Court orders government to clean up air in coal belt

A South African court on Friday upheld a complaint by activists that poor air quality in the coal belt is a breach of constitutional rights, giving the environment minister a year to enforce a clean air plan. South Africa’s coal belt, east of the capital Pretoria and main city Johannesburg is home to an estimated 3.6-million people, as well as a dozen Eskom coal-fired power stations and some Sasol petrochemicals plants.