East Cape Game Properties (Pty) Ltd v Brown and others
29 August 2017
High Court of the Republic of South Africa, Eastern Cape Division, Port Elizabeth
Case no. 2715/2016
Date: 29 August 2017
Judge: Eksteen J
In this matter, the applicant sought an interdict from the High Court according to which the respondents would be prohibited from conducting sand mining operations on its property. It alleged that the property in question was not zoned for mining purposes and could therefore not be used as such even though the respondents hold mining permits for sand mining in respect of the applicant;s property in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002.
The Court applied the principle first decided in the matter of Maccsand (Pty) Ltd v City of Cape Town that “notwithstanding the grant of the mining permit it would be unlawful to mine on the property unless and until the property is zoned so as to permit mining. ” The Court interdicted the respondents from conducting sand mining operations on the applicant’s property as the property was zoned as “agriculture 1,” which zoning did not permit mining in any form.