A row has erupted over the dismissal of the environmental control officer from the Coega Development Corporation near Port Elizabeth, raising questions about the enforcement powers of Coega’s environmental monitoring committee (EMC).
The committee was appointed to monitor developers’ compliance with the project’s environmental impact assessment, while the environmental control officer is responsible for reporting environmental transgressions to the authorities.
But critics say the committee has become a toothless watchdog that does not back its own officers, and that other government authorities are also shying away from supporting the officer.
Bool Smuts, the environmental control officer at Coega, had his contract cancelled last month. Critics believe that he might have been dismissed because he did his job too ‘diligently†and developers of the megaÂproject wanted him out of the way. The developers, which include the Coega Development Corporation (CDC), have denied the allegation.
Smuts refused to comment on the matter this week owing to the ongoing legal action he is taking against the developers at Coega, but he expressed concern that the EMC’s independence and professionalism were being tampered with.
‘The EMC has become a smokescreen and does not perform its duties,†he said.
According to the same sources, under Smuts, compliance with the environmental impact assessment improved from 68% compliance at the start of his tenure to 82% compliance at the end.
Rob Midgley, the head of the EMC, told the Mail & Guardian that the environmental monitoring committee was unhappy with the level of service provided by Smuts, ‘specifically regarding relationships with the parties involved.
He said that Smuts was good in maintaining independence, ‘but in some instances he was overzealous and did not look at the situation from all sidesâ€.
He denied that Smuts’s contract was terminated because he was ‘doing his job too wellâ€.
‘It is true that an environmental control officer’s job is never easy. There is a fine line to be trodden. The officer should be at arm’s length with the developers in dealing with issues, but not when building relationships,†he said.
Vuyelwa Qinga, spokesperson for the CDC, said her organisation ‘started the relationship with Smuts on a sound basisâ€.
‘Unfortunately, every time the CDC voiced an opinion that differed from Smuts’s, he saw this as an ‘attack’ on his competency, or reported that the CDC was being confrontational,†she said. A comparison showed that other officers are far more ‘vigilant†than Smuts.
A source inside the provincial environmental department also told the M&G that the governmental authorities had to shoulder some of the blame for Smuts’s dismissal.
Midgley agreed that the regulatory authorities could have been more active in dealing with the issues Smuts raised.
‘There were delays overall and some decisions could have been made earlier. It is true that the authorities could have acted faster when transgressions were reported and they could have been more involved,†he said.
Blessing Manale, spokesperson for the department of environmental affairs and tourism, said Coega’s environmental compliance was at a reasonable level.
He said his department is conducting an audit of Smuts’s submission.
Eskom’s suspect Coega deal
Earthlife Africa is likely to go to court to force the government and Eskom to reveal the tariff at which they sold electricity to Canadian-owned Alcan group for its proposed new aluminium smelter at Coega in the Eastern Cape. But the environmental watchdog will only make a final decision after consulting with lawyers in the next few weeks.
The organisation lodged a request with the government and Eskom late last year for information about the project in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, but it only got partial answers, such as the length of the contract between the parties.
Most importantly, Eskom declined to say how much it would charge for the electricity it would be supplying to Alcan. Carol Allers, Eskom’s spokesperson, said the supply agreement between Eskom and its customers includes a confidentiality clause which restricts certain information that could be utilised by competitors and the like. ‘This is a standard business approach,†she said.
‘We feel it is likely that the government and Eskom will give us the necessary information in court,†said Tristen Taylor, Earthlife Africa’s energy policy officer, this week.
Government was desperate for a big industrial tenant in the massive Coega development and was willing to make concessions to Alcan in negotiating a deal.
The smelter will need 1Â 355 MVA of electricity over a period of 25 years, slightly more than that of neighbouring Port Elizabeth. In light of the blackouts across South Africa in the past few months, critics have voiced concern about Eskom’s capacity to supply that amount of electricity to Alcan.
Eskom revealed that the price is linked to its MegaÂflex tariff. According to this price structure, which is applied mostly to corporate clients and municipalities, electricity is charged at 59,53c a kilowatt-hour in peak hours during peak season and 7,43c a kilowatt-hour in low demand during low season.
A big concern for Taylor was whether, if Alcan got its electricity at a discounted price, it would sell it back to the grid for a profit. He said that the company has a history of doing this in Canada. — Yolandi Groenewald