Objectors to the building of a mini-nuclear reactor outside Cape Town did not get a fair chance to put forward their views, a full bench of the Cape High Court heard on Monday.
Environmental lobby group Earthlife Africa is asking the court to overturn Environment Affairs Director-General Chippy Olver’s approval in June last year of an environmental impact assessment for the reactor.
Eskom wants to build the pebble bed modular reactor as a demonstration model, in the hope of marketing the technology overseas.
However, Earthlife’s senior counsel, Wim Trengove, told the court on Monday that the organisation and other interested parties were allowed to comment only on a draft environmental impact report commissioned by Eskom.
The final report presented to Olver had differed materially from the draft, and Olver had in addition taken other factors than purely environmental ones, including geo-political issues, into account when making his decision.
There was ”simply no substitute” for representations to the decision-maker himself, Trengove said.
He said Eskom maintained that the fact that its consultants made the final report available on the internet meant Earthlife had an opportunity to comment on it.
However, giving Earthlife an opportunity to write ”gratuitously” to the consultants did not constitute a hearing.
”A hearing is a bilateral interaction and not merely an opportunity to write a letter to someone who might not read it,” Trengove said.
”Audi [alteram partem] is ultimately the right to influence the decision-maker.”
He said asking Earthlife to channel its comments on the final report through Eskom’s consultants was as unacceptable as expecting Olver and Eskom’s legal teams in the court case to channel their submissions to the judges through him. – Sapa