The question over who should give the go-ahead for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link was argued on Wednesday in the Pretoria High Court.
Muckleneuk and Lukasrand residents argue that neither the provincial environment minister nor the head of the Gauteng agriculture, conservation and environment department had the right, under the Environment Conservation Act, to approve the Gautrain.
Advocate for the residents Fiona Southwood also said the provincial minister might have been biased because Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa championed the project.
On Tuesday, the Muckleneuk and Lukasrand residents and property owners’ association asked that work on the Gautrain be halted so that a decision on the effect on the environment could be sent to the minister of environmental affairs.
Judge President Bernard Ngoepe, heading a full bench of the Pretoria High Court, asked legal council for the department and Gautrans (the Gauteng department of public transport, roads and works), if, in light of possible bias, it was not better to approach the minister of environmental affairs.
”The survival of the Gauteng government may or may not rest on the success of the Gautrain,” he said. He asked if it was thus not better for the national minister, who had no interest in the matter, to give the necessary approval.
”Cabinet has already committed itself to the project … politically the minister would not go against it,” said advocate Gilbert Marcus, SC, appearing on behalf of the department and Gautrans.
Marcus later argued that should the court decide in favour of the residents, it still had the authority to provide another remedy than halting the work on Gautrain. ”I’m asking that the court not stop the project in its tracks, so to speak,” he said.
The trial continues. — Sapa