It is with the greatest joy that I can say Shell has lost this battle. At 9:30 am this morning Judge Gerald Bloem handed down his judgment ruling in favour of the applicants. Shell is to stop their seismic blasting along the Wild Coast of South Africa.
The Judgement
Firstly, Shell “are hereby interdicted from undertaking seismic survey operations under the exploration Right 12/3/252 pending the finalisation of part B of the notice of motion”. So for now the Royal Dutch Shell company is to stop the blasting. But before we know thy are gone for good we will need to hear how the permanent interdict plays out. However this victory gives the applicants a fighting chance. And it is a fabulous win for the Wild Coast and all of its communities.
Secondly, he states that “the respondents (Shell) shall pay the costs of the application for an interim interdict”.
Unfortunately there were problems with the live stream for the handing down of the judgment so there is not much more information at the moment.