We stand in solidarity with the vast majority of INC Member States working constructively to find common ground and to conclude an urgently needed, effective treaty here in Busan. We have made much-needed progress on a range of issues that will be critical for the treaty to achieve its goal of protecting human health and the environment from the adverse effects of plastic pollution.

However, we voice our strong concerns about ongoing calls by a small group of countries to remove binding provisions from the text that are indispensable for the treaty to be effective.

Ambition must be reflected throughout the treaty, covering binding provisions and support provided. The treaty must:

Include a requirement for the Conference of the Parties to adopt, at its first session, in an annex a global target to reduce the production of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels
Establish a clear and legally binding obligation to phase out the most harmful plastic products and chemicals of concern in plastics
Provide ambitious and effective means of implementation, including technical assistance and timely, accessible, predictable and adequate financing from all sources for recipient developing countries, in particular Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States
Enable future development, including by adopting new annexes or amending existing annexes, through regular UN procedures for decision making if all efforts at consensus have been exhausted

A treaty that lacks these elements and only relies on voluntary measures would not be acceptable.

Those most affected by plastic pollution must be supported in the development of inclusive and equitable pathways forward. A just transition is critical to the success of this treaty, ensuring that no one is left behind.

We are operating under a clear mandate from the UN Environment Assembly, a mandate fully supported by all INC members. It is time we take it seriously and negotiate a treaty that is fit for purpose and not built to fail.

We call on all INC members to seize this historic opportunity to conclude an ambitious and effective treaty that demonstrates our collective resolve to end plastic pollution for the benefit of current and future generations.

The post Standing up for Ambition: Statement on Indispensable Elements for an Effective Treaty appeared first on groundWork.

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The post Launch of the People’s Plan to the Right to Housing in an Age of Climate Change appeared first on groundWork.

DATE: 28 November 202

Launch of the People’s Plan to the Right to Housing in an Age of Climate Change

Durban: Thursday 28th November sees the launch of the People’s Plan to the Right to Housing in the Age of Climate Change hosted by the Chief Strategy Officer of eThekwini Municipality, Mr Bongumusa and the Durban Coalition at the Durban Botanic Gardens.

In the past few years, the city of Durban has experienced increased severe weather events due to climate change. Floods have resulted in lost lives and extensive damage to urban infrastructure. In April 2022, 461 people lost their lives over 3 days. The resultant infrastructure collapse rendered our rivers and ocean unfit for human use. The lack of maintenance to key public infrastructure (sewage, water, roads and electricity) compounded the destruction experienced in the floods. Almost two years later, slow infrastructure repair continues to impact on people across the city, especially the most marginalised people. This has revealed a dire lack of planning and capacity within the city to respond to climate change disasters.

Against this backdrop, and in response to these climate and human induced disasters, a coalition of civil society, civic structures and social movements formed in May 2022. The Durban Coalition is a growing collective of civil society (NGOs, CBOs, university academics and social movements) and civic structures (ratepayers and residents associations) in eThekwini. As a non-politically aligned group, the Durban Coalition has committed to work collectively and in solidarity to build a united and co-ordinated participatory civil society movement to strengthen civic structures on the ground. It also engages constructively with local and other spheres of government to respond to social and environmental justice issues.

“The consequences of climate change are no longer an abstract future event,” says Dr Kira Erwin of groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa, “the severe weather we experience, including floods, storms, heatwaves and drought, pose significant threats to all life in the city, including to animals and plants. A lack of political will to meet climate targets from all nation states means that we must refocus our efforts to find ways to survive on a planet that overshoots a 1.5° Celsius increase in global temperature.”

In response to this situation, Durban Coalition has developed a programme of action towards transforming the city into a more just, inclusive and climate resilient place to live. Through a participatory and grounded planning process, across different urban sectors and class positions, the coalition has collectively produced a bottom-up development plan for the Right to Housing in the Age of Climate Change.

Addressing climate change requires integrated planning through participatory and democratic methods. This People’s Plan for the Right to Housing in an Age of Climate Change offers a clear programme-based implementation guide for the municipality and civil society partners to prepare the city to live through severe weather events and protect people’s right to housing and a healthy environment, especially for the most marginalised. Developed over 18-months the People’s Plan involved a broad ground-truthing exercise to test it with constituencies and partners of all member organisations in the Durban Coalition. The People’s Plan has innovative programmes on, amongst others, technical norms and standards for climate resilience, community disaster management planning, security of tenure, and new governance arrangements.

“A Just Transition in South Africa must include participatory resilience planning premised on environmental justice principles that address marginalization and inequality in the city,” says Dr Kira Erwin.

….ends…

Peoples Plan Links:

English version:

IsiZulu version:

Media Contacts: 

groundWork: Tsepang Molefe +27 74 405 1257  media@groundwork.org.za

The Durban Coalition:  Thalia Erwin +27 83 480 0635  thedurbancoalition@gmail.com

Durban Coalition Spokespersons: 

S’bu Zikode (President of Abahlali baseMjondolo)

Kira Erwin (groundWork)

Vusi Zweni (Chairperson of Ubunye bamaHostela)

Nicole Daniels (Springfield Disaster Management)

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the post PETITION!!! RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT: HOLD SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRY TO ACCOUNT FOR DEATHS AND SERIOUS ILLNESSES FROM TOXIC PESTICIDES ON THE FARM AND IN FOOD appeared first on groundWork.

