Administrative action refers to decisions made by the state and representatives of the state. Environmental conflicts often arise as a result of the incorrect or unfair use of administrative decision-making powers. In terms of section 33:

• Everyone has the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair – Section 33(1)
• Everyone whose rights have been adversely affected by administrative action has the right to be given written reasons for the decision – Section 33(2)

The Government has passed the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (No 3 of 2000) (PAJA) which sets out what administrative action is, the actions that would amount to procedurally fair administrative action, the grounds on which administrative action can be challenged, the remedies available, the procedures that must be followed to obtain written reasons and the relief that a court can grant a person who is asking for the review of a decision.

(See: What are the requirements of lawfulness, procedural fairness and reasonableness in terms of the PAJA?)

Example:

Certain people in your community live in an informal settlement close to an expensive coastal resort where people from the city own holiday houses. A chemical company has been granted permission by the local authority to set up a production plant very close to the informal settlement. It is likely that this chemical plant will harm the environment as well as the health of the people in the community. These people want to find out how the chemical company got permission to set up the production plant, and what other action the chemical company may be thinking of taking. They have formally requested the local authority to provide them with information about the new chemical production plant so that they can use the information to comment on whether they think the permission for the plant should have been granted or not. The local authority is a part of government. Therefore any decision that it makes is an administrative decision.

What can the community members do?

The community can use the PAJA to:

• Get written reasons from the local authority for its decision to allow the erection of the chemical production plant
• Challenge the procedural fairness of the municipality’s decision as their rights are affected by the decision and they were not consulted prior to it being made
• Challenge the reasonableness of the decision; here the court would consider all of the surrounding circumstances to see whether the decision was suitable, necessary and proportionate

Other rights that are potentially affected in this example include the right to equality if the nearby (wealthier) resort has not been negatively affected in the same way as the informal settlement, and the right of access to information because the community’s request for information about the chemical production plant has been ignored.