CCT 270/24 South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others

UNANIMOUS CONSTITUTIONAL COURT VICTORY FOR WILDLIFE WELL-BEING

EMS FOUNDATION MEDIA STATEMENT
9 October 2026

The EMS Foundation celebrates today’s unanimous Constitutional Court decision rejecting the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association’s challenge to the animal well-being provisions in the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act. The Court ruled in our favour and awarded costs.

Having intervened to defend these essential protections, the EMS Foundation welcomes this decisive outcome. The provisions remain in place, preserving the express recognition of animal well-being within South Africa’s biodiversity legislation.

For the EMS Foundation, this victory carries a clear message: conservation must consider how animals live and what they experience. Wild animals are sentient beings with intrinsic value. Their suffering cannot be rendered invisible by describing them as biological resources, commercial assets or populations to be managed.

The well-being provisions require consideration of animals’ physical, physiological and mental health and quality of life. Their retention protects a vital basis for assessing human activities affecting wildlife before harm occurs.

The task now is to turn legal protection into meaningful practice. 

The EMS Foundation calls on the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to urgently reconvene the Wildlife Well-being Forum and advance effective implementation through regulations, policy, permitting and accountable decision-making.

We thank our legal team, Advocate Ian Learmonth and Cullinan and Associates, and acknowledge the NSPCA’s work in defending these protections.

Today is a profound victory for wild animals and for everyone working towards a more compassionate and just relationship with the living world. We will continue working to ensure that this victory is felt in animals’ lives.

Today’s victory protects an essential foundation. Our work continues to ensure that it makes a meaningful difference to the lives of wild animals.

Constitutional Court Hearing 26 May 2026

https://www.youtube.com/live/OUa52NpUTDE?si=-7_2K86-WVkiagjH

Constitutional Court Judgement 9 October 2026

https://youtu.be/1a8ZfYJ6WK0

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