The highest court in South Africa today annulled the oil and gas exploration rights granted to Shell more than ten years ago, ruling in favor of environmentalists and coastal communities.
The Constitutional Court of South Africa stated, in a statement, that “any decision other than an annulment would amount to allowing financial investments to prevail over serious constitutional violations”.
This decision is the culmination of a historic legal battle for environmentalists and coastal communities, who opposed a seismic surveying project by the British energy giant Shell, off the southeast coast of the country.
According to activists, this project would affect whales and other marine life on the ‘Wild Coast’, in the Eastern Cape province.
In 2022, a court of first instance had ruled that the exploration authorization granted by the South African government in 2014 was illegal, a decision hailed as a major victory for civil society.
In 2024, an appeal court granted Shell a new opportunity to renew the license.
The ‘Wild Coast’, with spectacular wild landscapes, stretches for about 300 kilometres along the Indian Ocean coast and includes several nature reserves as well as protected marine areas.
