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  • Credit: © Greenpeace Africa / Mujahid Safodien

  • Credit: © Greenpeace Africa / Mujahid Safodien

  • Credit: © Greenpeace Africa / Mujahid Safodien

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Air pollution from coal on the Mpumalanga Highveld: The Constitutional #DeadlyAir #UmoyaObulalayo case

In June 2019, after many years of advocacy, groundWork, and the Vukani Environmental Movement, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights, launched Constitutional litigation to request the court to declare that the poor ambient air quality in the Highveld Priority Area constitutes a violation of the right to an environment not harmful to health or well-being, and to order the government to promulgate regulations to enforce the Highveld Air Quality Management Plan (HPA AQMP).


Court Papers

Amicus Application: UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment


Events that led to the #DeadlyAir court case

Reports

Before instituting litigation, the Life After Coal campaign, and its members, published various reports and wrote many letters to the Minister and the Department of Environmental Affairs. We even participated in a documentary film, The Bliss of Ignorance. Most recently, the previous Minister responded, on 9 May 2019, indicating that she believes that there are no compelling reasons to take further action and develop implementation regulations for the HPA AQMP. A few of these reports and letters are below.

The campaign also commissioned a number of different reports on:

Air pollution from coal on the Mpumalanga Highveld: The Constitutional #DeadlyAir or #UmoyaObulalayo case