Vuka.news SUMMARY – SIGN PETITON here by 4 December 2024:

South Africa is dealing with a serious problem involving food poisoning and toxic pesticides, which has led to children tragically dying. Critics believe the government’s response blames the wrong people and fails to address the real issues. Here are the main points:

• Tragic Deaths: Children have died due to food contaminated with deadly pesticides like Terbufos, which is banned in other countries but still used in South Africa.
• Government Response: A national disaster has been declared, and spaza shops must re-register. Activists argue this unfairly shifts blame onto shop owners rather than addressing the root causes.
• Outdated Laws: Pesticide regulations in South Africa are 75 years old and fail to protect public health effectively.
• Industry Influence: Powerful chemical companies, like CropLife, are accused of blocking reforms and prioritizing profits over safety.
• Activists’ Demands:
  1. Ban highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) like Terbufos immediately.
  2. Create stricter regulations and stop allowing the pesticide industry to self-regulate.
  3. Provide better healthcare for victims of poisoning and support for their families.
  4. Transition to safer, chemical-free methods of farming.
• Call for Action: Experts and activists are urging the government to take responsibility, fix weak regulations, and protect people’s health and the environment.

PETITION

RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT: HOLD SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRY TO ACCOUNT FOR DEATHS AND SERIOUS ILLNESSES FROM TOXIC PESTICIDES ON THE FARM AND IN FOOD

Ban Terbufos with immediate effect, institute mechanisms for banning all highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) within three months

Please click here to sign on.

Please spread the word by sharing this petition with others: https://t2m.io/PesticideTribunal_BanTerbufos 

Signatures open until 4 December 2024.

22 November 2024

To:

The President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa
Portfolio Committees on Agriculture and Rural Development; Labour and Employment; Health; and Environment, Forestry and Fisheries
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries John Steenhuisen
Minister of Labour and Employment Nomakhosazana Meth
Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi
Minister of Environment Dion George
Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development Mzwanele Nyhontso

South Africans have been alarmed to learn of multiple instances of children rushed to emergency due to foodborne illnesses and poisoning, some with tragically fatal consequences. As a result, President Ramaphosa has declared a national disaster and decreed that all spaza shops must re-register within 21 days.

We note that these solutions do nothing to deal with the source of the issue: the unacceptable presence of HHPs on the South African market, and the failure of the relevant Departments to carry out their duty to effectively regulate agrotoxins.

We are alarmed that the chemical industry, CropLife, immediately created a narrative in the media to place the blame on spaza shops, the lifeblood of most communities in South Africa (SA), fanning xenophobic flames. All in a bid to deflect attention from their responsibility for these historic and continuing tragedies. We are alarmed that our government has supported them in this endeavour. This injustice must be remedied.

PETITION DEMANDS

We call on the government to cease conflating incidences of food poisoning by highly toxic pesticides and food contaminated by food-borne illness. This has led to the inappropriate solution of blaming spazas for the government’s failure.

We urge the government to release in an open and transparent matter, the exact cause of each food-related emergency, as was done with the Naledi tragedy.

We call on the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) to ban Terbufos with immediate effect and to overhaul the entire pesticide registration system within 12 months.

We call on the government to ban aerial spraying of pesticides, as recommended by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, Dr Marcus Orellana, following his visit to SA in 2023.

We call on the government to establish an open and transparent process towards the banning of the category of Highly Hazardous Pesticides within the next three months.

We urge the government to ensure adequate funding for government Poison Information Centres.

We call on the government to establish an independent inquiry into the structural causes and the role of industry in the cases of pesticide poisoning.

We call on the government to implement its 2010 pesticide policy and to integrate this with a food security plan that reduces reliance on chemicals for pest control.

We urge the government to establish a Compensation Fund within one year that will compensate pesticide poisoning victims fairly and equitably.

We urge the Department of Health to ensure access to quality health care for survivors of pesticide poisoning – particularly children – whose long-term development and health may be at risk from the poisoning.

“Everyone wants to assign blame for this tragedy but spaza shop owners are not the culprits. If we don’t tackle the upstream causes, we will almost certainly see more poisonings in the future.” 

Profs Leslie London & Andrea Rother, UCT School of Public Health

 THE LONG READ

 Tragic deaths in Naledi highlight the scourge of street pesticides

In October 2024, South Africa was shocked, outraged, and dismayed to learn that six children had died after eating snacks bought at a spaza shop in Naledi, Soweto. The families of these young children will never be the same. The Department of Health soon confirmed that the deaths were caused by an HHP called Terbufos.

Soon, the media machine was picking up scores of other instances of hospital emergencies related to children eating from school feeding schemes and spaza shops. The pesticide industry, under the auspices of CropLife, aided by the South African government, used this tragedy to conflate the incidences of food contaminated by deadly toxins with food-borne illnesses caused by expired or otherwise spoiled or rotten foods. These are separate occurrences that need discreet and systemic solutions.

In the panic to identify a culprit, attention has focused on spaza shop owners and they have been scapegoated for a much bigger and complex problem. This has firstly allowed industry to wash their hands of any responsibility for failing to ensure product stewardship of their toxic chemicals through the lifetime, as required by the National Environmental Management Act. Secondly, it has opened the door to the scourge of xenophobia, which must be stopped immediately.

We, the undersigned, know who the real culprits are in this avoidable tragedy, and we demand radical and expedited changes in the approval, use, and regulation of agricultural poisons

Terbufos – HHP that should have been banned ages ago

Terbufos is an HHP from the organophosphate family. It was listed as a “restricted agricultural remedy” in 2023, requiring specific labelling. Terbufos has been banned in the European Union since 2009 and there is no reason for it not to have been banned here – European bodies and African bodies react to poisons just the same. Further and given that it is banned elsewhere, there are alternatives available.

