Fishing communities and green groups seek to overturn approval for offshore exploration. Cape Town’s High Court will hear a fresh challenge to TotalEnergies drilling plans in the Deep Water Orange Basin on 23 and 24 March 2026, reports Cape {town} Etc.
According to Natural Justice, this comes after environmental groups and a fishing cooperative moved to set aside the project’s approval.
In 2023, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources granted TotalEnergies EP South Africa an environmental authorisation for ultra deep water exploration wells about 200 km off South Africa’s west coast and the internal appeals were refused.
The Aukotowa Primary Fishing Cooperative, The Green Connection and Natural Justice now want the Western Cape High Court to review and set aside both the authorisation and the appeal decisions. The groups also want the court to refuse the authorisation outright, rather than send the matter back for another departmental rethink.
The Green Connection said it had ‘no choice but to seek a judicial review’, while Natural Justice argued the case raises ‘a pressing question’ about who South Africa’s energy policy should serve.
The organisations say the project could threaten marine ecosystems, small-scale fishing livelihoods and coastal food security.
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Picture: Jan-Rune Smenes Reite / Pexels
