Minister of Health and Welfare v. Woodcarb (Pty) Ltd and another

The second respondent was the owner of a saw milling business and installed a Reese burner to burn up the sawdust and wood chips that emanated from the mill. In 1968 the Minister of Health declared the whole country a scheduled area under the Atmospheric Pollution Act 1965 with the result that persons carrying on scheduled processes needed registration certificates authorizing such activity. Wood burning was made a scheduled process. The respondent applied for a registration certificate and a provisional one was issued. In March 1992 the Department of Health issued a directive that burners of the category of the Reese burner be phased out within three years. When the respondents’ provisional certificate expired in 1994 the applicant refused to renew it. In June 1994 the applicant commenced litigation to prevent the respondent from continuing to use the Reese burner. The respondent contended that the applicant had no locus standi. The court held that the Act contained no specific provisions, which the applicant or any other interested party could invoke in order to stop a person from contravening it. In those circumstances the principle that the Act was exclusive as to what could be done to enforce its provisions did not arise. The whole purpose of the legislation and the provisions of ss 9-13 of the Act were to control the installation and use of scheduled processes throughout the Republic. The applicant needed the remedy of injunction to enable it to control these processes effectively and thereby discharge its duties under the Act. The first and second respondents were interdicted by order from 31 January 1996 from carrying on a wood burning process on the property with a Reese burner and ordered to pay the costs of the application.