The South African government was warned about deaths from pesticides freely available on the street, in 2023 and 2024, by the UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, Dr Marcus Orellana. He even mentioned Terbufos by name in his report on toxins in SA released in July 2024. He found that deaths are caused by lapses in regulations and enforcement. He also warned of the outsize power the chemical industry has in regulatory decision-making. Although the state responded to his report, they did not acknowledge his findings in this regard or show any urgency to remedy the regulatory problems he identified.

Scientists have persistently raised the alarm over decades about the deaths and impacts of street pesticides, as well as pesticides used in agricultural settings. Research at a large Cape Town mortuary, published in 2023, showed that Terbufos was confirmed as the causative agent for more than 50% of child deaths in a 10-year review of child fatalities in which pesticide poisoning was suspected.

The DALRRD is primarily responsible for failing to modernise its regulatory control over toxic pesticides and this failure is the underlying reason for these deaths. The DALRRD issued two discussion papers on pesticide legislation that indicates knowledge that the current legislation – which is 75 years old – must be replaced to be fit for purpose. However, nothing has been done to advance this legislative reform and, under this antiquated Act 36 of 1947, six preventable child deaths have occurred in a terrible tragedy. The Departments of Labour and Employment, Health, and Environment must also take responsibility where they have failed to act. These incidents of death are not new, not surprising.

Our government has been warned many times by experts and activists but has chosen to prioritise the corporate profits of the chemical industry over Constitutional rights to our health and the right to a clean and healthy environment. We reject their attempt to scapegoat spaza shops and foreigners on this matter.

Terbufos and thousands of other pesticides poison farm workers daily

Terbufos is registered for agricultural, not domestic use. It is one of over 9,000 toxic chemical compounds registered for use in SA, in varying categories of toxicity, used extensively on wine, maize and citrus farms. Farm workers are exposed to these daily. While men often do the spraying, women farmworkers are also vulnerable to pesticide exposure, which occurs in multiple ways, including when pesticides are applied while they are working without proper protective clothing and when they are forced to re-enter vineyards soon after pesticides have been sprayed.

Farm bosses often ignore regulations regarding training, access to information, protective gear, wash stations, etc., and no one is monitoring them. Local clinics lack knowledge of pesticides in use in their vicinity, how to diagnose and treat poisoning, or their obligations to report pesticide poisoning. Farm workers live under extremely vulnerable and precarious working conditions where they have little to no bargaining power. They receive the barest minimum wage, with little access to health services. No amount of traceability and labelling will make a substance designed to kill safe, and there is no ideal real-life situation where these toxins can be deployed safely.

Farm workers and their children, farm dwellers, and people living adjacent to farms are also exposed to these toxins regularly. Spraying season has just begun (November) and those living on and adjacent to farms are experiencing the familiar symptoms of exposure to cocktails of toxic pesticides drifting in the air – asthma, sinus, streaming eyes, mood swings, headaches – and many will know the long-term impacts in their bodies in years to come.

This toxic mode of food production is not inevitable. We reject the well-worn narrative that we cannot achieve food security if we do not spray our food with numerous cocktails of poisons from seed to production to storage. Minister Steenhuisen recently declared in the media that these toxins are beneficial to society. How long will we allow the chemical industry to sell us this bizarre notion? What will it take for our government to take a serious look into alternative, safe methods of food production if the death of children from Terbufos poisoning has been an opportunity to deflect blame and responsibility?

The fox is in charge of the hen house – CropLife regulates itself

The multi-billion-dollar industry that produces these highly hazardous chemicals has a hold over the South African government, as noted by the UN Special Rapporteur in his July 2024 report. This industry, spearheaded by CropLife, has hindered every attempt to reduce the use of agrotoxins and to properly regulate and ban HHPs. Government is complicit, as they have enabled the self-regulation by industry to continue and consistently make decisions in favour of industry over the people and environmental health and safety. Here are some examples of industry audacity and impunity:

In 2006, the draft pesticide management policy contained strong safety measures, but the industry successfully lobbied to remove these and restrict the scope of the policy.
Industry stopped plans to replace the Committee to Protect Man against Poisons with a new department structure because the new members included scientists who were too critical of industry interests.
In 2020, it was revealed that CropLife members pay ‘independent consultants’ embedded in the office of the Registrar to do their bidding.
CropLife lobbied to set up a committee of their members to act as an ‘independent certification body’ when the government introduced new regulations governing regulatory trials for pesticides.
In 2021, the Department of Environment withdrew regulations to implement SA’s obligations under the Rotterdam Convention, arguing that time for adjustment was needed –17 years after SA ratified the Convention. Terbufos was one of the agents imported by UPL at its Cornubia store that went up in flames in 2021, and would have been notifiable under these regulations.
The South African registrar of hazardous substances promised to phase out 116 HHPs by June 2024 (Terbufos is one of these). Ultimately, only 28 were identified for phasing out, but not Terbufos, and to add insult to injury, regulations were even passed to allow industry to apply for exemptions to continue to use these chemicals under certain circumstances.
There is no publicly available database of pesticide registrations. This responsibility was handed by the DALRRD to industry and access to information on what pesticides are registered for use in SA is under the control of CropLife.

We the undersigned demand an end to the self-regulation of this industry as being a clear case of gross conflict of interests. We demand that our government takes responsibility for pesticide poisoning on the farm and in the street, and holds Croplife and its members to account. The government is under a Constitutional duty to take up the regulatory reins to ensure our Constitutional rights to health and the right to a healthy environment.

Issued by the South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins (SAPToA).

SAPToA is a coalition of vulnerable and affected peoples, civil society organisations, trade unions, academics and individuals working together to expose the harmful reality of pesticides in South Africa and support those who work with agricultural toxins in their daily lives.

