Van Huyssteen and others v. Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and others

The respondents proposed the construction of a steel mill on a portion of farm land at Saldania, near the West Coast National Park and the Langerian Lagoon and had applied to the Provincial Administration of the Western Cape for the rezoning of the land under the Land Use Planning Ordinance 15 of 1985 (c). The Lagoon’s wetlands were protected by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance to which South Africa was a contracting party. Erf 2121 Langebaan was situated opposite the Lagoon and was owned by the Witterdrift Trust, the trustees of which were the first three applicants. The fourth applicant was joined in his personal capacity as a trust beneficiary. The trustees intended to build a holiday home or a permanent home on the trust property. Expert opinion was divided on whether the proposed mill would be environmentally undesirable. The applicants sought a temporary injunction and an order that the respondent had to make available copies of all documents relevant to the proposed mill and appoint a board of investigation to evaluate the environmental effects. The court held that the applicants had no right to compel the first respondent to appoint a board of enquiry under S. 151 (1) of the Environment Conservation Act 1989; but the applicants, under S. 23 of the Constitution were entitled to require documents sought for the purpose of protecting their rights to the trust property which was potentially threatened by the proposed mill. An injunction was accordingly granted.