South Africa has some of the most advanced environmental legislation in the world, but are ordinary South Africans getting justice? Green Life asked Melissa Fourie, executive director of the Centre for Environmental Rights, a Cape Town-based NGO ...

We have some of the greenest laws on earth, but we're drowning in environmental problems. Why?

We have progressive environmental legislation, but we have real challenges with implementation. We've seen significant progress in the enforcement of environmental legislation in terms of industrial activities, particularly from the Department of Environmental Affairs. Problem is, we don't have the same investment of resources for monitoring and enforcement in the Department of Water Affairs and Department of Mineral Resources, and yet water is so significantly affected by mining, as are air and waste. Without addressing this, we're not going to come to grips with our problems.

The Constitution tells us every South African "has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing", so who does Joe Bloggs take to court over the collective state of our air and rivers?

Government carries some blame for not doing enough to enforce our environmental legislation, but let's remember commercial entities are making calculated business decisions not to put in place pollution controls. We need to start pressurising our corporates a lot more, who, after all, often have the resources, whereas government often doesn't, to put in place the measures we need to change our environmental impact. Every South African also has the right to go to their local police station and lay a criminal charge against a polluter.

Fighting for your rights can be expensive. Many low-income communities, for instance, do not have access to waste-collection services. How can such people go about demanding a healthy environment when they can't afford to buy bread?

You'd have constitutional recourse here: it's not only the health risks of uncollected waste that is an issue - odour also badly affects people who have to live in the stench of rotting waste. Here at the Centre for Environmental Rights we offer free legal advice to people who cannot afford private lawyers, though our resources are limited. We also have something called the Environmental Defence Fund, the intention of which is to award money to communities and organisations who want to approach the court for relief in the public interest, and we're working hard to build this fund through donations.

Slapp suits (strategic litigation against public participation), where environmental activists are sued and burdened with the cost of legal defence until they abandon their opposition, have become a trend in South Africa. Where's the justice in this?

Well, more than four years ago a case was brought by the developer Wraypex against members of the Rhenosterspruit Conservancy for what the developer had perceived to be defamatory statements. The developer sued the conservancy members for R170-million, which had a dramatic impact on the lives of these activists and, as the case dragged on, other developers used it to threaten activists across the country. But in February the Gauteng High Court handed down a judgement that awarded punitive costs against the developer, which of course is a very powerful message.

Representing 13 NGOs, you've just called on the Department of Mineral Resources to review the "inferior" environmental rules that apply to mining. How would this affect Shell, which has lodged an application to drill, or "frack", the Karoo for natural gas despite a huge public outcry?

This affects thousands of people, most of whom have no idea of what it is about, just trying as they are to eke out a living. And now we have to consider this controversial technology, the implications of which nobody really understands, because there hasn't been enough research done. And now all of a sudden all this has to be done in a 120-day period. This isn't enough time for responsible decision-making. The deadline for comment on (Shell's) environmental management plan closed on April 5, and if the Petroleum Agency of South Africa decides not to extend the public-consultation process, we'd regard that as potential grounds for an appeal and review of any decision made.

In February you also called on the department to declare certain "critical" natural areas as prohibited from commercial prospecting and mining. Is this not anti-capitalist?

The gist of our proposal was not to oppose mining, we're simply trying to demarcate certain areas that are so critical that if mining rights were granted there, it would compromise the health and wellbeing of future generations as well as our own.

Acid mine water is rising underneath Joburg at an alarming rate. Is the government acting fast enough to resolve this mess?

No. Government isn't. NGOs fought very hard, for many years, to get this issue onto cabinet's agenda and then we had to fight for months to get an expert report out of the ministerial committee to find out what was actually recommended. Now we've seen very little implementation of the recommendations, so we're incredibly concerned about it. We're also very concerned about the fact that we see no real demand for contributions by the mining industry. We're now consulting with our NGO partners to assess what else we can do to force change. If all else fails, we'll have to take this matter to court.

• If you'd like to report an environmental crime, call the 24-hour National Environmental Crimes and Incidents hotline on 0800205005.

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