Our growing affiliates currently include:

Commercial Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU); Women on Farms Project (WFP); African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB); groundWork, Friends of the Earth SA, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance; affected peoples of the Blackburn Community; Surplus People Project (SPP); Ubuntu Rural Women and Youth Movement; Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE); UCT School of Public Health.

You can sign the petition here.

Spread the word by sharing this link: https://t2m.io/PesticideTribunal_BanTerbufos 

Signatures open until 4 December 2024.

Further reading

Visit to South Africa – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, Marcos Orellana. July 2024. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5752add1-visit-south-africa-report-special-rapporteur-implications

Comments by the State: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes on his visit to South Africa. September 2024. https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g24/149/14/pdf/g2414914.pdf 

Pesticide Action Network list of HHPs. https://pan-international.org/wp-content/uploads/PAN_HHP_List.pdf

Terbufos information sheet: https://echa.europa.eu/substance-information/-/substanceinfo/100.032.679

End notes

HHPs are pesticides that have been identified as posing a high and unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. They are typically characterised by:

acute toxicity,
potential to cause chronic health effects, or
persistence in the environment, and
commonly being highly restricted or banned in other regions for this reason.

192 HHPs are registered and legally in use in SA and of these over a third (57/192) are banned in the European Union (EU) because of unacceptable human health and environmental risks, and 36 belong to the most hazardous class known as the World Health Organisation (WHO) Group 1a and 1b. These are substances known to have carcinogenic potential for humans, based on human health evidence and, in acute poisonings, can cause death. Examples of HHPs in this class still legally registered and used in South Africa include:

Carbofuran: This pesticide used on many crops is toxic by inhalation or dermal absorption. Farmers and farmworkers are most at risk as it is an endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) and reproductive and developmental toxicant. It is also highly toxic to aquatic organisms.

Mevinphos: Exposure can result in long-term neurological effects. It is also a groundwater contaminant and farmworkers and farmers are at great exposure risk as it is also an EDC.

Terbufos: This agricultural insecticide with neurotoxic effects is often sold as a street pesticide in SA – a pesticide that is decanted and sold for use in informal markets without the correct label or warnings. Children and adolescents are the most vulnerable group and high incidences of poisonings are recorded every year.

The post PETITION!!! RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT: HOLD SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRY TO ACCOUNT FOR DEATHS AND SERIOUS ILLNESSES FROM TOXIC PESTICIDES ON THE FARM AND IN FOOD appeared first on Vuka News.

The post COP29 must Prioritize Africa’s Just Energy Transition and Climate Justice appeared first on groundWork.

Press Release

COP29 must Prioritize Africa’s Just Energy Transition and Climate Justice

 In 2024, Africa has faced some of the most devastating climate events in recent history, reinforcing the need for action at COP29

 s Africa endures some of its worst climate impacts to date, the world must acknowledge that COP29 is an urgent crossroads. Across the continent, record floods, droughts, wildfires, and cyclones are not only devastating communities but also signalling that the current global approach to climate action is failing those on the frontlines. Africa contributes just 3% of global carbon emissions, yet its communities are shouldering an outsized share of the climate burden.

In 2024, climate disasters have taken a harsh toll across the continent. Flooding in Eastern Africa displaced over 1.5 million people, Cyclone Batsirai left millions in Madagascar and Mozambique in dire conditions, and wildfires in North Africa are ravaging ecosystems and agricultural land, and displacing communities. Meanwhile, prolonged droughts in the Sahel and conflict-driven famine in Sudan have created a humanitarian crisis for over 20 million people. The deepest injustice of it all is that while the continent contributes little to global emissions, it suffers some of the most severe consequences. The message for COP29 is clear: systemic, transformative change in global climate action and finance are long overdue.

A Just Energy Transition: Beyond Fossil Fuels to Community Power

Africa’s energy future should centre on renewable, democratic, community-led solutions. Solar and wind energy hold immense potential for the continent, yet investment remains low. Over 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity, while fossil fuel projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) expand at the cost of communities and ecosystems. COP29 must phase out fossil fuel projects and redirect investment toward locally owned, renewable energy systems that serve African people, not corporate profit.

We need a just transition that is led by communities, ensuring that they are not only recipients of energy but also have ownership and control. Energy justice must be at the forefront, prioritising those who have long been forced to bear the costs of a climate crisis they did not cause.

Equitable Climate Finance: Addressing Debt and Fair Funding for Adaptation

Africa’s climate response is hampered by inadequate and unjust climate finance. Despite a pledge of $100 billion annually from developed countries, Africa receives only a fraction, with funds often structured as loans that deepen its debt crisis and echo colonial patterns. COP29 must secure public climate finance that focuses on the needs of peoples across the continent, adaptation, loss and damage, and renewable energy, in the form of grants, not loans. The Loss and Damage Fund may have been operationalised at COP28 but COP29 must ensure that it’s fully resourced and accessible, free from bureaucratic barriers.

Africa’s just energy transition depends on democratic integrity and accountability

Recent elections in Mozambique highlighted the need for strengthened democratic processes. Meanwhile, countries rich in natural resources see little benefit due to governance challenges and corporate profiteering. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, mineral exploitation, particularly of cobalt and lithium critical for global renewable energy supply chains, has led to severe human rights abuses. Communities endure displacement, health hazards, and environmental degradation at the hands of corporations. African resources must serve African people.

Corporate accountability is equally vital. Global demand for minerals essential to the renewable energy transition has driven severe exploitation in African regions, often involving human rights abuses and environmental degradation. COP29 must champion mechanisms that hold corporations accountable, ensuring that human rights and environmental standards are adhered to. Extractive projects must prioritise local ownership, benefiting African communities rather than perpetuating patterns of exploitation.

