Volume 4 No

The World Summit on Sustainable Development is about to hit South Africa. groundWork, like other environmental and developmental organisations around the world, is putting a lot of time and effort into developing positions and appealing to decision makers around issues close to our heart. It has been interesting and gratifying to see the attention and priority that environmental and development issues are now receiving in SA, mainly due to our hosting of the WSSD in two months’ time. Read more about WSSD on page 24.

Last month groundWork went to court for the first time. Read all about our application to have the Ixopo incinerator closed down (page 4). We hope that this case will set a precedent for other polluting incinerators in the country, as well as send a clear message to government that they need to take the health and safety of all our people seriously.

From the smokestack
By groundWork director, Bobby Peek

Sasolburg is a typical industrial town. It is even named after the dominant industry there, Sasol. Here, industry calls the shots.

This has recently changed. Local politicians, the representatives of the people living in Sasolburg and Zamdela, have told provincial and national government that they do not want the hazardous waste incinerator being proposed for Sasolburg by Peacock Bay Environmental Services cc, a private company based in Cape Town.

A unanimous resolution adopted by the local politicians, united across different parties, backgrounds and educational level, to oppose the incinerator comes just before South Africa plays host to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which is a follow up to the Earth Summit of 1992.

At the Earth Summit a global plan of action for sustainable development, known as Agenda 21 (and incorporating Local Agenda 21), was born. This new way of operating called for governments to recognise that people at a local level must be empowered to inform and make decisions on development at that local level. A noble ideal, that often buckles under the pressures of what national governments wants or can or cannot deliver.

How will our national and provincial governments respond to the voice of the people of Sasolburg? Will they overrule them? Will they actually support such a dangerously polluting and unsustainable proposal, which is being partly financed by the United States? Or will our government have the nerve to tell the USA that as a democracy we listen to our people and we don’t need the USA’s dirty technology?

Alarmingly the national Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) actually supports the proposed Sasolburg incinerator, on the grounds that it provides economic opportunities to import hazardous waste into SA for treatment in Sasolburg. Will they overrule the residents of Sasolburg who will bear the health and environmental burden of being dumped with other peoples’ hazardous waste?

groundWork has written several letters to the DTI and other Ministries requesting that they give us clarity on their position with regards to the import of hazardous waste into SA. We still wait for a response.

How government manages this local example will provide insight into just how serious our government is about sustainable development.

Lead Story
Court bid to close incinerator
by Linda Ambler

groundWork has taken government and a private waste company, Compass Waste Services, to court in a bid to have the Ixopo incinerator closed down. The incinerator is owned by the Ubuhlebezwe Municipality (previously the Ixopo TLC) and is operated by Compass Waste Services cc.

In his affidavit presented to the court, groundWork’s Director, Bobby Peek, alleges that the incinerator has been very poorly operated, that the government has failed in its duty to regulate the operations of the incinerator and enforce the permit and that accordingly the incinerator is a threat to the surrounding community and should be closed down.

The court application was made by groundWork’s trustees. Papers were served last month on five respondents: Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the KZN MEC for Environmental Affairs and Agriculture, The Chief Air Pollution Control Officer, the Ubuhlebezwe Municipality and Compass Waste Services cc. They have until the 27^th June to file a motion of their intention to defend the matter if they intend to do so.

groundWork has gone to court as the final resort after attempting for two and a half years to get government to take decisive action around the incinerator in order to protect the health of the surrounding community and the broader public.

The legal action came just one month after the incinerator’s chimneystack collapsed and had to be replaced.

The incinerator was originally built to burn the domestic waste generated in the area. However, after Compass Waste Services (CWS) took over the operations of the incinerator, CWS began burning health care waste at the incinerator as well. The quantities of health care waste grew to such a degree that for the past year or so the incinerator has been used solely for burning health care waste, and the domestic waste is being transported to the Durban Solid Waste landfill site.

In 1999 CWS was awarded a KZN Department of Health tender to remove and treat/dispose of health care waste from the government hospitals in the province. So profitable was this tender for CWS that they decided to develop a second health care waste incinerator to handle the waste volumes. During the EIA process for this proposed second incinerator, civil society succeeded in persuading CWS to go for alternative, non-combustion technology in place of another incinerator. CWS have consequently imported and commissioned two world-class autoclaves at their head office in Westmead, West of Durban. According to CWS, these two autoclaves will easily manage the full health care waste stream for the province and they will not need the Ixopo incinerator any longer. However, CWS are reluctant to pull out of Ixopo for fear that a competitor will move in and take over the incinerator.

As a safe alternative (i.e. the autoclaves) now exists for the treatment of health care waste in the KZN province, groundWork is asking the courts to close the Ixopo incinerator.

groundWork has also offered its assistance and that of other NGOs to the Ubuhlebezwe Municipality in order that the municipality can develop an affordable and workable integrated waste management plan for their domestic waste.

