Examining Environmental Impact Assessments and Participation: The Case of Mining Development in Dullstroom, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Abstract

South African democracy witnessed considerable effort to redefine Environmental Impact Assessment regulations to improve participation of citizens towards sustainable development activities. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of participatory processes has generally been mixed and in many cases fallen below expectations, with lack of empirical evidence especially in South Africa to understand the underlying elements that may contribute to poor public participation in Environmental Impact Assessments. This paper attempts to investigate the participatory inefficiencies of Environmental Impact Assessments for mining development specifically in Dullstroom, Mpumalanga and presents viewpoints from key stakeholders. Results indicate that Environmental Impact Assessments especially for mining development are conducted as tokenistic tools to approve developments rather than to genuinely engage with the concerns of interested and affected groups. There is a need for environmental practitioners to be impartial during assessments, including the independence of government as regulator and enforcer of environmental assessment processes rather than spearheading mining development for economic development. The paper makes recommendations to improve participation of citizens during Environmental Impact Assessment processes.