An agreement by South Africa to store Iranian=20 crude oil has incensed environmental groups and human=20 rights advocates, reports Rehana Rossouw
THE oil trade and oil money are probably the dirtiest=20 in the world, and South Africa was soiling its human=20 rights track record and possibly its environment by=20 agreeing to store Iranian oil, say critics of a=20 multimillion-rand deal between South Africa and Iran.
The Central Energy Fund (CEF) announced last week that=20 it had brokered a deal, which will be finalised soon,=20 to store 15-million barrels of Iranian oil at Saldanha=20
The announcement once again raised questions about=20 South Africa’s foreign policy objectives and its=20 willingness to deal with countries accused of severe=20 human rights abuses. Iran has one of the highest=20 execution rates in the world, still detains political=20 opponents without trial and tortures them, and reserves=20 positions in government for adherents of one religion.
The oil deal will generate between R700-million and R1- billion annually, and the CEF is hoping tankers will=20 begin offloading the oil next month into two tanks=20 previously used to hoard South African reserves during=20 the sanctions era.
Earthlife Africa representative Greg Knill said oil=20 money was probably “the dirtiest in the world” and said=20 his organisation deplored South Africa grasping at it.
“Oil money props up repressive regimes all over the=20 world, Nigeria and Indonesia being good examples of=20 this. In Nigeria, Shell Oil struck an ungodly alliance=20 with an oppressive regime to supply troops to counter=20 local protest against its poor environmental track=20 record. What will South Africa do for Iranian=20 companies?” Knill asked.
This view was echoed by foreign policy expert Peter=20 Vale, who has in the past criticised the=20 “schizophrenia” in the Department of Foreign Affairs,=20 which simultaneously advocated championing human rights=20 and traded with countries which do not uphold human=20
“This deal once again illustrates that the human rights=20 sympathies of the South African people have still not=20 filtered through to the foreign policy establishment,”=20 Vale said.
Parliamentary foreign affairs select committee member=20 Rob Davies disagreed, saying that if South Africa only=20 did business with countries with a good human rights=20 record, it would cut itself off from a substantial=20 amount of foreign trade.
“You can’t automatically assume that if a country has a=20 poor human rights record, South Africa will not do=20 business with it or have diplomatic dealings with it,”=20 Davies said.
“South Africa can promote human rights in the=20 international arena in a variety of ways. From the=20 little information available, this deal is clearly a=20 commercial arrangement and there shouldn’t be any=20 problems with it.
“When countries impose sanctions, it is a political=20 campaign, not a commercial campaign. If we use the=20 argument that the deal should be shafted because=20 America believes so strongly about human rights in Iran=20 that it imposed sanctions against Iran, then South=20 Africa must stop relations with Cuba as well.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs said South Africa’s=20 foreign relations throughout the world were based on=20 economic interests, and South Africa stood to gain from=20 the agreement with Iran.
“This in no way detracts from the fact that human=20 rights considerations, democratic practices and the=20 rule of law are paramount to our foreign policy=20 orientation,” said Foreign Affairs spokesman Peter=20
“Diplomatic relations exist between South Africa and=20 Iran and create the possibility of bringing our views=20 to bear on the government of Iran.”
Enviromentalists are also comparing the response to the=20 oil deal to the proposal by Iscor to build a steel mill=20 in Saldanha. Opponents of the mill mounted a media=20 campaign, petitioned the supreme court and succeeded in=20 pressuring the Department of Environment Affairs to=20 appoint a board of investigation.
The resultant increase in shipping to Saldanha Bay=20 could necessitate the dredging of the harbour; when=20 this was proposed by Iscor it drew howls of protest=20 from environmentalists.
Knill said the threat crude oil constituted to the=20 environment could clearly be seen on Clifton Beach,=20 where crews were still battling to clean oil waste=20 which washed up there last year.
“When people heard about the benefits of the oil deal,=20 they did cartwheels and spoke about about the benefits=20 for the RDP, without pausing to consider the effects on=20 the environment,” Knill said.
He said Earthlife Africa would respond to the oil deal=20 in the same way it dealt with the steel mill project.=20 The organisation’s representations to the board of=20 investigation into the mill called for a structured=20 plan for the entire Saldanha area, in consultation with=20 environmental groups.
“Both Saldanha Steel and the CEF claimed to have done=20 environmental impact assessments of their projects. But=20 these are often used as business tools, designed to=20 complement the objectives of the company concerned,”=20 Knill said.
“What they do is break up the study into tiny bits,=20 like separating the study on the impact on the harbour=20 from the adjacent lagoon and land. Unless the study is=20 integrated, all we will see is an incremental=20 destruction of the area.”
In response, the executive director of the CEF, Kobus=20 van Zyl, said critics of the project should not ignore=20 the fact that oil had been ferried into Saldanha Bay=20 and stored there since 1976. The harbour had been=20 dredged in the past to accommodate the tankers.
“In those days, the emphasis on the environment was not=20 what it is today. All we did then was a study to=20 determine what we should do to ensure that we did not=20 have accidents and what preparations and equipment was=20 needed if there was an accident,” Van Zyl said.
The CEF has commissioned the Council for Scientific and=20 Industrial Research to do an environmental impact=20 assessment for the Iranian deal, but Van Zyl could not=20 say when it would be completed, or if it was expected=20 before the oil arrived in Saldanha.
“We are satisfied that we will be able to deal with any=20 situation with our present capacity. We have taken all=20 the precautions we can to avoid the threat of oil=20