Some of the reasons why groundWork has been so concerned about this incinerator are:

(2) The Ixopo incinerator has been poorly managed, and audit reports have shown that the incinerator does not meet the most important health and safety conditions of its permit. Those conditions that have been violated include exceeding prescribed emission levels of certain chemical pollutants and failing to meet the temperatures to prevent the release of certain chemicals, such as dioxins, into the environment.

(3) It is located in the middle of a primary dairy producing area in South Africa.

It is therefore highly likely that this incinerator is emitting dioxins and other pollutants, which are finding their way into the milk produced in this area.

There have been several scares in recent years in the European Union over dioxin contamination of beef and milk, leading to the dumping of products and temporary trade embargoes. Internationally, dioxin contaminated products are not accepted for export.

groundWork would like to acknowledge the tremendous advice and assistance we received from Ellen Nicol from the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in Pretoria.

Waste Projects

‘Enough is enough’
Civil society voice their concerns at National Workshop on health care waste and incineration
By Llewellyn Leonard

Recently Southern African civil society has begun uniting to take a stand against the harmful practices of waste incineration and mismanagement of health care waste, both of which are perpetuating practices of environmental injustice.

In April 2002 groundWork, in collaboration with the Global Anti-Incineration Alliance (GAIA) and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), held its National Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Strategy Workshop on Health care waste and Incineration.

The workshop took place between the 5 – 8^th April at the Isipingo Island Hotel in South Durban. The first three days of the workshop were attended by about 30 civil society organisations from around South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, with a VIP attendance in the form of Manny Calonzo from the Philippines. Manny is the International Coordinator of the Global Anti-Incineration Alliance and his participation brought a global understanding of the issues being tackled.

On the fourth and final day of the workshop, government officials and politicians were invited to attend to listen to the outcomes of the previous three days. We were privileged to have the Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs, Mrs Rejoice Mabudafhasi, address the gathering.

The workshop sought to share struggles and to bring them together in order that a more supportive mechanism nationally and regionally could be developed so as to make our campaigning more successful. The workshop was conducted in order to develop a common civil society policy response and activist strategy. The strategy would include creating awareness, discussions around developing a regional collaborative network and regional structure etc.

I was delighted to see how all the civil society participants seemed to get along so harmoniously. To me it was because they had come together with a common vision and had shared similar experiences related to the struggles of community injustices in their areas, and due to the fact that private companies and certain industries have continually failed to respect the concerns of civil society.

groundWork was honoured to have KwaZulu-Natal Agriculture and Environmental Affairs MEC, Narend Singh, open the workshop. I was glad to hear from the minister during his speech that there was an urgent need to adopt alternative technologies for dealing with health care waste. However, I was disappointed to hear that the minister considered it impractical to rule out incineration completely, especially for handling domestic waste in our country. Considering the potential impacts that incinerators pose to human health and the environment, and considering that globally, there has been an uproar from civil society concerning incineration, I found this to be totally unacceptable.

What was encouraging to see at the workshop was how enthusiastic civil society was in listening to the concerns being presented by their counterparts. Presentations related to both health care waste and incineration issues where given by various regions. Participants included various hospital institutions, NGO’s from Swaziland (Yonge Nawe) and Mozambique (Livaningo), the Fairest Cape Association, Gauteng government, the Legal Resources Centre, the Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa (WESSA – KwaZulu-Natal and Port Elizabeth), as well as the Anti-Incineration Alliance (AIA) and the Sasolburg Environmental Committee (SEC).

We were fortunate to have Manny Calonzo from the Philippines where incineration is banned. Manny being a gentle and very spiritually inclined person has always showed passion for the work that he does, and was able to effectively demonstrate in his discussions that alternative technology is the way to go.

On the last day of the workshop, politicians and government officials joined in. The groundWork team were thrilled to see that some government officials and politicians who had not been personally invited had nevertheless found their way to listen to us in Isipingo. I saw this as a positive sign that many in the government understand that health care waste and incineration issues are pressing problems that need to be dealt with in an appropriate manner, and that civil society has a positive contribution to make.

Overall, my feelings about groundWork’s CSO workshop were awe-inspiring. The gathering led to the adopting of the Isipingo Declaration on Eliminating the Harmful Impacts of Health Care Waste and Incinerators in Southern African communities. (The Isipingo Declaration is posted on the groundWork website.)

Workshop participants signed letters of solidarity for organisations fighting incinerator processes in their locale. These included support for Wildlife and Environment Society in PE who are opposing a proposal for an incinerator to burn tannery waste, and support for the Sasolburg Environmental Committee who are opposing a hazardous waste incinerator being proposed for Sasolburg.

