In the run-up to next week’s highly contentious court hearings to stop Shell’s seismic surveys and any further bids to explore the Wild Coast for offshore oil and gas, communities in the Eastern Cape are speaking out against traditional leaders who, at the end of April, following secret meetings with Minister Gwede Mantashe (in February 2022), agreed to support oil and gas developments. However, the communities, who are applicants in the case, were not consulted.