Empowering Women, Youth, and Indigenous Peoples

 omen, youth, and Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by climate change yet play pivotal roles in advancing resilience and adaptation. Women, particularly in agriculture, are often the first to respond to climate impacts, while youth are at the forefront of climate activism. Indigenous communities, custodians of ecosystems across Africa, have invaluable knowledge on biodiversity conservation, sustainable land use, and climate resilience. However, they are often excluded from climate discussions and threatened by large-scale projects.

COP29 must ensure these groups have a central voice in decision-making, with financing for capacity-building and must recognise and protect Indigenous rights, their land and their knowledge.

A Call for Climate Justice

 At COP29, global leaders have an opportunity to take transformative action by prioritising Africa’s needs, voices, and sovereignty. Africa’s energy justice is inseparable from its climate justice. A renewable energy transition rooted in equity, self-determination, justice and sustainability is not only essential for Africa but also a model for the world. This shift must be supported by public and fair climate finance, technology transfer from the Global North, and a genuine respect for African sovereignty.

As the world gathers at COP29, the stakes are higher than ever. Africa is calling for action, and it is time for global leaders to respond with commitment, solidarity, and a vision for a sustainable, just future.

For media enquiries contact:

Kholwane Simelane – Africa Energy Transformation Project Coordinator, Friends of the Earth Africa.

kholwani@foei.org, +27 81 772 8843

Kevin Munyoli – Communications Coordinator, Africa Just Transition Network

acncomms@groundwork.org.za, +254 755 439875

Tsepang Molefe – Media and Communications Campaigner, groundwork

media@groundwork.org.za, +27 74 405 1257

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Today, Urgewald and 34 NGO partners published the 2024 update of the Global Oil & Gas Exit List (GOGEL). GOGEL is the most comprehensive public database of companies in the oil and gas industry. It covers 1,769 companies active in the
upstream, midstream and power sectors. Companies on GOGEL are responsible for 95% of global oil and gas production. GOGEL 2024 can be downloaded at gogel.org

In 2023, oil and gas production reached a historic high. In the hottest year on record, companies on GOGEL produced 55.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (bboe). Global hydrocarbons production surpassed the pre-COVID all-time high. “This production record is deeply concerning. If we do not end fossil fuel expansion and move towards a managed decline of oil and gas production, the 1.5 °C goal will be out of reach,” saysNils Bartsch, Head of Oil & Gas Research at Urgewald. One year ago, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary heralded the COP28 agreement as the ‘beginning of the end’ of the fossil fuel era. But oil and gas companies’ actions tell a different tale: One where oil and gas expansion becomes a never-ending story.

Read more here.

The post Urgewald -The 2024 Global Oil & Gas Exit List: More Loss and Damage Ahead appeared first on groundWork.

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The original post AFRICA JUST TRANSITION NETWORK (AJTN) POSITION STATEMENT FOR COP29 appeared first on ©groundWork

POSITION STATEMENT FOR COP29 BY AFRICA JUST TRANSITION NETWORK (AJTN) FORMERLY KNOWN AS AFRICA COAL NETWORK (ACN)

  A CALL FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE AND A JUST TRANSITION FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO RENEWABLE ENERGY

SUMMARY by Vuka.news:

 Africa’s Low Emissions, High Impact: Although Africa contributes less than 4% of global emissions, it faces severe climate effects like droughts, floods, cyclones, and heatwaves, threatening food and water access.

Historic Exploitation: Transnational corporations have extracted Africa’s fossil fuels for profit, leaving environmental damage and poverty, while many Africans still lack electricity.

AJTN’s Mission for COP29: The Africa Just Transition Network (AJTN) urges African leaders to demand climate justice, focusing on policies that benefit African communities instead of external interests.

Key Goals:

• End Fossil Fuel Dependence: Gradually phase out fossil fuels and stop new fossil projects.
• Community-Owned Renewable Energy: Support locally-owned renewable projects to increase energy access and create jobs.
• Fair Climate Financing: Seek debt-free funding from wealthy countries, with simple access for African nations.
• Reject False Solutions: Avoid carbon trading and other “green” projects that harm local communities or allow ongoing emissions.

Focus on African Leadership: AJTN emphasizes that African leaders should control climate funds to meet local needs and reduce dependency on Western funding.

Reparations and Support: AJTN calls for reparations from wealthy nations to address Africa’s climate vulnerability and ensure fair technology sharing for sustainable growth.

Call for Global Solidarity: Real climate justice requires the world to support African-led efforts toward a sustainable, just climate future.

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The post Civil society coalition says: Heads must roll for Terbufos regulatory failure appeared first on groundWork.

Civil society coalition says: Heads must roll for Terbufos regulatory failure

Press Release: South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins

IN SUMMARY THE STATEMENT SAYS:

Tragic Deaths of Children in Soweto: Six children in Naledi, Soweto died from ingesting Terbufos, a highly toxic pesticide used in agriculture. This tragedy highlights the dangers that these chemicals pose, especially to children in rural communities.

Call for Pesticide Bans and Better Regulations: Activists and organizations have campaigned for stricter pesticide regulations and a ban on hazardous pesticides. Despite a report from the UN in July 2024 documenting poisoning cases and deaths, the South African government has not taken effective action.

Serious Health Risks Linked to Pesticides: UN findings revealed that Terbufos and other illegal “street pesticides” have poisoned children and communities, especially in impoverished areas with poor sanitation. Terbufos is labeled as highly toxic by the World Health Organization and is banned in the EU but still used legally in South Africa.

