wednesday 4th september
south africa
groundwork
sasolburg community raises concerns
around sasol's pollution with scotland's
first minister
South Africa: Yesterday, residents of the
Free State town of Sasolburg met with the
First Minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell to
share their grievances and concerns around
the impacts of the operations of chemical and
oil giant Sasol on the environs and people of
Sasolburg.
Mr McConnell is in SA attending the World
Summit on Sustainable Development. Sasol has
recently invested in his homeland, and he
agreed to make a courtesy call at the Sasol
head quarters in Sasolburg. While Sasol, no
doubt, pulled out the "red carpet" for the
First Minister, laying on delicious food and
beverages and painting a rosy picture of
Sasol's chemical and industrial genius, those
on the outside - the disgruntled community
members - gave another side to the story.
Before meeting with Sasol, Mr McConnell
and five of his advisors met with members of
the Sasolburg Environmental Committee, Mayor
Ndaba, and representatives from NGOs
groundWork and Friends of the Earth,
Scotland.
Nicholas Kasa, the Secretary of the
Sasolburg Environmental Committee, eloquently
conveyed to the First Minister the many
negative impacts Sasol's operations have had
on the surrounding environment and
communities. He spoke of health problems in
the area, of bad smells when the wind blows
from the Sasol plants towards the community,
and of regular industrial accidents, flaring,
fires explosions.
McConnell was also taken to a nearby home
to meet with a young child whose legs had to
be amputated after being baldy burnt when a
Sasol truck was involved in an accident and
spilled hazardous chemicals on the side of
the road in 1998.
According to Mr Bobby Peek of groundWork,
it was a very fruitful meeting. Mr McConnell
promised that he would raise the community's
concerns with Sasol when he met the company's
management immediately after meeting with the
community.
"We also asked Mr McConnell to request
that Sasol supply natural gas (through
underground gas pipeline networks) to homes
in the greater Sasolburg area, so that the
poor residents no longer have to burn cheap
coal in their homes", said Peek.
Ardiel Soeker, of groundWork, said that
his organisation and the community had taken
several air samples in the area over the past
two years. These showed that were high levels
of many toxic pollutants in the air in
Sasolburg. He said that Sasol has attempted
to blame this pollution on the poor people
who burn coal in their homes for heat and
energy.
" We are working closely with the local
community on an ongoing basis to assist them
where ever possible with pollution problems,
as well as to link them up with overseas
communities in the globalised struggle
against pollution", said Soeker.
For more information contact:
Nicholas Kasa: 073 187 6393
Bobby Peek: 082 464 1383.
Ardiel Soeker: 082 940 8669
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