Sunday morning, 5 December 2021, and it’s a helter-skelter drive from the KwaZulu-Natal north coast to the northern tip of the Wild Coast region of Pondoland for a protest action against fossil fuel behemoth Shell.
Nothing has settled since earlier in the week when the Eastern Cape high court dismissed an urgent application to interdict Shell from conducting 3D seismic surveys in the Transkei exploration area from 1 December. Shell intends spending the next four to five months in search of oil and gas. According to the environmental management plan the exploration will include underwater explosions and discharges at 220 decibels at intervals of 10 to 20 seconds for 24 hours every day.