds for reviewing and setting aside the decisions made by the Chief Director and the Minister, citing breaches of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and the 2010 EIA Regulations.

This document is a supporting affidavit filed in the High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Pretoria) by Sven Eaton Patrick Peek, a director of the GroundWork Trust. The affidavit serves to confirm and support the submissions made in a founding affidavit deposed to by Mphatheleni Makaulele regarding a legal matter involving several applicants, including GroundWork, and respondents including the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone (SOC) Ltd and the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism.

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) and the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) provided joint submissions on 18 July 2012 regarding the National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, 2012. The document offers a detailed critique of proposed amendments to the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), the Biodiversity Act, and the Air Quality Act, focusing on environmental governance, criminal liability, and the rights of traditional communities.

This fact sheet by the Centre for Environmental Rights argues that "clean coal" is an impossible concept. It details the devastating impacts of coal mining and combustion in South Africa—including high water consumption, toxic air pollution causing thousands of deaths, and land degradation—and dismisses HELE, CFB, and CCS technologies as insufficient or unviable solutions compared to renewable energy.

The National Environmental Compliance & Enforcement Report 2007-8 details the activities of Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIs) in South Africa from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. It reports a significant increase in arrests and convictions compared to the previous year, though it notes that these figures are partly due to previous underreporting. The report covers national and provincial statistics, specific industrial non-compliance findings in the steel and refinery sectors, wildlife crime enforcement, and judicial training initiatives.

This briefing document, submitted to the Eskom Board Sustainability Committee on 2 August 2013, outlines the company's inability to fully comply with South Africa's National Emission Standards without jeopardizing its sustainability. It proposes a strategy of partial compliance through targeted retrofits, legal applications for exemptions and postponements, and requests to continue operating non-compliant power stations while implementing remedies.

A letter from the IPP Office to the Centre for Environmental Rights regarding the Coal Baseload IPP Programme and the appeal against the environmental authorisation for the Thabametsi Independent Power Producer Power Station.

This document is a confirmatory affidavit signed on December 14, 2022, by Phuluso David Tshidzumba, a Director of the non-profit company Save Our Limpopo Valley Environment (SOLVE). In the affidavit, Tshidzumba confirms the accuracy of the contents of a founding affidavit deposed by Mphatheleni Makaulele as they relate to himself and the members of SOLVE in a legal case before the High Court of South Africa Gauteng Division, Pretoria.

This report by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) identifies systemic failures in South Africa's water governance and provides a strategic framework for civil society to intervene. It highlights critical gaps in the implementation of the National Water Act (NWA), the failure to roll out catchment management institutions, and severe capacity constraints within the Department of Water Affairs (DWA). The document recommends a combination of legal advocacy, institutional reform, and the introduction of administrative penalties to improve compliance and ensure the progressive realisation of constitutional rights to water.