Mining firm wins ‘fair procedure’ challenge

It’s a hard lesson, but one the courts must often teach: however noble the vision of a body charged with looking after a country’s heritage and other aspects of national well-being, it’s not exempt from the constitutional requirement to act fairly. As Carmel Rickard explains in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, the problem in this case was a simple one: the National Heritage Council of Namibia investigated a mining company and made adverse findings against it, without giving the company an opportunity to be heard. Now the country’s top court has held this was wrong, and that the council’s recommendation for government to take steps against the mining company, made without input from the company, had to be reviewed and set aside.

A Matter of Justice

Judgment