Latest Resources
5 February 2025
Financing biodiversity in the face of capitalist extractivism and ecocide
ACB comments on the South African government’s Biodiversity Finance Plan Humanity is facing a multi-faceted crisis of civilisation, with environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Fundamentally, this crisis is caused by capitalist dynamics of accumulation and extraction, and the associated use of the environment as a free or cheap resource and service provider. Effective biodiversity restoration […]
30 January 2025
“Palesa’s Brave Discovery” violates children’s and consumers’ rights
SAPToA reports CropLife and Food for Mzansi for weaponising children in comic book & for false and dangerous advertising Press release by the South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins The South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins (SAPToA) has submitted substantive complaints to the South African Human Rights Commission and the Advertising Regulatory Board, calling for […]
16 January 2025
Media campaign highlights urgent need to ban Terbufos, HHPs
In December, the ACB, alongside a coalition of organisations, academics, and unions, submitted a letter of demand to the Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Steenhuisen. This urgent appeal calls for the immediate ban of Terbufos — a highly hazardous pesticide implicated in the tragic deaths of six children in Naledi, Soweto, last year. To amplify […]
10 December 2024
Wishing you peace, joy, and hope this holiday season
Our lives are a battlefield on which is fought a continuous war between the forces that are pledged to confirm our humanity and those determined to dismantle it; those who strive to build a protective wall around it, and those who wish to pull it down; those who seek to mould it and those committed […]
6 December 2024
One year later and no substantive response to our call for a review of 2,4-D
Minister Steenhuisen, when can we expect the Registrar to respond? Today marks a year since we called for a review of the registration of 2,4-D in South Africa, in a letter to the Registrar: Act No. 36 of 1947, Mr Jonathan Mudzunga. With no substantive response forthcoming, despite substantiation in a further submission, and persistent […]
5 December 2024
Ban Terbufos and HHPs or face legal action Minister Steenhuisen, says civil society alliance
17 June 2025 UPDATE: Following the South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins (SAPToA), which was held in March this year, the three jurors, Judge Navi Pillay, Commissioner Philile Ntuli, and Dr Sophia Kisting-Cairncross, made a presentation on highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) and other agrotoxins to the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture on 20 May. Watch the […]
25 November 2024
Greenhouse gas emissions in the South African food system: Integrated and transformative response...
Climate change is set to wreak havoc on South Africa (SA)’s agri-food system. Increasing temperatures, lower and more erratic rainfall, and more extreme weather events will characterise the climate in Southern Africa over the next decades. This poses challenges for food production and food security. At the same time, SA’s agri-food system is one of […]
22 November 2024
Petition – Reckless endangerment: Hold South African government and chemical industry to account ...
17 June 2025 UPDATE: Thank you to all who signed our petition, supporting our call to hold the South African government and chemical industry accountable for the devastating effects of toxic pesticides on our society. Following the South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins (SAPToA), which was held in March this year, the three jurors, Judge […]
4 November 2024
Les subventions néfastes, la dette et le financement de la biodiversité en Afrique
Des pistes pour une transition juste en préparation de la COP 16 et au-delà (Click here to read in English.) La cible 18 du cadre mondial pour la biodiversité de la Convention sur la diversité biologique préconise l’élimination, la suppression progressive ou la réforme des subventions néfastes pour l’environnement et la société, ainsi que l’augmentation […]
1 November 2024
Civil society coalition says: Heads must roll for Terbufos regulatory failure
Press release: South African People’s Tribunal on Agrotoxins 31 October 2024 A coalition of civil society organisations and trade unions working together to expose the harmful reality of pesticides in South Africa mourns the tragic deaths of six children — Monica Sebetwana, Ida Maama, Isago Mabote, Njabulo Msimanga, Katlego Olifant, and Karabo Rampou — in […]