Environmental rights law firm All Rise and some of its funders have developed a first-of-its-kind bilingual environmental impact assessment (EIA) guide in isiZulu and English to ensure that residents are fully equipped with the knowledge to make meaningful decisions when asked to consent to environmentally impactful projects in their communities. 

The guide comes after four major mining and energy projects were halted in recent years by the courts as a result of failing to conduct thorough EIAs and allow meaningful public participation. 

All Rise environmental lawyer Janice Tooley told Daily Maverick that with isiZulu spoken by almost a quarter of South Africans, and most projects requiring an EIA being in the rural areas where English is not the home language, it was important to develop an EIA guide that emphasises the right to participate in decisions that affect the lives of communities, as stated in the National Environmental Management Act. 

“This need came about as All Rise works predominantly in KwaZulu-Natal in isiZulu-speaking communities where people have been subject to decisions about coal mines and other development decisions about them,” said Tooley.

“But when you speak to people, they don’t know what an EIA is… The guide was a small attempt to [tell people] they have a right to participate in the EIA process, by explaining it to them in isiZulu.” 

She continued, “It’s a 70-page bilingual guide in isiZulu and English. We’ve also got a 20-page isiZulu summary of the EIA. It’s to make it available to isiZulu speakers, but those are people who are literate and have a relatively high level of education. 

“It can also be used by NGOs or EIA consultants to use the material to run workshops, especially for people who don’t read.” 

The guide includes a section on what steps residents should take if they suspect any non-compliance during a project. 

It explains the appeal processes and how different developments can be appealed by the collective community. Both negative and positive impacts of different types of developments are also spelt out in the guide, Tooley said. 

An integral part of securing EIA approval is conducting meaningful engagement with the community where the development will take place, to inform them of the environmental impacts and how the project will impact their lives and livelihoods. 

Recent developments, such as Tendele Mining operations in KwaZulu-Natal, Searcher Geodata’s exploration along the west coast, Shell on the Wild Coast and Eskom in Richards Bay, have had their operations temporarily halted as a result of poor public consultation. 

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Companies have been known to skirt the necessary public consultations by either only consulting the chief in a certain community or using that as a general consensus. 

The above-mentioned companies have also come under fire for conducting public participation in English only, without providing alternatives for communities who did not understand the language. 

Phila Ndimande of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation told Daily Maverick that it was a good idea to have an EIA guideline in isiZulu as people were better able to express their thoughts about the impact of developments on their livelihood and the environment. 

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“About 85% of people in our organisation speak isiZulu and do not understand English. We have asked that whoever comes into our community to explore, extract, etc, must make sure to notify the community in isiZulu,” said Ndimande.

“We are in big trouble as residents of rural areas because it becomes an issue when people need to communicate in English with us. So to have people who can translate important information into isiZulu will make people better understand their rights. 

“If any developers are saying they are bringing development, then people must fully understand what they are being a part of, and why they should be a part of it,” said Ndimande. 

Tooley said the isiZulu section of the guide was not simply a translation of the legislation. It looks at key concepts from the EIA that are understandable, explains mitigation efforts, and provides examples and imagery to convey important aspects. 

Those using the guide also receive important information about their rights, such as asking for reports in local languages, what information they are entitled to, and what activities require a licence. 

All Rise launched the guide in partnership with the International Association for Impact Assessment and its South African affiliates, as well as their sponsors, the Open Society Foundation for South Africa. 

For Ndimande, the guide is a game-changer. 

“There are some people in our community who we sometimes have to speak on behalf of. However, the environment is heavily dependent on us to speak on its behalf, even though it has its own way of speaking.” DM