On 31 January 2025, BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), represented by the Biodiversity Law Centre, filed their heads of argument in the landmark litigation against the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to protect African Penguins.
The environmental NGOs first approached the Pretoria High Court in March 2024 to review and set aside the Minister’s August 2023 decision on fishing closures around key African Penguin breeding colonies.
The heads of argument comprise the legal arguments the applicants will make when the matter is heard in the Pretoria High Court from 18 to 20 March 2025. The applicants filed their heads of argument in response to a court directive that was sought following the State’s belated filing of its answering affidavit on 19 September 2024. The result of this delay was a postponement of the court hearing, which was originally set down for 22 to 24 October 2024.
The applicants’ case turns on the irrationality and unlawfulness of the Minister’s decision to put in place island closures which are not biologically meaningful. This, argue the applicants, requires the court to set aside the decision and put in place scientifically informed fishing closures which strike an optimal trade-off between maximising protection of African Penguins’ foraging areas and minimising impact to Industry.
The applicants call for proper implementation of the constitutionally enshrined precautionary principle, which requires decision-makers to exercise a cautious approach in the face of possible environmental harm.
The case has important implications for the State’s constitutional obligation to protect threatened species and prevent their extinction.
The respondents’ heads of argument are due on 10 February 2025.
About the litigation to date
Landmark litigation to protect the African Penguin from extinction
About the applicants
- BirdLife South Africa (https://www.birdlife.org.za/) is a non-profit organisation whose vision is a country and region where nature and people live in greater harmony, more equitably and more sustainably, while its mission is to conserve birds, their habitats and biodiversity through, inter alia, scientifically-based programmes and supporting the sustainable and equitable use of natural resources. BirdLife South Africa actively works towards the conservation of African Penguins through its Seabird Conservation Programme.
· SANCCOB (https://sanccob.co.za/) is registered as a non-profit company, non-profit organisation and public benefit organisation in terms of the laws of South Africa, operating from two facilities in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. SANCCOB’s primary objective is to reverse the decline of seabird populations – flagship species being the endangered African penguin – through a multi-faceted conservation approach that includes rehabilitation and release of seabirds, implementation and consultancy of preparedness and response in the event of oil spills affecting marine wildlife, carrying out integral scientific research, provision of in-situ support to conservation managing authorities, skills development, and public awareness via environmental education.
Taken from AllAfrica.com (https://allafrica.com/stories/202502050024.html)