Saving the Wild Coast: Challenging Shell’s seismic surveys
Natural Justice joins court action against Shell’s seismic testing off the Wild Coast
A five year long legal battle to save the Wild Coast came to a head in South Africa’s Constitutional Court in August 2026, as the highest court in the land ruled that community rights come first, halting oil company Shell’s unlawful oil and gas exploration in the region.
With support from civil society organisations, communities along South Africa’s eastern coast have, for years, persevered with various court actions against government and oil company, Shell, in defence of their constitutional right to live in a clean and healthy environment. These communities have been determined to stop Shell and Impact Africa from searching and drilling for oil and gas in the ocean.
The court case was previously heard in the High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal, before it was brought before the Constitutional Court on 16 and 17 September 2025. In the SCA, the court’s judgment allowed that the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy could still decide on the renewal of the right to explore for oil and gas – which had been renewed twice before. It did, however, find that the exploration right was granted unlawfully.
However, in South Africa, Constitutional Court has the final The Constitutional Court judgment set aside the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) suspension of the High Court order to allow Shell the opportunity to proceed with its third exploration right renewal application, which it had submitted unbeknownst to the communities. The SCA granted this suspension order even though it agreed that the right was unlawfully granted in the first place.
Instead, the Constitutional Court found that the SCA had misdirected itself in determining what constituted a just and equitable remedy where the right had been found to have been granted unlawfully, and that the deficiencies in the original exploration right could not be remedied after the fact, through a consultation process at the renewal stage.
“The ocean is a commonage for all of us. It is sacred to us and we use it for rituals. Extractivism and oil exploration hinders our right to practise our religion and threatens our cultural heritage. Oil and gas will lead to more emissions, and in the face of climate change, this is wholly irresponsible. We as Amadiba people unanimously oppose this oil exploration and destruction of our sacred land.
How it all started
In November 2021, communities across South Africa learned that seismic surveys were about to be conducted by Shell off the southern coastline. The matter was urgent, as there would be an immediate impact on ocean life, and the communities on the Wild Coast.
On 1 September 2022, after instituting urgent court actions, these same communities came one step closer to protecting their environment and heritage when the High Court in Makhanda set aside Shell’s exploration right to conduct seismic surveys off their coastline. The court found that the exploration right had been granted unlawfully.
The court case was instituted by Sustaining the Wild Coast NPC, local residents and fishers and supporting organisations following Shell’s announcement in late-2021 that it would begin seismic blasting to explore for oil and gas based on an exploration right granted by the Minister of Mineral Resources in 2014.
Key court moments in brief
- December 2021: Shell is interdicted by the High Court from continuing with seismic blasting on the Wild Coast, pending determination of the challenge to its exploration right.
- May 2022: Whilst the public took to the Gqeberha streets in protest, inside the court, the parties made arguments about the lawfulness of the exploration right that was granted to Impact Africa in 2014.
- September 2022: Shell’s exploration right to conduct seismic surveys is set aside by the High Court in Makhanda. A victory for communities and CSOs. Shell, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and Impact Africa appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court of Appeal.
- 17 May 2024: In the SCA hearing, communities and supporting organisations argued why the Makhanda High Court judgment should stand.
- 3 June 2024: The SCA judgment – The SCA dismissed the appeal by Shell, Impact Africa and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to have the Makhanda judgment set aside, confirming that the exploration right was granted unlawfully, but granted the oil companies a lifeline to keep the exploration right alive through a third renewal process. However, the SCA suspended the setting aside of the exploration right until Shell’s final renewal application on the right is finalised. The right has been renewed twice before, and a third renewal application was quietly brought by Shell on 21 July 2023 with no notice to affected communities. This was a disappointing outcome for the communities and supporting organisations.
- June 2025: Wild Coast communities, Sustaining the Wild Coast, All Rise Attorneys, Natural Justice and Greenpeace Africa, filed petitions to the Constitutional Court to appeal against the order of the SCA. Shell and Impact Africa also filed for leave to appeal against the SCA’s finding of unlawfulness, but this was dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
- 16 September 2025: Constitutional Court hearing where community and supporting organisations’ lawyers argued that an order of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) allowing Shell to renew its exploration right was incorrect and should not stand.
- 14 August 2026: Constitutional Court judgment: South Africa’s Constitutional Court permanently halted Shell and Impact Africa’s controversial oil and gas exploration off the pristine Wild Coast. The landmark judgment, confirmed the unlawfulness of their exploration right. The judgment was not only a victory for the Wild Coast communities who challenged fossil fuel giants, but is also an emphatic legal declaration that meaningful participation is not mere process and financial investments cannot override constitutional rights.
The sea is also a mystical place to me, a place where our ancestors reside and a place of prayer. Some view the sea as a place of worship and congregate as churches on the shores.
If you destroy the ocean, you destroy human life. Our livelihoods as indigenous people will be history if the South African Government allows Shell to mine our ocean, our spiritual healing place. Communities have the right to choose and we have the right to live in a healthy environment. As the Amadiba Crisis Committee we say no to any kind of extractivism. Let’s put people before profit.
Read our fact sheet to learn more about the case
What can you do?
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Join local demonstrations in your area or take part in pickets outside the court room.