Corporate Influence on Regulation: Critics claim South Africa’s pesticide regulations favor corporate interests, leaving vulnerable communities exposed to harmful chemicals. Activists argue that the government’s close ties with industry have led to regulatory failures, making marginalized groups suffer disproportionately.

Community Health Disasters: In Durban’s Blackburn settlement, during the 2021 riots, a warehouse containing pesticides (including Terbufos) was burned, releasing toxic smoke and causing long-lasting health issues. Residents felt authorities failed to protect or assist them.

Industry and Government Deflect Blame: The chemical industry initially blamed banned, smuggled substances, but tests showed the deaths were due to legally registered Terbufos. Critics call this a “double standard,” as pesticides banned in the EU are still exported to developing countries like South Africa, where regulations are weaker.

Demands for Immediate Action:

• Ban Dangerous Pesticides: Organizations urge South Africa to ban highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs), especially those banned elsewhere.
• Government Accountability: There are calls for consequences for regulatory failures and better coordination across government agencies to ensure pesticide regulation and enforcement.
• Transparency and Inclusivity: Activists demand that the government end self-regulation by industry, involve communities in decisions, and create a public database of chemicals used in the country.

Support for Vulnerable Communities: Activists express solidarity with farm workers and communities regularly exposed to toxic pesticides. They advocate for a shift to safe and sustainable agricultural practices to protect public health, the environment, and worker rights.

Commitment to Ongoing Advocacy: Civil society groups are committed to fighting against the current harmful agricultural practices and supporting farm workers, who face daily exposure to these toxins, for a safer and more just system.

Endorsements: This call for action is backed by various organizations including :

• African Centre for Biodiversity
• Women on Farms Project
• groundWork, Friends of the Earth SA
• Surplus People Project
• Ubuntu Rural Women and Youth Movement
• Commercial Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union
• Trust for Community Outreach and Education

Notes for editors:

• Visit to South Africa – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, Marcos Orellana. July 2024. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5752add1-visit-south-africa-report-special-rapporteur-implications
• Comments by the State: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes on his visit to South Africa. September 2024. https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g24/149/14/pdf/g2414914.pdf
• Pesticide Action Network (PAN) list of HHPs https://pan-international.org/wp-content/uploads/PAN_HHP_List.pd
• Terbufos information sheet: https://echa.europa.eu/substance-information/-/substanceinfo/100.032.679

For Media Inquiries:

• People’s Tribunal on Agrotoxins: Haidee Swanby, haidee@polka.co.za +27 (0)82 459 8548
• groundWork: media@groundwork.org.za

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Environmentalists reveal contamination at the Thai import facility and request split sample of wayward cargo

The post Thousands of Tonnes of Suspected Toxic Waste Returns to Albania from Trip to Thailand appeared first on groundWork.

Durres, Albania. October 28, 2024. An estimated 2,100 total metric tonnes of suspected hazardous waste packed in 102 containers aboard the Turkish-flagged container ship MOLIVA finally returned to Durres, Albania today after travelling thousands of miles across the globe to Southeast Asia and back. The massive shipment of what is suspected of being waste pollution control filter dust from the steel industry, first left Durres on July 4th, 2024, on two Maersk chartered ships. Shortly thereafter, the Basel Action Network (BAN), following a tip from a whistleblower, alerted authorities of Albania, multiple transit countries, and the intended destination country of Thailand that the ship was likely involved in the criminal trafficking in hazardous waste. As a consequence, the Thai government stated they never agreed to accept the waste and asked the Singaporean government to stop the shipment.

  Opening of Containers in Public View and Sample Splitting

 BAN’s Director Jim Puckett, was in Durres port when the ship arrived and is calling on Albanian authorities to have a public opening and sampling of the containers to ensure a transparent sampling and analysis process. He is seeking a split sample so that his independent NGO can conduct a parallel analysis to determine confirm the hazardousness of the waste and will be meeting officials of the Ministry of Environment this week.

“This is a massive victory for global environmental governance because in this instance the Basel Convention mechanisms has addressed illegal trade in hazardous, ensured return to sender and also negated what most likely would have ultimately resulted in massive environmental contamination with impacts on human health”. Musa Chamane, Waste Campaigner at groundWork.

Read more about this here

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The post Defend Our Defenders: Activists gather at the Union Buildings to demand protection for human rights defenders appeared first on groundWork.

MEDIA ADVISORY

DATE: 18 October 2024

Defend Our Defenders: Activists gather at the Union Buildings to demand protection for human rights defenders

WHAT: Human rights defenders will march to the Union Building in Pretoria to demand an end to threats and violence aimed at activists and community members. Under the “Defend our Defenders” campaign supported by more than 80 community and environmental justice organisations, calls for the development of law to protect whistleblowers and activists. The Campaign also calls for justice for all Human Rights Defenders who have been killed over the years.

BACKGROUND: Human rights and environmental activists have been and continue to be targeted for confronting undemocratic practices and violations of constitutional rights by corporate bodies and government. The assassination of Human Rights Defenders in South Africa remains an ever-present reality, threats and intimidation against activists and whistle-blowers are becoming commonplace. This needs urgent action and attention from the government.

WHY THIS GATHERING MATTERS: The threats, attacks and assassinations of whistleblowers, community, land and climate justice activists, continue to escalate with impunity. The silencing of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) is a threat to our democracy. It also infringes on the right to freedom of expression. The gathering intends to commemorate, honour, and spread awareness about the lives of those who have been assassinated, and the threats that human rights defenders currently face in many communities – especially mining communities around the country. The gathering is also a call to government actors, particularly the President of the Republic of South Africa, the Minister of Police, and the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services to acknowledge the significant role played by Human Rights Defenders in ensuring that the Constitutional rights of the poor and vulnerable are protected and that cases of violence and assassinations of defenders are taken seriously.