I hope that government will take heed of the concerns, solutions and strategies developed at the workshop, and that government and civil society will work together to transform the health care industry so that it is no longer a source of environmental harm by eliminating pollution in health care practices without compromising safety or care. We can achieve this by promoting comprehensive pollution prevention practices, supporting the development and use of environmentally safe materials, technology and products, as well as educating all affected constituencies about the environmental and public health impacts of incineration and the health care industry and providing solutions to its problems.

Global alliance calls on Mbeki to junk incinerator
By Linda Ambler

On the 9^th May 2002, 109 groups from 45 countries wrote to President Mbeki calling on his government to reject a proposal for a hazardous waste incinerator in Sasolburg.

The letter to Mbeki, entitled “An appeal from the global community: Don’t let Sasolburg burn!” was signed by organisations from as far a field as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Australia, Philippines, Brazil, Haiti, Italy, Norway, Bulgaria, and the UK to mention but a few.

The proposed rotary kiln incinerator in Sasolburg, Free State for hazardous waste is a contentious issue that has caught the attention of environmental and civil society groups around the globe. While we welcome South Africa's decision to ratify the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) prior to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, we find it alarming to learn that your government is considering the use of a dangerously polluting technology whose operation will virtually undermine the objectives of the POPs treaty.

The Stockholm Convention on POPs identifies waste incinerators as principal sources of dioxins and furans, which belong to the initial 12 substances being targeted for continuing minimization and ultimate elimination by the global community. Governments have targeted these 12 pollutants because they are extremely dangerous to human health.

Studies reveal that burning hazardous waste, even in "sophisticated state of the art" incinerators, will lead to the release of three types of lethal waste into the environment: heavy metals, unburned noxious chemicals and new toxic pollutants such as dioxins and furans. All of these are dispersed into the environment in the form of air pollution or toxic fly ash, having potentially fatal affects on the health of the exposed population. These pollutants will represent an added toxic burden to the citizens of Sasolburg who are already being heavily impacted by the smog and air pollution caused by oil refineries and various chemical industries in the town.

Dioxins are known carcinogens and have been linked to a range of health problems, including altered sexual development, infertility, organ toxicity, hormonal changes and suppression of the immune system. This suppression of the immune system could accelerate the onset of full blown AIDS in people infected with HIV.

Moreover, since these pollutants persist in the environment for long periods of time -- travelling great distances and building up in the food chain -- their impacts may extend well beyond Sasolburg, to the rest of South Africa and even to neighbouring African states.

It is for these reasons that the Stockholm Convention gives preferential treatment for the use of non-combustion-based approaches to the management of waste, including the disposal of stockpiles of hazardous waste. Allowing the Sasolburg incinerator project to proceed is therefore contrary to the spirit and intent of the Stockholm Convention.

We therefore urge the Government of South Africa to junk the proposed incinerator facility in Sasolburg and to choose alternative, non-combustion destruction technologies instead which comply with the aims and objectives of the Stockholm Convention, namely the protection of human health and the environment.

We thank you for your positive action and wish your Government success in your efforts "to push back the frontiers of poverty and expand access to a better life." (State of the Nation's Address, 8 February 2002)

Mr. Von Hernandez
International Co-Coordinator
Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance/Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)

Air Quality Project
We Grow from Seed to Tree
By Ardiel Soeker

Nine months ago we planted the seeds of community action against industrial pollution and nurtured these seeds through consistent and informed interventions. The result of this collaborative labour will be the birth of a National Community Strategy against Industrial Pollution in July. This starts a new cycle in the fight for a cleaner and healthier environment.

On the 13^th and 14^th July representatives from civil society organisations will gather in Sasolburg to workshop a national strategy to fight air pollution in South Africa. This strategy will be born out of the experiences and knowledge of people directly impacted upon by industrial pollution. groundWork will convene this workshop, the first of it’s kind on in South Africa.

This date comes nine months after the launch of groundWork’s Air Quality Project. In these nine months we, together with our community partners, have been through planning, practice and reflection. We have continuously refined (forgive the pun) the tactics and strategies required to further our goal for a cleaner environment. Let’s see what interventions were made since the first seeds were planted in November 2001 to bring us to this point:

Community Exchanges
To coincide with the launch of the Air Quality Project in November 2001, groundWork hosted a Community Exchange in South Durban. This brought together representatives from the four refinery communities in South Africa: namely, South Durban, Cape Town, Sasolburg and Secunda, as well as representatives from similar organisations in Mozambique and Swaziland, for the very first time. The Exchange provided the opportunity for intense learning and sharing and laid the basis for direct networking and collaboration between refinery communities. In addition to this, participants actively adapted the project to suit their own community needs and challenges.

