Khadija Magardie
There is at least one case of cancer in nearly every family and the children have been diagnosed with stunted growth in Steel Valley, a collection of smallholdings about 10km outside the industrial town of Vanderbijlpark.
Now residents are asking the courts to intervene to stop a mining company from polluting their land.
They live a stone’s throw away from the heart of the country’s steel manufacturing industry. The main operations of Iscor are situated literally across the road.
Steel Valley bears an eerie resemblance to a concentration camp. Every plot is boxed in by metres of shiny electrified fencing. In security-conscious South Africa, this is hardly abnormal. But none of the residents of Steel Valley had a say in the erecting of the fences, which were put up by Iscor.
The inhabitants of Steel Valley, and the neighbouring Linkholm Agricultural Holdings, say the fences hide a shameful reality the pollution that has affected their groundwater and is slowly poisoning them to death.
They say the pollution comes from the facilities used in the plant’s manufacturing processes, particularly the evaporation ponds, slag piles and sludge dams. The latter, which are unlined, facilitate seepage. As a consequence, the effluent leaks into and contaminates the water table.
In court papers served this week, 16 residents of Steel Valley are demanding that the Johannesburg High Court intervene to prevent Iscor from further polluting their land.
The litigants are demanding that Iscor install piped water to residents of the areas affected by the groundwater pollution “in a manner which is hygienic, regular and without hazard”.
They are also applying for an interdict preventing Iscor from erecting electric fencing on private properties. And most importantly, they are asking the court to order Iscor to “take necessary steps to prevent all groundwater pollution and contamination entering the groundwater”.
When Johannes Dewing first moved to Steel Valley with his family in 1989 he thought he had found Canaan. The experienced farmer planned to start an agricultural business on the two-hectare property, specialising in fruit, vegetables and poultry. He also planned a small manufacturing plant making bricks, blocks and curbing.
It was not long before his dreams lay in tatters. The 400 fruit trees he planted wilted away, as did his other crops. His 4000 chickens started dying. The handful that survived did not lay eggs and were declared infertile by a veterinarian.
His brick and paving business did not make it the cement would not mix with the water from his borehole.
But neither Dewing, nor his neighbours who were experiencing similar problems, suspected anything was amiss. Until they started getting sick.
Willie Cooks and his family are veterans of a “mystery illness” repeatedly presenting themselves at their doctors with a range of ailments, including chronic fatigue, kidney stones, and swollen hands and feet. Their children’s teeth became discoloured and other children were diagnosed with stunted growth. And at least 14 families in the area have seen members diagnosed with cancer. Doctors told the families they should inspect their water supply.
By the time Dewing discovered the water from his borehole was severely contaminated by industrial effluent, it was too late. Constant illness had taken its toll he had to give up his business. All attempts to hold down a job failed, because he was constantly off sick. Now he is a broken man. And like other families in the area, he lays the blame squarely at the door of the steel mining giant across the road.
The litigants are angered by what they call blatant “arrogance” of Iscor, which has failed to clean up its act despite repeated urgings and warnings from individuals and companies.
What is worse, they add, is that as far back as the 1970s Iscor was warned that it was severely polluting the groundwater of Steel Valley.
In 1975 Iscor commissioned a study into water pollution. The consultant, an engineering geologist, Dr BL Wiid, found that there was “definite evidence” that the plant was polluting nearby water sources.
A study conducted in 1993 corroborated Wiid’s findings. The researchers warned Iscor that continuing to pollute the water supply could make the company increasingly vulnerable to litigation. It also noted that “remedial measures are needed not only to arrest the contamination of the groundwater on Iscor’s property, but to improve the quality of the groundwater already contaminated”, particularly in those areas in closest proximity to Steel Valley, “where the consequences of pollution are most severe”.
“All along they knew what the water was doing to us, yet they said and did nothing,” says Dewing.
In 1997, as a damage control exercise, Iscor started delivering water to certain small- holdings closest to the boundary of the plant. Tatolo Matsepo’s farm is one of them. To the outsider the farm appears to be thriving. A small garden supports waist-high maize crops and cattle graze in the distance.
But Matsepo has other problems. The electric fence surrounding his property is so narrow that a bakkie or truck cannot make it into his yard. Iscor has fitted a water pipe to his water tank. Every day the water truck arrives and attaches the pipe to pump the daily ration of water.
There is no facility to backwash the pipe, so everything that is already inside the pump is flushed into Matsepo’s tank every day. His water is a rust colour that produces a thick layer of dust at the bottom of the tank. The water has rusted nearly all the geyser and kettle elements in Steel Valley homes.
The residents lucky enough to get water delivered have received a letter from Iscor informing them that from next Monday they will no longer have the service.
In the late 1990s Iscor started a community forum to “streamline communications” between stakeholders which has since been disbanded. One of the outcomes of the forum was a “cost benefit analysis” undertaken by Iscor, which confirmed that the groundwater was unfit for human consumption.
This catalysed court action by several residents, who attempted to halt further pollution of the area. On the third day in court, Iscor settled with the litigants paying them for their properties. They have packed up and left, and there are clusters of half-demolished buildings lining the Golden Highway on the way to Vanderbijlpark.
Iscor this week declined to comment on the court action. Iscor group executive (corporate affairs) Phaldie Kalam said the company “continues to be concerned about the sustainability of the environment, and the community surrounding its operations”. He said Iscor would “continue to seek ways to resolve these issues”.
ENDS