Speaking on 702 Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fishers Barbara Creecy confirmed that NGO’s were taking her department to court for air pollution.
The NGO’s are suing the government for pollution allegedly produced by Eskom and Sasol.
Creecy said she would have like more time on the issue because she has only been in office only for 14 days.
“I really would have wanted an opportunity to apply my mind to this situation and look at the balancing act between keeping the lights on and not creating a public health threat.”
Mpumalanga accounts for some 83 percent of South Africa’s coal production and Eskom has 12 fire-coal in the area.
The environmental justice groups are asking the court to declare the air pollution a violation of constitutional rights and to force the government to take action to enforce the air quality management plan.
