For immediate release: 13 October 2026
The Red Dust Action Group (RDAG) today lodged a formal appeal against the atmospheric emission licence issued to Transnet Port Terminals Saldanha by the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE).
The licence — reference AEL/WC/WCDM/TPT/08/07/2026, issued on 2 September 2026 — authorises the iron ore terminal’s operations for a further five years, to September 2031. The appeal was lodged in terms of section 43 of the National Environmental Management Act, within the extended period granted for lodging it.
A decision taken without the public
RDAG’s appeal rests first on a fact that appears on the face of the licence. Page 1 records that the licence “has been issued on the basis of information provided in the company’s application dated 09 July 2026 and information that was provided during the pre-licensing inspection on 05 August 2026.”
That is the whole of the record the department relied on. No public participation process is listed, because none was held.
Transnet’s renewal application was first lodged with the West Coast District Municipality, which refused it on 15 June 2026. That refusal was later withdrawn on competent-authority grounds, and Transnet lodged a fresh application with the national department on 9 July 2026. The comments and objections that RDAG and other interested and affected parties submitted in the municipal process were never considered in the process that produced the licence. RDAG received no engagement on its representations and no notice of any further opportunity to make them.
RDAG contends that a renewal of this kind cannot lawfully be granted without a public participation process, and that what occurred here was not a thin process but an absent one. RDAG further contends that the decision does not deal with the cumulative dust burden carried by surrounding communities and businesses, or with the terminal’s proximity to the Langebaan Lagoon, a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
Obligations without dates
The 2023 licence contained a dated project schedule with deadlines for specific dust abatement works. That schedule does not appear in the new licence. In its place, timeframes are given as “immediately” or as directed by a dust management plan. Obligations without dates are obligations that are difficult to enforce.
The ambient air quality monitoring network — the means by which compliance would be measured — is deferred to an agreement still to be reached. Pollution that is not measured cannot be proved, by the community or by the regulator.
What RDAG is asking for
RDAG asks that the licence be set aside and sent back for a proper public participation process, and that any licence issued afterwards carry dated, measurable and enforceable dust abatement obligations, with an ambient monitoring network specified in the licence itself.
What this appeal is not
RDAG is not asking for the Port of Saldanha to stop. Our purpose is a lawful licence with real obligations, not an interruption of the ore corridor. We have said so in the appeal itself, and we say so publicly here.
RDAG supports the port, the iron ore export corridor and the jobs and revenue they generate. The Saldanha Bay IDZ and the ore line are the economic backbone of this coast, and we want them operating, expanding and modernising.
Dust that settles on homes, vehicles, guesthouses, restaurants and boats is a cost transferred from the operation onto everyone else’s balance sheet. It holds back the tourism, property, aquaculture and small-business activity that would broaden employment on this coast. A licence with dated, measurable and enforceable dust obligations is good for the regional economy and, in the long run, good for the terminal.
Dust control at the terminal has been promised to this community since 2016. RDAG will continue to press for mitigation that is specific, dated and enforceable, and for the clean-up of accumulated dust across Saldanha Bay, Langebaan, Vredenburg and St Helena Bay.
Ends.
Media enquiries
Adam Scholtz, Head of Research
research@rdag.org.za
About RDAG
The Red Dust Action Group is a registered non-profit company representing more than 3,000 members across the Saldanha Bay municipal area. It was formed in response to iron ore dust from the Port of Saldanha and supports the port’s growth alongside world-class dust control.