PRESS RELEASE - 16 August 2004

TABLE VIEW RESIDENTS TO GIVE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF
POLLUTION HOT SPOT

The Portfolio Committee on Environment and Tourism will be visiting the Table View area on 17 August 2004. This visit is a result of a submission made to the committee in February by the Table View Resident's Association together with other community organisations from pollution hot spot areas around South Africa. The submission focussed on the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Bill and reflected the concerns of communities living on the fenceline of polluting industries.

The submissions prompted the Portfolio Committee to give an undertaking to visit the various communities and to get a first hand view of the situation. During the first week of August the Portfolio Committee visited Sasolburg, South Durban, and Richards Bay and on 17 August 2004, they will visit Table View in Cape Town.

The Portfolio Committee will be taken to the communities around Caltex refinery, the monitoring station and the medical waste incinerator in Vissershoek. A full programme can be obtained from the Table View Resident's Association.

In the past year, we have witnessed a number of incidents from the Caltex refinery, including the crude oil droplets that rained down on nearby suburbs of Table View and Parklands. The response from Caltex to pay for 'car washing' is certainly not enough. It is hoped that with the passing of the Air Quality Bill, such incidences will decrease and government will hold corporations accountable for their actions.

For further information please contact Andy Birkinshaw of the Table View
Residents Association at 083 703 0183

Ferrial Adam
Research, Media and Corporate Accountability
groundWork, Friends of the Earth, South Africa
P.O. Box 2375, Pietermaritzburg, 3200, South Africa
Tel: +27 (0) 33 342 5662
Fax: +27 (0) 33 342 5665
Cell: +27 (0) 84 484 3387
E-mail: ferrial@groundwork.org.za or team@groundwork.org.za