A groundbreaking and power-shifting high court ruling on September 11 places the interests of affected communities at the centre of decision-making processes regarding proposed mining projects and affirms their right to say no.

In 2018 the Amadiba Crisis Committee lodged an application with the high court in Pretoria to have the right to say no affirmed, as the community had not been consulted about nor consented to a titanium mining project that was planned for the land on which their livelihoods are rooted. This legal challenge was further forced by the fact that the government had up to then refused to listen to them...