On the eve of Freedom Day last year, a jubilant Liziwe McDaid and Makoma Lekalakala stood on the steps of the Western Cape High Court, victorious.
Inside a packed courtroom, Judge Lee Bozalek had just ruled that South Africa’s secret R1 trillion nuclear procurement process with Russia was unlawful and unconstitutional.
For McDaid and Lekalakala, who persisted with their court case for almost two years despite frequent delays and dirty tricks, the verdict was a “victory for justice and the rule of law and the people of South Africa”.
On Monday this week, fittingly marking the one-year anniversary of their landmark nuclear case, the two environmental activists were honoured with the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in the US, for leading the campaign that halted the nuclear deal in its tracks.
“The nuclear deal was never about energy. It was about the greed of a few individuals,” believed McDaid.
The Goldman Prize (the world’s largest award for grassroots environmental activists, dubbed the Green Nobel) is awarded annually to “environmental heroes” from each of the six inhabited continental regions - this year, McDaid and Lekalakala are the winners from Africa.
The Goldman Environmental Foundation saluted the pair, both from small environmental organisations, for “waging a grassroots campaign to expose the government's unconstitutional deal - mobilising strong public opposition, even challenging the president himself and ultimately winning the court case to successfully prevent the production of toxic nuclear waste”.
“Last year, the ruling in court was on the eve of Freedom Day and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster,” said Lekalakala, the director of Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, from the US this week.
“The linkage was a vindication that what we had committed ourselves to when we attained freedom in 1994 was not reversed.”
For McDaid, the ethical governance lead at the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI), clinching the prize of $175 000 per recipient, still seemed unbelievable.
“It’s a bit surreal, really, but I think what it shows is that we can have an opportunity to be inspirational to a new generation of activists who can see that ordinary people can stand up and take action that ensures the protection of our environment.”
Lekalakala agreed. “It’s an honour for both of us that our names are going to be mentioned alongside the names of people who have inspired millions to protect the environment, like Wangari Mathaai, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Bobby Peek and Jonathan Deal ... But the work we were doing in this case is what we do every day as environmental activists.”
In 2014 Lekalakala obtained a copy of the secret agreement between South Africa and Russia - which would have had “devastating economic and environmental implications” for South Africa. With McDaid’s help, the pair mobilised their networks to fight the nuclear deal.
They developed a strategy to challenge the nuclear deal on the grounds that it had been kept secret and bypassed legal process without public consultation or parliamentary debate, which was unconstitutional. They met with communities around the country, explaining the financial risks and environmental and human health impacts of the nuclear project, organising weekly anti-nuclear vigils in front of Parliament, and marches and public rallies against the nuclear project.
They slogged through late nights and early morning starts, but “our passion for justice motivated us. We worked with fantastic people who shared the same values and wanted the same outcomes”, said McDaid.
Together, they made a formidable team. “We share the same value systems of accountability and good governance. We were activists pre the new dispensation in 1994, and we don't want environmental degradation on our watch,” she said.
Lekalakala (52) who grew up in Soweto, started out as a youth activist through her church, moving to trade unions, women's rights, social and economic justice, and finally environmental justice.
McDaid (55), who has campaigned against nuclear energy for decades, grew up in Cape Town, starting out as a teacher and apartheid activist before turning to faith-based environmental justice.
Nuclear energy had been promoted as green energy, but the negative environmental impacts of the nuclear industry are substantial. “We’re holding the environment in trust for future generations and that's why we're passionate about protecting it, ensuring that a corrupt elite do not loot the country,” said McDaid. “People have a democratic right to participate in decisions that affect them. What we did was stop this nuclear decision from going ahead without people's input.”
Fears remain that the nuclear build project could be resurrected in the future.
“Our work is not over,” said Lekalakala. ”We have to keep track to ensure that the far reaching court ruling is not ignored. We have a duty now to monitor that the government abides by the court ruling.”