WHEN: Tuesday 22 October, 2024

WHERE: Pretoria  – City of Tshwane

Starting Point: Old bus terminal – Struben street

End Point: Union Building

Time: 09:00 – 14:00

Memorandum for HRD Gathering 2024

Note: A more detailed media release will be shared with interested parties on Monday the 21st of October 2024

[END]

FOR EDITORS/JOURNALISTS/MEDIA HOUSES

Media Access: Journalists and media outlets are invited to cover this significant event.

For media inquiries or to arrange interviews with representatives, affected community members and activists please contact:

Tsepang Molefe, groundWork Media Campaigner: +27 74 405 1257 media@groundwork.org.za

Nomatter Ndebele, CER Communications Coordinator: +27 76 731 4403,  nndebele@cer.org.za

Carina Conradie, Life After Coal Campaigner: +27 71 571 4470, cconradie@lifeaftercoal.org.za

Relevant resources: 

• Recent case https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/2024-08-11-renewed-fight-against-mass-eviction-project-sold-as-a-development-despite-deaths

• HRD Attacks:

• We Know Our Lives are in Danger report

• Human Rights Defenders Part 1

• Human Rights Defenders Part 2

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The post VAAL COMMUNITIES PROTEST DMRE’s LICENCING OF PROPOSED VLAKFONTEIN, SPRINGFIELD AND REDAN SIDING COAL PROJECTS appeared first on groundWork

Media statement for immediate Release: VAAL COMMUNITIES PROTEST DMRE’s LICENCING OF PROPOSED VLAKFONTEIN, SPRINGFIELD AND REDAN SIDING COAL PROJECTS

IN SUMMARY:

Protest Details: Vaal communities under the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA) will gather outside the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) on October 16, 2024, from 11:00.

Purpose of Protest: DMRE is deciding on proposed coal projects: Vlakfontein, Springfield, and Redan Siding.

Concerns about Coal Projects: Another major coal mining operation is planned for the Vaal Barrage Catchment by Glubay Coal, a subsidiary of Canyon Coal Mine.

• The Vlakfontein site aims to wash 1200 tonnes of coal per hour, using large amounts of fresh water that communities in Waterdal, Dreamland, and surrounding areas have awaited for over a decade.
• This fresh water usage is seen as a violation of residents’ rights, particularly their constitutional right to access water.
• Leaking pipes and poor infrastructure maintenance exacerbate the water issues, and coal mining could further strain the fragile water systems.

Infrastructure Risks: The Vlakfontein coal site is near a Rand Water pipeline, raising concerns about potential incidents during blasting, which could damage the pipeline and harm community infrastructure, housing, livelihoods, and the environment.

VEJA’s Demands: “DMRE to consider rehabilitation for the loss of water tables in historic open cast mining activities along the Vaal Barrage Catchment.”

• “DMRE to answer the following questions with due diligence: What is DMRE’s Climate Change Plan? Considering the loss of fresh water by more than 30% seasonally, how is the DMRE planning to contribute to the National Water Resource Strategy and the Climate Change Act?”
• “How will DMRE address their failures of law enforcement within the historic non-compliance with Sec.24 of the Constitution and the National Environmental Management Act, and other Special Environmental Management Acts from previous mines?”
• “The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy must come to mine hosting communities to see what is it that communities are going through before giving out another Environmental Authorization for coal mining.”

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The post Defending for Tomorrow: Cancel Coal Takes Constitutional Battle to Court appeared first on groundWork.

Cancel Coal: Legal Challenge of Government’s Plan for New Coal-fired Power Capacity

• MEDIA ADVISORY
• IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
• DATE: 08 October 2024

Defending for Tomorrow: Cancel Coal Takes Constitutional Battle to Court

WHAT: The legal challenge against the South African government’s plans to develop 1500 megawatts (MW) of new coal-fired electricity generation will be heard in the Pretoria High Court on October 9-10, 2024.

BACKGROUND: The youth-led Cancel Coal case is a landmark climate constitutional challenge brought by  the African Climate Alliance (ACA), the Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action (VEM) and groundWork, Friends of the Earth SA, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER). The applicants argue that the government’s plan to build new coal plants threatens several constitutional rights, including the right to an environment not harmful to the health and well-being of present and future generations, as well as the rights to life, dignity, equality, and the best interests of the child.

WHY THIS CASE MATTERS: The Cancel Coal court case is South Africa’s first youth-led climate change case that challenges the government’s decision to procure 1500 MW of new coal-fired power despite  the climate change impacts of burning coal which threaten the constitutional rights of present and future generations in South Africa.

The Cancel Coal case highlights the particular risk climate harms pose to children, young people and future generations in South Africa. The impacts of the inclusion of new coal-fired power will be experienced disproportionately by children and future generations, who will live with the consequences for decades to come.  The applicants’ court papers highlight that section 28(2) of the Constitution, place a particular obligation to consider the best interest of children and to assess the interests of future generations.

Expert evidence submitted in support of the case demonstrates that South Africa does not need additional coal power to meet its electricity demands. Renewable energy alternatives, which are not only less harmful but also more cost-effective, can adequately meet the country’s energy needs.

WHEN: October 9-10, 2024

WHERE: Pretoria High Court

END

FOR EDITORS

Media Access: Journalists and media outlets are invited to cover this significant court hearing.

For media inquiries or to arrange interviews with representatives from the African Climate Alliance, Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action, or groundWork, please contact:

• Nomatter Ndebele, CER Communications Coordinator: +27 76 731 4403,  nndebele@cer.org.za
• Carina Conradie, Life After Coal Campaigner: +27 71 571 4470, cconradie@lifeaftercoal.org.za
• Tsepang Molefe, groundWork Media Campaigner: +27 74 405 1257 media@groundwork.org.za
• Click here to access the full #CancelCoal court documents.