The Community Exchange facilitated access to information based on participant’s self-knowledge and experience:

These are examples of the invaluable information that you will be hard pressed to obtain from the internet or books, which is accessed through ordinary day-to-day engagement with people experiencing similar challenges and threats. These learning opportunities are priceless and we integrate them into all our activities. Every sharing opportunity leads to deeper understanding; there is never a last page to the book of people’s experiences.

Community Air Monitoring Campaign
With Government doing very little monitoring and enforcement of legislation, air quality monitoring is done almost exclusively by industry in most refinery towns (in Cape Town and South Durban there is a limited amount of monitoring done by Government). While groundWork’s Air Quality project allows communities to raise their issues and demands, it also leads people into analysis and strategy development to address problems. In light of this, the Community Air Monitoring Campaign was launched in February 2002. It empowers the community to monitor the quality of the air they breath themselves.

Community Air Monitoring in many ways forms the backbone of the Air Quality Project. groundWork introduced a number of air pollution monitoring tools and methodologies to facilitate the establishment of Community Monitoring Committees, for example the Bucket Brigade methodology. The community monitoring campaign enables communities to build up their own body of information that is scientifically sound.

Internships Programme
An Internship Programme was implemented as part of the campaign around Community Air Pollution Monitoring. Three community interns, selected from our partner organisations, spent a week at our offices in Pietermaritzburg in early May 2002. In this time they displayed a vibrancy and enthusiasm that matches their passion for their community and the struggle to improve the environment they live in. These young volunteers will

Through the community interns, communities are able to maintain a degree of organisation and structure to their activities. Community interns can compile community profiles, document monitoring information and provide other resources to ensure some sophistication to local struggles.

International Youth Exchange
The International Youth X-change programme, jointly hosted by the US-based South African Exchange Programme on Environmental Justice (SAEPEJ) and groundWork sent 5 young people from South Africa to visit refinery communities in the US from the 17^th May to the 7^th of June 2002. This provided some of the young people with whom we work, direct insight into the struggles of refinery towns in the US.

National Air Quality report
Alongside all these processes is the important task of documenting and capturing the achievements and challenges, the opportunities and threats that were encountered over the last period. groundWork’s National Air Quality report, due fro completion in July 2002, will cover the following areas:

The imminent Air Quality Bill will be an important piece of legislation that will be reviewed in this report.

So in Sasolburg on the 14^th and 15^th July 2002 groundWork, together with our community partners will develop a national strategy to tackle industrial pollution. On the 16^th July 2002 we will present the strategy to Government who will be invited to listen and respond to the strategy.

Africa
Mozal smelter threatens quality of life in Mozambique
By Ryan Hoover, of the International Rivers Network

In Mozambique, peace (and the ruling party’s disavowal of Marxism) opened the doors to a bevy of foreign companies eager to exploit the country’s resources, among them coal, titanium, and natural gas. Mozambique has been keen to accommodate these ventures in the hopes that it would improve its desperately poor population’s quality of life. It is an open question, however, if the benefits derived from these schemes will be adequate compensation for their negative impacts.

One of the larger recent foreign investments is the International Finance Corporation (IFC)-backed Mozambique Aluminium (Mozal) smelter. For two weeks in late September 2001, sooty smoke billowed from the smelter’s stacks on the outskirts of Maputo. A year after the plant opened, a cooling tower in the treatment plant corroded and gave way, spewing sulphur dioxide and toxic fluoride into the air. A company official admitted that fluoride was in fact being released, but was quick to claim, “While the black plume now issuing from the top of the treatment plant is unsightly, it is not dangerous.”

Anabela Lemos of the Mozambique environmental group Livaningo is sceptical. “I don’t believe it's not dangerous,” she says, “If after only one year of operation they suffered such a breakdown, what will happen in the future? This thing could end up being a real public and environmental health problem for us.”

People living in villages nearby have already noticed strange smells, and strange tastes in fruit from their trees. Others complain of eye problems since the smelter began operating.

According to the Mozal Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the plant emits 26 times more sulphur dioxide than other smelters, because it does not have a “wet scrubber” installed, a standard component in many modern smelters. The absence of a wet scrubber means less effluent from the plant, but impacts on water quality are still a concern. Fluoride-contaminated runoff is released into the nearby Matola River. Mozal has also not figured out a way to dispose of its hazardous solid waste. Currently, the toxic spent potliners are being stored on-site after officials decided it was not safe to allow a nearby cement plant incinerate them.

