You are the attorney assisting Tabitha with challenging the decision of an administrator. The administrator in this matter is the Department of Water and Sanitation. Tabitha stays in a suburb in Durban called Coastal Heights. Coastal Heights has not had water for 3 months. A great deal of the water infrastructure in the area was severely damaged by the recent floods. However, the remaining water pipelines in Coastal Heights were supplying water to residents but the Department decided to cut off water to Coastal Heights, citing that residents had not paid their water bills on time. The recent floods did terrible damage to the water infrastructure and took several lives in the Coastal Heights area, causing several families to endure serious financial hardship. Many families have been unable to pay their water bills due to losing loved ones to the floods and the deceased were, in those families, also the only members of those families who had work or could get work. Unemployment in the Coastal Heights community is otherwise very high overall.

Tabitha is extremely concerned that the Department of Water and Sanitation never engaged with the residents of Coastal Heights about cutting water off to the area. She believes that if there was some kind of public participation that the Department would have permitted, the Department would have understood their plight and maybe consulted with them on an alternative plan or environmental impact assessment in light of the damage done by the floods to the area and for continuing the supply of water to the community.

You are of the view that there are various forms of legislative regulation for administrative action and because Tabitha's matter has environmental implications surrounding the supply of water, you are aware that the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (or "NEMA") regulates administrative action through public participation in water matters.

Question : In a note not exceeding one page in length, discuss how administrative justice is understood within the confines of NEMA and how this act provides for public participation in matters concerning the environment and water, with reference to relevant authority. (20 Marks) Please include references