The judicial review brought by a civil society coalition to stop the development of a coal mine in the water-critical Mabola Protected Environment in Mpumalanga will go ahead as scheduled, despite an attempt by the state attorney to have the hearing postponed. The Pretoria high court dismissed the state application for indefinite postponement of the review hearing and ordered the state to pay the costs of the application. The review of the joint mining permissions granted to Indian-owned Atha-Africa given by former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane and the late environment minister Edna Molewa in 2016 is now under way. The Mabola area near Wakkerstroom is part of the Enkangala Drakensberg Strategic Water Source Area, which constitutes the headwaters of several critically important rivers, including the Vaal. Mabola is among 21 strategic water resource areas, which together form the catchments for 50% of the country’s fresh-water supply. The state attorney applied for postpo...
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