Eventually, Mozal hopes to produce 500,000 tons of aluminium annually at the plant from raw aluminium shipped to Mozambique from an Australian mine. Why ship raw aluminium across the Indian Ocean to a country almost 5,000 miles away? The answer lies in the fact that electricity in Mozambique is very cheap. The Mozal smelter will ultimately use 900MW of electricity while the rest of Mozambique combined uses only 307MW. With such enormous amounts of electricity required (and with a glut of primary aluminium on the market in recent years), the smelter’s profitability depends on cheap electricity. Terms for the sale of electricity to Mozal are confidential, but it is believed the cost is one of the lowest in the world.

This electricity, however, comes at a high social and environmental price. The smelter buys its power primarily from Eskom which claims it will shortly run out of excess capacity. This may necessitate the construction of additional dams or coal-fired plants. Eskom is said to be keenly interested in the Mepanda Uncua Dam on the Zambezi River, a project that may cause major problems for thousands of people living downstream and in the proposed reservoir area.

Labour disputes have also dogged the project. More than 300 Mozambican workers went on strike in 2001 to protest low wages and safety concerns; many were subsequently fired. Mozambican middle managers reportedly receive only a third of what is paid to foreign middle managers at Mozal, and the Mozambican workers hired to build the plant received less than $50 per month.

Efforts by the NGO Livaningo to get more information on these and other concerns have proven difficult. Mozal representatives frequently cancel meetings or are unable to answer questions, and a general air of secrecy surrounds the plants operations. Mozal security briefly detained two Livaningo members recently after they took photos of the smelter for their campaign literature.

In spite of this Livaningo is determined that independent monitoring of Mozal’s waste be carried out. With the help of groundWork they plan to initiate a Bucket Brigade testing exercise soon.

Cynics’ Corner
By Greenfly

Greenfly’s contribution to the last newsletter was severely edited for fear of getting into a fight with our comrades in COSATU over their role in the civil-society process of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). This time we bring to your attention another development which could undermine the voice of independent civil society in the WSSD process. You’ll see for yourselves why it reminded Greenfly of the definition of ‘greenwash’ provided by activists at Corpwatch:

“The phenomenon of socially and environmentally destructive corporations attempting to preserve and expand their markets by posing as friends of the environment and leaders in the struggle to eradicate poverty”.

The letter below was sent to the new managing editor, Mr William Harris, of Environment today – which used to be the Land and Rural Digest. A copy was sent to Greenfly who thought you might want to read it too. I couldn’t have put it better myself!

“I write for a living and yet find myself almost at a loss for words trying to express my dismay and disappointment after having read the first Volume of Environment today. For a number of years EDA’s publications have provided independent and critical views on matters that affect the majority of South Africans. Land and Rural Digest continued this tradition with integrity. Environment today insults this tradition but fraudulently claims continuity with it.

“I am well aware of the financial pressures which might have driven the publication to try and expand its revenue base through advertising. But what Environment today has done is to sell its journalistic independence and its content pages to corporate interests rather than attract advertising to support an honourable venture and a quality product. For any publication with pretensions to be more than a collection of advertorials, this is dishonourable and ultimately suicidal.

“Selling the soul of journalistic integrity is bad enough as a matter of principle but that it has happened to this publication at this time is not just bad – it’s downright sinister. As your cover indicates, South Africa hosts the WSSD this year. In building towards that event, Land and Rural Digest could have (and, without the corporate coup de tat represented by its re-branding as Environment today, I’m quite sure would have) played a useful role in raising perspectives that matter. Readers would have expected to see independently researched articles finding how ordinary South Africans, especially in marginalised communities, experience ‘sustainable development’; we would have been challenged to think about how those experiences and the voices of the disempowered could be brought to bear on the agendas that will be discussed in Sandton conference rooms. From Environment today however, we can expect to hear what the fat-cats and spin-doctors already occupying office space in Sandton want us to hear.

“Environment today is not the voice of NGOs and I would be very surprised if the publishing partners[1] or the consultative partners[2] listed in Volume 1 are comfortable with their association. Environment today is closer to a frontal attack on civil society where, in the critical areas of development and environment, the unchecked power of corporate capital is precisely one of the central problems, and where mainstream media and broader policy formulation are captive to the ‘greenwashing’, self-serving and deceptive claims of corporates and their PR machinery.”

Goodbye fossil fuels, hello Biofuel
By Linda Ambler

At last! The end of the reign of fossil fuels is in sight. In South Africa, America, China and other countries around the world, entrepreneurs are involved in distilling biofuels from crops such as palm oil, coconut oil, soybean oil, maize, sugar, rapeseed and sunflowers to mention but a few.

Biofuels are far cleaner than fossil fuels. They do not contain sulphur, benzene, toluene or xylene, all of which are toxic pollutants emitted during combustion of fossil fuels. When burnt they produce far less carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate emissions than do conventional fossil fuels. In a test performed by the Ecology Center in Berkeley, California, the use of 100% biodiesel in their vehicle’s engine reduced particulate emissions by 84%.

