. In a country where the absence of energy and electricity is painfully endured by so many, caring for global warming before our people’s prosperity is environmental elitism. We need natural resource tax revenue. We should not sacrifice our children for the world.In matters of justice, harms and benefits aggregate at different levels. Global, national, communal and individual rights are often in tension.
Even if an identifiable group of people’s rights are curtailed, rights are always traded-off against each other. Some level of fundamental rights provided to the public good should render this rights trade-off as just. This is a tragedy of small butI believe our courts err by too frequently supporting individually identifiable rights claims at the expense of the worst-off South Africans.
The legal case against surveying is being argued on the grounds that “affected” communities have been inadequately consulted as there has not been “effective engagement of minds.” Yet, how can the public, the ultimate victim in these cases, be consulted on our shared natural resource endowment other than through democratic process? Our children must not be sacrificed for the world.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Mail & Guardian