Craig Bishop
The launch of the National Environment Management Bill this week is expected to give communities a “lot more political muscle in dealing with companies”, says Chris Albertyn, national co-ordinator of the Environmental Justice Networking Forum.
“The new Bill recognises that the government has very little capacity to deal with companies breaking environmental laws. It gives communities more rights to protect themselves,” he says.
That communities are in desperate need of more “muscle” was evident at this week’s environment and poverty hearings, held in Aloes, near Port Elizabeth. People from around the country described what it’s like living next door to toxic waste dumps and dealing with constant air and water pollution.
Said Daniel Pienaar (74), who moved to Aloes in 1949: “We have been very unhappy and uncomfortable since Waste-tech came into this area with their incinerator and waste dump. As a result of the pollution, a lot of people are dead.”
Waste-tech spends more than R100 000 a month in a vain attempt to contain the odours but, says Pumlani Ximiya, Waste- tech’s business development manager. “We contain the stench for several days, then it comes back again.”
Pienaar, who used to work at the Waste-tech incinerator, says plastic containers and amputated body-parts from hospitals are burnt there. “When I discovered that people’s legs and arms also get burnt, I decided to quit.”
Waste-tech’s managing director, Ken Bromfield, said industrial companies have been forced to learn how to talk to communities in the past six years. “Look at the proposed Chloorkop dump site in Kempton Park. It was only after several years of debate with local communities that we realised we had to downgrade the size of the site. It was never opened as a hazardous site.”
The hearings were told that 83% of South African waste sites are unregulated, and that most leak toxic chemicals.
Said Bobby Peek, the Environmental Justice Networking Forum’s community campaign co- ordinator: “Waste-tech has landfill sites all over the country, but the government still has no strict guidelines or policies in place to ensure that landfill sites are moved away from marginalised communities.
“There has been a history of environmental racism, with `dirty industries’ located next to poor, black communities. Because of job prospects, the communities valued the industries. They never knew the dangers.”
Under the new Bill, which should become law in September, communities will be able to approach a public prosecutor with their environmental grievances. If no action is taken within 14 days, the community will be able to prosecute. If the community loses the case, it will be protected against costs. If it wins, the perpetrator will pay all costs as well as compensation.
The new Bill was tabled by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism this week. Albertyn says it is “revolutionary. It is an avenue for communities to do something themselves, rather than waiting for the government.”
Waste-tech’s Bromfield says the new Bill is a “move in the right direction. In the past projects went ahead without community participation. We are learning.”
ENDS