Also, biofuels can be produced from discarded vegetable oils, or excess crops and therefore do not require the same exploitation of the Earth, as does the fossil fuel industry through its exploration, drilling and refining.

Biofuel is safe for use in all conventional engines in private vehicles, fleet trucks, power boats, motorised water sports, farm equipment, mining equipment etc. No adjustments need to be made to a vehicle to allow one to switch to biofuel, save for replacing any rubber along the fuel lines and gaskets (as rubber would dissolve in biofuel).

The downside of biofuel is that it is less explosive, yielding about 10% less engine power.

Thankfully, the SA government has recognised the potential benefits that the large-scale production of biodiesel would bring to the country. These benefits include job creation in rural areas, savings on the foreign account, as well as environmental benefits. Accordingly the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME), together with the Department of Arts, Culture Science and Technology are funding a feasibility study into the large scale production of biofuel from sunflower seeds. The study is being undertaken by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

Also, in his budget speech earlier this year, Trevor Manual, Minister of Finance, announced a 30% reduction in the general fuel levy rate for consumers of biodiesel fuel.

Is it possible that in the not too distant future biofuel could take over from fossil fuels? The implications of this are huge. International power relations would be forever changed. Rain forests could be saved from destruction by oil exploration companies, global warming will slow down, pollution in our cities and water bodies will decrease dramatically, pollution-related illnesses would decrease, there would be no more oil spills in our oceans … What a wonderful vision indeed!

Focus on…. YOUTH

Five South African youth were recently given the experience of the lifetime when they were selected to participate in an international youth exchange programme in the USA. The programme was jointly hosted by the US-based South African Exchange Programme on Environmental Justice (SAEPEJ) and groundWork and took place in the USA from the 17^th May to the 7^th of June 2002. This opportunity provided young people we work with direct insight into the struggles of refinery towns in the US. The five youth are:

Thulisile Ngcobo
Thulisile is a vibrant 17-year-old, Grade 11 student from Secunda. She has achieved commendable credits for her initiatives in the environment, the local elections & HIV/ AIDS peer counselling. She was born and raised in Embalenhle in Secunda, which inspired her to join the Youth Environmental Committee, of which she is now chairperson. Secunda is one of groundWork’s key areas of concern regarding environmental and air pollution. The community’s struggle for a cleaner environmental is strongly supported by Thulisile.

Thulisile has been proactive in social and environmental issues from an early age and is an excellent contender as she participated in the provincial speech competition last year, where she represented her school. She is also chairperson of the K.I. Twala debate society.

Patrick Duma
Patrick is a seasoned activist in the Embalenhle area in Secunda, who has lead many campaigns since 1995. At school, Patrick was a member of the school governing body and chairperson of the young entrepreneurs association.

As a concerned youth in Embalenhle, Patrick has been responsible for a number of projects, both social and environmental, that have influenced the local youth to broaden their focus on environmental injustice practices in the area. He is the Deputy Chairperson of the Highveld East Local Environmental Monitoring Association (HECEMA). This Association has empowered the Secunda community by taking water quality samples to prove their exposure to toxic chemicals from the surrounding industries in Embalenhle. Furthermore, Patrick is the Recycling Project Manager in the area and his involvement with the Ward committee in Embalenhle has aided in his development as a responsible leader and activist.

Patrick has been a member of the Embalenhle environmental club since 1996. In 1997, Patrick became a member of the Highveld East Committee Awareness Forum (HCAF), where he has encouraged youth and community members to become aware of environmental injustice practices in the area by holding environmental campaigns. With Patrick’s economic and entrepreneurial background, he has been successful in achieving environmental awareness and community watchdogs in the Embalenhle area.

Madinoa Elisa Hlongwane
Elisa is an enthusiastic 23-year-old from Sasolburg. She matriculated in 1997 and has given of her best in community projects and campaigns regarding environmental, social and political issues in Zamdela. Elisa’s projects were aimed at community empowerment and environmental justice against the polluting chemical industries and petroleum refinery in Sasolburg, with the Sasolburg Environmental Committee.

She is fluent in Afrikaans and English and uses her excellent communication skills to help the Zamdela community understand the implications of industrial pollution in the area. Her political connection with the ANC motivated her to seek justice in this community and environmental justice has thus become her focus. She is extremely athletic and endeavours to make the Zamdela air clean enough to breathe in while playing sport. Elisa’s Christian faith has influenced her outlook on environmental and social justice in Zamdela, Sasolburg.

Caroline Seipati Ntaopane
Caroline is a dedicated 24-year old Zamdela resident, who has an excellent school background. She is fluent in English, Sesotho and Afrikaans. Seipati completed a computer course at the Sasolburg Technical Institution in 1999.

