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Our Burning Planet

Government faces court action over claims of ‘environmental anarchy’ on Wild Coast

Government faces court action over claims of ‘environmental anarchy’ on Wild Coast
A newly-built home overlooking the ocean in a specially-protected section of the Wild Coast. (Photo: Supplied)
Tony Carnie
By Tony Carnie
3 Apr 2025
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The prosecution of a wide range of environmental crimes is being stymied by political interference or inaction, a conservation group has alleged in a court case that aims to halt the current state of ‘environmental lawlessness’ along the Wild Coast.

The claim has emerged in voluminous court papers filed in the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria by the Wild Coast Development Forum and 47 other applicants who are seeking a court order compelling three ministers and several government officials to enforce environmental conservation laws along this specially protected 260km stretch of coastline in the Eastern Cape.

The forum, chaired by Dr Div de Villiers (former provincial head of the Green Scorpions environmental law enforcement unit in the Eastern Cape) alleges that environmental laws are no longer being applied on the Wild Coast — leading to the steady degradation of this unique coastal environment due to illegal sand mining, the destruction of indigenous forests and erection of holiday cottages and other residential structures directly next to the beaches.

The forum and several members of the Umgungundlovu and Tsweleni communities are now seeking a mandamus and other legal remedies to compel officials to enforce environmental protection laws. 

The Mkhambati River tumbles over a waterfall into the sea on the Wild Coast. (Photo: Tony Carnie)



In his founding affidavit, De Villiers charges that a “situation of anarchy” has arisen along the coast due to the emergence of more than 250 illegal and unregulated sand mining sites along this section of coast; the unplanned spread of residential settlements in environmentally sensitive areas, and other activities that have “the potential to destroy the Wild Coast as a tourism and biodiversity conservation asset for the Eastern Cape”.

Disturbingly, he asserts that there has been a “lack of assistance” from officials in the Director of Public Prosecutions’ Mthatha office, along with allegations of “political interference” in enforcing environmental laws by the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Political interference


De Villiers, who retired from the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism in 2023 after a 40-year career in nature conservation, refers in his affidavit to a series of engagements between the forum and senior government officials over the past three years, where the claims of political interference were discussed.

At one of these meetings, in East London on 2 July 2023, De Villiers stated that during 2022 “there was an instruction from a high level at the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism that no enforcement would be allowed along the Wild Coast until matters had been addressed with certain traditional leaders”.

A lorry driver prepares to load sand directly from the beach near Coffee Bay. (Photo: Supplied)



Div de Villiers, the former provincial head of the Green Scorpions environmental management inspectorate in the Eastern Cape. (Photo: Tony Carnie)



This had led to “confusion” among Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism enforcement officials, according to the minutes of the meeting attached to the court papers.

De Villiers had stated that: “The Wild Coast Development Forum wants to know if the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism is still prevented from doing any enforcement along the Wild Coast, and if so, is law enforcement to be the sole mandate of the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment?”

When a senior Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment official requested clarity at the meeting on whether this instruction was still in force, senior Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism official Cynthia Nong allegedly “declined to comment”.

After these meetings, the forum’s attorneys wrote a letter addressed jointly to Nong, Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism head Mickey Mama and department legal advisor Ronel de Bruin requesting further clarity on this point.

Rescinded


In the first letter, dated 11 August 2023, Cox Yeats attorney Michael Jackson asked whether “the instruction given by you to your department to refrain from law enforcement on the Wild Coast has been rescinded”.

A second letter containing the same requests was sent to Mama, Nong and De Bruin a month later, but no clarity was received.

Daily Maverick also sent a request for clarity on this point to the three Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism officials on 18 March, but a department spokesman responded that: “As the matter is currently before the court, the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism is not in a position to comment on the published news article. In line with legal principles, the department will not engage in public discussions on the case.”

A section of pristine indigenous forest cleared from a coastal dune near Mpande. (Photo: Div de Villiers)



A map showing the locations of about 250 sand mining sites, allegedly established without permits, in close proximity to beaches and river estuaries. (Map: Manona et al. 2024)



All eight respondents have submitted notices of their intention to oppose the court application, but none have filed responding papers so far. The respondents are the national ministers and directors-general of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment; Mineral Resources and Energy; Land Reform and Rural Development; the MEC and head of department of the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions.

