On the evening of 22 March 2016, two unknown men impersonating police officers arrived at the house of Sikosiphi Bazooka Rhadebe in Mbizana, Pondoland. They proceeded to shoot Rhadebe several times, leaving him dead in front of his son.
As part of that work, Reddell and Davies, with West Coast activist Davine Cloete, made a presentation to a small group of people at the University of Cape Town’s Summer School in January 2017 — speaking about the company’s environmental impacts and its alleged failure to comply with environmental laws.Four months later, Mineral Sands Resources sued Reddell and Davies for R250,000 and Cloete for R500,000 for allegedly defaming the company and its directors during that presentation at UCT.
We also have examples of companies threatening civil society organisations with litigation, mining companies that are procuring interdicts against whole communities for protesting against the damaging activities of those mines and mining companies facilitating the arrest of community activists for protesting against their activities, even when that protest is peaceful.
In August 2017, American pipeline company Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace and Banktrack for $900-million for alleged violations of racketeering legislation. That claim was dismissed in February 2019. Since 2018, oil corporation Exxon — facing its own litigation regarding its climate liability — has lashed out by subpoenaing and suing not only environmental activists and organisations, but public officials.
Even worse, there is what is known as the broader “chilling effect”: SLAPP suits are also aimed at sending a message to all activists that resisting that company, and others like it, poses a personal risk. Lawsuits, despite their chilling effect and the devastating financial impact that an adverse judgment against activists can have, are nothing compared to the physical threats and intimidation many community activists and their families face every day.