Tuesday, 18 October 2006

Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance VEJA

Communities unite to resist corporate abuse and lack of government delivery on a safe and healthy environment on 19 October in Sebokeng

The recently constituted Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA) invites you to attend the launch of VEJA where Ms Mamphela Ramphele will be the guest speaker.

This date, “Black Sunday”, on which black political organisations struggling for political freedom were banned in 1977, has been chosen to signal that we view the struggle to be free from pollution as being equally important in a free South Africa. Ms Ramphele was one of the activists hit by the banning, and was engaged in health and environment work at the time.

DATE: 19 October 05

TIME: 10h00 to 11h30

VENUE: Soul Tsotetsi Hall

Sebokeng, Zone 14
Off Moshoeshoe Street (main street in Sebokeng)
Access via R28

The purpose of the event is to launch VEJA, which is an alliance of 15 community and labour organisations in the Vaal Triangle who are uniting to tackle the environmental injustices perpetrated by industries such as Mittal Steel (Iscor), Sasol, Samancor and Eskom, who are all operating in the Vaal Triangle and polluting with impunity. Recent evidence indicates that Sasol and Mittal Steel are the main industrial polluters in the area.

The objective of VEJA is to secure environmental and social justice for the people living in Vaal Triangle and to fight for the delivery of our collective rights guaranteed in the South African Bill of Rights such as access to information and public participation.

Community people will be delivering testimonies on water and air pollution in the area and workers will be talking about workplace injuries and unjust labour practices.

About the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance

The Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance is an Alliance of all environmental organizations, groups, institutions, agencies and individuals operating in Vaal Triangle challenging all forms of environmental degradation by local industries including Iscor Steel Works (now Mittal Steel), Sasol and Samancor.

VEJA affiliates include the Vaal Working Class Coordinating Committee,

the Boipatong Environmental Working Group, the Sasolburg Air Quality Monitoring Group, Steel Valley Crisis Committee, Justice and Peace, Bophelong, African Genesis Environmental Heritage Club, Friends of Steel Valley and NUMSA, and is supported by the Group for Environmental Monitoring, groundWork, Khanya College, Earthlife Africa and the Environmental Justice Networking Forum (EJNF).

VEJA’s objectives are:

• To promote a culture of environmental awareness and sustainable development; to provide a local network of support and assistance to community- based organizations, non- governmental organizations, trade unions, religious groupings, youth, women’s groupings and any other non-governmental awareness and sustainable development in Vaal.
  
• To perform an educational role in promoting an understanding of the inter-related nature of social, political, environmental and economic factors limiting or enabling the achievements of a sustainable, equitable and just society, and to promote the wise use and conservation of natural resources.
  
• To engage with other role players including but not limited to the local authority, provincial and local government, industry and commerce in order to promote a healthy, safe and sustainable environment.
  

For more information:

• Caroline Ntaopane (Coordinator) 073 246 0081

• Setjhele Mofokeng (Networking and Media) 073 670 2503