On 26 March, Daily Maverick invited the respondents to comment or respond to the forum’s concerns or to provide copies of their responding court papers for inclusion in this article. They have declined to comment at this point, or did not respond.

In the founding papers, De Villiers also provides details of other engagements and correspondence with former national environment minister Barbara Creecy and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, aiming to enforce environmental laws and a previous court order granted in 1996 to prevent illegal development within the 1km wide coastal protection zone of the Wild Coast.

In one of the letters in December 2022, former minister Creecy recorded that the enforcement of environmental and conservation laws were a concurrent competence of both the national and provincial departments and that a National joint Operational and Intelligence Structure committee met on a regular basis to “deal with illegal activities” in the coastal zone. 

Law enforcement operations


She also stated that six joint law enforcement operations had been held in the Eastern Cape during 2022/23. These operations had involved illegal sand mining, fishing and beach driving bans.

According to De Villiers, former minister Creecy also “acknowledged that there is a lack of sufficient implementation and enforcement capacity along the Wild Coast, which continues to result in some non-compliance with environmental and forestry legislation”.

However, Creecy did not agree that there was a “failure” to enforce legislation. She also stated that she had written to the MEC of the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism to request an “update” on the enforcement of environmental legislation. She had also asked the MEC to identify any “additional areas of support” that may be needed from the national government to ensure that the Wild Coast was adequately protected.

In February 2023, the forum wrote to Creecy recording that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (which is responsible for authorising sand mining operations) had not responded to its queries. It had also requested details on how many illegal sand mining operations had been halted or prosecuted by the National Prosecuting Authority.

A newly built home overlooking the ocean in a specially protected section of the Wild Coast. (Photo: Supplied)



Creecy’s director-general wrote back to advise that 21 people had been arrested; 10 admission of guilt fines issued and 13 criminal dockets opened in the Bizana/Flagstaff area. In one of these cases the admission of guilt fine was R2,262.

The department was also in the process of “elevating” the enforcement challenges with the Director of Public Prosecutions, also noting that the mandate to control sand mining lay with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, not the environment department.

In subsequent correspondence, government officials had proposed the formation of an interdepartmental coordination meeting to clarify a number of issues, including “deal(ing) with political interference” over enforcement actions, particularly the provincial environment department.

In June 2023, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy wrote to the forum to report that it had “conducted investigations” into  forum complaints about illegal sand mining on parts of the Wild Coast and concluded that only two of the 17 sites identified by the forum through satellite imagery were still active.

Inspections at the other 15 sites suggested that no mining was taking place so no action could be taken, but the department would issue pre-compliance notices and pre-directives to active mines and allow them to make representations to mining department officials.

De Villiers, however, notes that representatives from the National Prosecuting Authority and Department of Mineral Resources and Energy did not attend a subsequent interdepartmental meeting with the forum to discuss continued concerns about illegal sand mining and other offences.

Evidence


As part of the evidence presented for the pending court case, the forum has also submitted a 2024 research journal article on illegal sand mining on the Wild Coast written by Durban geographer Dr Siyabulela Manona, University of Toronto researcher Professor Thembela Kepe and De Villiers.

In this article the three authors suggest that while an estimated 250 illegal sand mines had been established on beaches or estuaries along the Wild Coast, only one sand mining permit appeared to have been issued for this area and there was now a situation of “chaos”, with hundreds of truckloads of river and beach sand being carted away daily from this coast.

Truck drivers were charged gate fees by local “chieftaincy structures”, and this was sometimes characterised as a community benefit, whereas the fees mainly benefitted local elites.

Reported gate fees were around R150 for an eight-ton truckload in the Port St Johns area, whereas the sand was sold subsequently to hardware stores and other businesses for between R1,200 to R2,600 per load.

Their article suggests that at the time of writing, the mining department only had eight environmental management resource inspectors nationwide, all based in Pretoria.

Summing up the frustrations of the forum in the court papers,  De Villiers states that it has become clear that the actions of government “fall woefully short” of the minimum required to enforce environmental laws.

He further suggests that seeking another court order to enforce previous court orders on this issue would be a “theoretical exercise”, with little practical value.

Instead, the legal remedy needed in this case was a supervisory order to compel the various government departments to report details of their enforcement actions, and to also file detailed papers within four months of the application being lodged. Thereafter, all the parties would have to return to court to determine whether the government was complying with its legal obligations.

The forum hoped that a structured interdict could also help to bring different government departments together to act collectively to solve the problems. DM

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