Victory for community activist victimised by mine
- Centre for Applied Legal Studies
Court overturns cost order sought against community activist by West Coast Resources.
The Centre for Applied Legal Studies welcomes the judgment handed down by the Kimberley High Court on Friday 23 June. The Court overturned a cost order against our client Dawid Markus, an activist from Hondeklipbaai in Namaqualand. The cost order had been sought and obtained against Mr Markus, before he was legally represented, by West Coast Resources (Pty) Ltd – a diamond-mining company with operations in the Namaqualand region of the Northern Cape.
The case stems from longstanding attempts by the community of Hondeklipbaai to express their legitimate concerns about the mining activity in the area which resulted in a small, peaceful protest in November 2016. In response, West Coast Resources sought an interdict against one named person, Mr Markus, as a way to silence the community’s grievances and to prevent Mr Markus from exercising his constitutional right to peaceful and unarmed demonstration.