Note to Editors: Please find soundbites in English and Afrikaans by DA MPL, Leanne De Jager MPL.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng welcomes the ruling by the Johannesburg High Court that has set aside the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) authorising the Tambo Springs access road. If the court had ruled in favour of the construction of the road, a living, functioning ecosystem of provincial and national significance would be destroyed.
The five-kilometre road was meant to link the Tambo Springs Logistics Gateway and the Tambo Springs Freight Hub. This area is surrounded by water and wetland systems across approximately 330 kilometres. The road was never intended to enter the wetland. Yet the approved alignment now penetrates directly into this sensitive system. This alone was a primary basis for the High Court’s decision to set aside the EIA.
Most damning of all is the fact that the Gauteng Department of Environment actively opposed the application to have this unlawful EIA set aside. An individual activist, acting in the public interest, has been compelled to spend over R16 million of personal funds to do the work this department should have done for free. The department’s active opposition directly drove up that cost.
Protecting our ecosystems in the province is of utmost importance. If the wetlands are destroyed, the ecosystem will be disrupted, and species like the five Red Data bird species will become extinct. Initially, there was meant to be a 30-metre buffer around the sensitive floodplain, but this was later removed.
In setting aside the EIA, it was found that the following was not done:
• The petroleum pipeline within the development footprint was never assessed, which is an unacceptable safety and environmental risk.
• The sewer infrastructure at the Total filling station was excluded from the assessment, leaving contamination risks to the wetland entirely unexamined.
• The Public Participation Process (PPP) was wholly inadequate. Numerous directly affected landowners were never notified; this is a denial of a constitutionally guaranteed right.
• Rather than conducting a fresh, lawful EIA, authorities attempted to patch a terminally defective process. This corrective attempt was itself unlawful. You cannot fix the unfixable.
The DA Gauteng demands that the MEC for Environmental Affairs, Ewan Botha, provide a written explanation within 14 days as to why the department opposed the court application to set aside the EIA. The construction at Tambo Springs must be suspended. An independent investigation must be launched into how approval was granted without a valid EIA. The road must be rerouted to avoid the wetland entirely, consistent with the original design intention.
The DA Gauteng will pursue every legislative, legal, and democratic avenue available to ensure full accountability for the wetland, for its Red Data species, and for the activist who has sacrificed R16 million in the pursuit of justice that should never have been necessary. A DA-led provincial government would ensure that all EIAs submitted have followed the correct process and that the environment is always protected.