Eskom, Sasol rebuffed as minister fights pollution

Environmental Affairs Minister Barbara Creecy said she rejected pleas for leniency from senior executives at the country’s two biggest air polluters as she responded to a lawsuit that says her office has breached constitutional rights to clean air.

In a 260-page answering affidavit to a lawsuit filed against her by environmental non-profits she argued that while the country’s developmental needs must be balanced against environmental concerns, she had nevertheless acted to try and improve air quality.

Creecy said on 13 November she told Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter that she would not allow the power utility to operate its plants at current emission levels indefinitely.

In June she said she told Bernard Klingenberg, executive vice president of energy operations at Sasol, that the company wouldn’t be allowed to postpone installation of pollution abatement equipment at an oil refinery beyond March 2025.

Together the companies account for over half the greenhouse gases emitted in SA.

Still, she said, industrial activities ranging from coal-fired power plants and mines to petrochemical factories provide jobs and account for much of SA’s economic activity, and the need to preserve that must be balanced against environmental concerns.

“In a developing country such as South Africa, for example, human dignity and equality can only be achieved through sustainable development, which inevitably will have an impact on the environment,” Creecy said in court documents that had to be submitted by last Friday.

The case was filed in the High Court in Pretoria by groundWork, an environmental-rights organisation, and the Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action, in 2019. It’s due to be heard from 17 to 19 May.

The lawsuit is emblematic of growing pressure on South Africa to act to curb pollution as it emits the same amount of greenhouse gases as the UK, which has an economy eight times the size.

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