Navigating the stormy waters of providing a safe and healthy environment at the municipal level [Discussion of Featherbrooke Homeowners Association NPC v Mogale City Local Municipality GJ 25-01-2021 case no 11292/2020

Abstract

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, obligates the state, including local government, to provide a healthy environment that is not harmful to well-being. In Featherbrooke Homeowners Association NPC v Mogale City Local Municipality GJ 25-01-2021 case no 11292/2020, the court dealt with the failure of local government to mitigate and prevent storm water flooding. This failure placed the applicant at risk of electrocution, exposure to sewage waste and damage to property. We argue in this note that whereas the court’s order reaffirmed the applicant’s environmental rights and the corresponding obligation of local government to fulfil its duty to promote and protect the right to a safe environment by mitigating and preventing storm water flooding, the court missed an opportunity to develop jurisprudence on what it recognised as an “anthropocentric” right of the applicant to a safe and healthy environment.