Her concern for the environment was highlighted when her child began showing signs of respiratory illnesses. Her focus of activism is due to the environmental pollution caused by the Petroleum refinery and a number of chemical industries surrounding Zamdela, Sasolburg. She is a member of the Sasolburg Environmental Committee, a treasurer of the ANC and a secretary. Her religious commitment to the St. Peter’s Anglican Church has greatly encouraged her to fight against environmental injustice in Zamdela.

Seipati Mokoka
Seipati is from Kliptown in Soweto. She is in her final year of schooling, studying, mathematics, science, biology, geography, English and Afrikaans. Her aim is to continue her studies in civil engineering at university in 2003. Seipati participates in the Kliptown Children and Youth Club, which falls under the auspices of Soweto Kliptown Youth, which was formed in 1986, to encourage the youth to work for their community.

She is involved in the Klipriver Project, which aims to challenge government and industry to rehabilitate the polluted river which flows through Soweto. Many people in the area who live in informal housing depend on the river for water for consumption and household purposes.

She participates in the South African Reparations Movement (SARM), a national organisation, which has a chapter in Soweto.

In brief
Agent Orange victims to receive retroactive compensation

A U.S. appeals court last month ruled that Vietnam veterans who contracted prostate cancer and diabetes after exposure to Agent Orange should get retroactive disability payments. This ruling sets a legal precedent that would allow other Vietnamese who are suffering from other illnesses associated with the toxic defoliant to claim compensation.

Tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans have fallen sick as a result of exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide that contains the known carcinogen dioxin.

The US military sprayed at least 40 million litres of Agent Orange on Vietnam between 1962 and 1970. After Agent Orange was found to cause cancer in laboratory rats, the U.S. military suspended its use in 1970. It has been linked with 10 diseases, including lung cancer, prostate cancer and diabetes. (Reuters)

POPs Convention

Over 140 countries have now signed the United Nations Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). South Africa signed the Convention in May 2001 and the Deputy Minister of Environment, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, has stated that South Africa will ratify the Convention this year. The Convention seeks to eliminate certain identified dangerous toxic chemicals from the environment. Identified chemical pollutants include dioxins and furans.

Denmark funds pesticide clean up in Southern Africa

The Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development (DANCED) is to manage a project for the Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Management of Obsolete Pesticides in Southern Africa. The UN has estimated that there are about 2 000 tons of unwanted pesticides in Southern Africa. The project encompasses an inventory stage, followed by collection and disposal of the pesticides. Options for disposal include returning to the country of origin/manufacturer or waste treatment (which groundWork trusts does not mean combustion). The project also includes an education and awareness component to promote the responsible use of pesticides.

Welcome to Nitasha!

Nitasha Baijnath joined the groundWork team in March as an intern researcher and has already found herself buried up to her eyeballs in research requests from the rest of the team. And now we wonder how we managed without her! She introduces herself below:

“Dear Friends of groundWork
I have always sought after research that would make a difference in people’s lives. I believe I have found such a reality with here at groundWork. I have obtained a cum laude in my N.Dip and B.Tech Degree in Environmental Health, and am currently pursuing a challenging study for an M.Tech Degree. Thank you, groundWork, for allowing me the opportunity to make a difference in the struggle for Environmental Health and Environmental Justice in South Africa, Nitasha."

In the Pipeline

20 - 23 August 2002 Corporate Accountability Week, Balalaika Hotel, Sandton, hosted by groundWork

25 August - 4 September NGO Forum for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Nasrec

26 August – 4 September – World Summit on Sustainable Development, Sandton Convention Centre, SA

WSSD
Partnerships- an intimidating process – what happens behind closed doors
By Bobby Peek

Sitting in Bali attempting to participate in the preparations (PrepCom 4) for the World Summit on Sustainable Development is very intimidating. It is all about power and negotiations as government delegations cut deals about what to say and what not to say, about what to demand and what to give up upon.

It is carefully understood that as a government, if you demand more stringent protection for your people, there is a strong possibility that “development” by major multi national companies might not reach your shores.

Since the beginning of the negotiations, major civil society organisations have highlighted their concerns about the process. Friends of the Earth International’s (FoEI) statement at the start of the process stated that:

“Corporations are being given a free hand by governments. The very few targets that remain in the text are mostly to by achieved by corporations through voluntary initiatives. This is a shameful abdication of responsibility by governments and ignores that big business is one of the key players undermining sustainable development today.”

At the end of the first week of PrepCom 4, FoEI, the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace jointly called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to salvage the process, and to save it from “sinking”. They refer to the proposed “Plan of Action” as a “Plan of Inaction”, allowing corporations to continue exploitation without recognising limits to the social and environmental impact of globalisation.

