On Thursday, Judge Gerald Bloem of the Makhanda High Court ruled that the interdict that blocked the survey will be still active. Picture: File
Shell has lost its bid to appeal the December judgement temporarily stopping the company’s seismic survey off the country’s coast. On Thursday, Judge Gerald Bloem of the Makhanda High Court ruled that the interdict that blocked the survey will be still active.
According to Judge Bloem, there was no urgency for the appeal to be heard. This comes after communities on the wild coast and environmental activists, fought the multinational corporation’s access to the area in an application titled Part B.
Bloem said the hearing on this application will be on May 30, 2022. “The court hearing on the main application will either dismiss it or grant the relief sought; if the main application is dismissed, the interim order will have no effect thereafter,” said the judge.
If the relief sought in Part B is granted, Shell would not be able to place any reliance on the rights to the survey, said Bloem. “The interim order will be discharged as soon as the judgement in the main application has been delivered.”
Bloem said Shell had wanted to conduct the seismic exploration from the beginning of December to the end of May every year until August 10, 2023.
On Tuesday, during the debate on the State of the Nation Address (Sona) the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, said no investor would want to come to a country where it would be taken through a court process for up to five years.
"The attempt to take upstream petroleum projects to court all the time is driven by the theme ‘kill investment’ through the court system … We chased Shell here, and they went to Namibia and discovered oil," said Mantashe.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE
Related Topics: