Climate activists and affected Mpumalanga communities demonstrate outside the Pretoria High Court in support of the legal challenge against the South African government’s plans to develop 1,500MW of new coal-fired electricity generation, heard for the first in court on 9 October 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)
By Julia Evans – 5 December 2024
In a landmark ruling that saw young environmental activists triumph, the high court has overturned the government’s plans to add 1,500MW of new coal-fired power to the national grid, saying they are ‘unlawful and invalid’.
On Wednesday, 4 December, the High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division) handed down a landmark judgment, declaring the government’s plan to add 1,500 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired power to the national grid to be inconsistent with the Constitution, as well as “unlawful and invalid”…