Type II partnerships, are the tools that are being used to allow this continual degradation of the peoples environment. While sitting in meetings over the last few days, there is general recognition by all stakeholders that in order to make partnerships meaningful and able to secure peoples’ rights and action around implementation, partnerships need clear guidelines, transparency, strong participation, trusted facilitation, funding, a framework that links partnerships to governments delivery at an institutional level (Type I outcomes of WSSD). I thus have to ask myself why civil society organisations are so concerned. The main reason is that what governments articulate publicly and what is negotiated on behind closed doors, are not the same thing.

This is what groundWork seeks to ensure its work on Corporate Accountability includes local community people in South Africa. Communities need to understand the power that multi-national corporations wield over government and delivery. By organising the corporate accountability week, prior to the main WSSD process in Johannesburg we hope that, with community people from South Africa joining with major international CSO’s, we can deliver a message to Johannesburg that is one that calls for corporate accountability based upon the real experiences of those that suffer.

[1] listed as the Environmental and Development Agency (EDA); Rural Development Services Network (RDSN); and the National Land Committee (NLC)

[2] listed as Earthlife Africa, groundwork, Environmental Monitoring Group, Environmental Justice Networking Forum, Group for Environmental Monitoring, and the Legal Resources Centre.

Environmental Justice Action in Southern Africa

June 2002

Volume 4 No. 2

In this issue:

From the Editor

From the smokestack

Lead story - Court bid to close incinerator

Waste projects – Enough is enough - Civil society voice their concerns at National Workshop on health care waste and incineration

Global Alliance calls on Mbeki to junk Sasolburg incinerator

Air Quality project - We grow from seed to tree

Africa - Mozal project

Cynics’ Corner

Goodbye Fossil fuels, Hello Biofuel

Focus on… Youth

In brief

In the pipeline

WSSD

From the Editor

From the smokestack
By groundWork director, Bobby Peek

Lead Story
Court bid to close incinerator
by Linda Ambler

The health risks associated with incinerators

Waste Projects

‘Enough is enough’
Civil society voice their concerns at National Workshop on health care waste and incineration
By Llewellyn Leonard

Global alliance calls on Mbeki to junk incinerator
By Linda Ambler

Air Quality Project
We Grow from Seed to Tree
By Ardiel Soeker

Africa
Mozal smelter threatens quality of life in Mozambique
By Ryan Hoover, of the International Rivers Network

Cynics’ Corner
By Greenfly

Goodbye fossil fuels, hello Biofuel
By Linda Ambler

Focus on…. YOUTH

In brief
Agent Orange victims to receive retroactive compensation

POPs Convention

Denmark funds pesticide clean up in Southern Africa

Welcome to Nitasha!

In the Pipeline

WSSD
Partnerships- an intimidating process – what happens behind closed doors
By Bobby Peek

Environmental Justice Action in Southern Africa

Volume 4 No. 2

In this issue:

Lead story - Court bid to close incinerator

Waste projects – Enough is enough - Civil society voice their concerns at National Workshop on health care waste and incineration

Air Quality project - We grow from seed to tree

From the smokestack By groundWork director, Bobby Peek

Lead Story Court bid to close incinerator by Linda Ambler

The health risks associated with incinerators

‘Enough is enough’ Civil society voice their concerns at National Workshop on health care waste and incineration By Llewellyn Leonard

Global alliance calls on Mbeki to junk incinerator By Linda Ambler

Air Quality Project We Grow from Seed to Tree By Ardiel Soeker

Africa Mozal smelter threatens quality of life in Mozambique By Ryan Hoover, of the International Rivers Network

Cynics’ Corner By Greenfly

Goodbye fossil fuels, hello Biofuel By Linda Ambler

In brief Agent Orange victims to receive retroactive compensation

POPs Convention

Denmark funds pesticide clean up in Southern Africa

Welcome to Nitasha!

WSSD Partnerships- an intimidating process – what happens behind closed doors By Bobby Peek

From the smokestack
By groundWork director, Bobby Peek

Lead Story
Court bid to close incinerator
by Linda Ambler

‘Enough is enough’
Civil society voice their concerns at National Workshop on health care waste and incineration
By Llewellyn Leonard

Global alliance calls on Mbeki to junk incinerator
By Linda Ambler

Air Quality Project
We Grow from Seed to Tree
By Ardiel Soeker

Africa
Mozal smelter threatens quality of life in Mozambique
By Ryan Hoover, of the International Rivers Network

Cynics’ Corner
By Greenfly

Goodbye fossil fuels, hello Biofuel
By Linda Ambler

In brief
Agent Orange victims to receive retroactive compensation

WSSD
Partnerships- an intimidating process – what happens behind closed doors
By Bobby Peek