Expert Reports

• Potential Impacts of Proposed New Coal Generation, by Dr. Ranajit Sahu
• Professor Nicholas King’s report explores climate impacts on youth and future generations in South Africa
• Impacts on social, physical and mental health and well-being by Dr Garret Barnwell

The post Defending for Tomorrow: Cancel Coal Takes Constitutional Battle to Court appeared first on Vuka News.

Cape Town, 30 August 2024: Civil society organisations are optimistic about the outcomes of a Supreme Court of Appeal hearing, following arguments that took place today in Bloemfontein. The court has reserved judgment.

South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) and groundWork challenged a High Court judgment on Eskom’s proposed gas power plant in Richards Bay. The organisations have been fighting to prevent a proposed 3,000MW gas-to-power plant from being built in Richards Bay, by state-owned enterprise, Eskom. The gas-to-power plant would be fuelled by gas via a pipeline that would be installed from the Richards Bay Port and would supply up to 3,000MW of energy. 

The pipeline is not yet built, nor authorised. However, the gas-to-power plant received environmental authorisation in December of 2019.

The matter went to the SCA as an appeal against the Pretoria High Court judgment that had previously declined to set aside the environmental authorisation granted to Eskom for the gas power plant. This despite the court finding that the public participation process was flawed. In the High Court, SDCEA and groundWork called for the environmental authorisation to be declared unlawful and set aside, based on inadequacies within the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and a flawed public participation process, given that many communities were excluded from the process. 

Paul-Micheal Kitchel, from environmental law firm Cullinan & Associates, representing the SDCEA and groundWork, supported by Natural Justice, said that it was a very high impact case, the result of which would have repercussions for all of those who care about the environment.

“The questions which we were boxing about today revolve around what the requirements are in order to obtain an environmental authorisation in South Africa under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and, for that matter, very importantly, whether policy decisions that have been taken by the state in advance of an application for environmental authorisation can get the state out of strictly adhering to the requirements in terms of NEMA.”

He added: “We are cautiously optimistic that any confusion that in future might be relied upon by the state will have been cleared up today.”

Legal representatives argued that, while the executive is indeed mandated to formulate an action policy, it remains constrained by the rule of law. This requires that, in the case of NEMA, their plans still need to navigate strict environmental checks and balances, and that such process should be informed by reference to all relevant considerations. Policy cannot override NEMA requirements.The impact of the plant on climate change, throughout it’s lifecycle,  was argued to be a primary and thus unavoidable consideration in this case.   

SDCEA representative, Nokwazi Magubane said she thought the day went well. “I’m feeling optimistic about the way that all of the judges handled both the appellants and the respondents. So, I am optimistic about the outcome.”

Also attending the hearing in Bloemfontein, Celokuhle Zondi, a Community Environmental Legal Officer (CELO) representing Natural Justice, said: “My takeaway is keep on fighting, stick to your guns and trust democracy to work.”

Background:

Eskom Holdings SOC, a state-owned enterprise, was granted environmental authorisation in December of 2019.

SDCEA and groundWork called for the environmental authorisation to be declared unlawful and set aside, based on inadequacies within the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and a flawed public participation process, given that many communities were excluded from the process. This was because (among other reasons) none of the communications during the public participation process had been conducted in the home language of the majority of people in the area (isiZulu).

On 2 August 2022, the case was heard in the Pretoria High Court. In the High Court, they argued that there was an inadequate assessment of the climate change impacts of the project. Evidence shows that, holistically and if ‘upstream’ (or pre-combustion) emissions are considered, a gas-to-power plant, such as the proposed plant, emits as much greenhouse gas as other fossil fuels, like coal, during the entire life-cycle of a project.   

On 6 October 2022, the Pretoria High Court (despite finding the Applicants’ 5th review ground to have merit – impliedly justifying a review of the impugned decisions) dismissed the review application and refused to set the impugned decisions aside. But, it did grant ancillary orders to the effect that the decision to grant the environmental authorisation should be published in isiZulu and the communications in future EIAs for the gas terminal and pipeline should also be in isiZulu. This unfortunately meant that the environmental authorisation remained valid.

On dismissal, the court awarded costs to SDCEA and groundWork, even though they had been unsuccessful, because they had “brought to the fore the deficit in the public participation process – an essential element central to the legitimacy of the entire application process.

SDCEA and groundWork applied to the Pretoria High Court for leave to appeal. The hearing took place on 17 January. A day later, on 18 January 2023, Judge Millar dismissed the CSOs’ application on the basis that he was of the view that another court would not come to a different conclusion.

The Supreme Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal on 28 April 2023. The appeal was heard in the SCA on 30 August.

[ENDS]

Natasha Prince, Natural Justice, natasha@naturaljustice.org +27 73 298 9809
Claire Martens, Natural Justice, claire@naturaljustice.org  +27 82 470 1187
Paul-Michael Keichel, Cullinan & Associates paul-michael@greencounsel.co.za 

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Samson Mokoena and the struggle for a clean environment in the Vaal

By Victor Munnik

Samson Mokoena taking a water sample in Steel Valley. Photo by James Oatway supplied by Centre for Environmental Rights.

I still can’t believe that Samson is gone. That I will never again – except in photos and films – see his face, at once intense and friendly, hear his strong voice and feel his warm, comradely hug. We have been comrades in the struggle for environmental justice – particularly around water and air pollution for 23 years now. He was not only a friend, but an important leader in the struggle for environmental justice in South Africa, Africa and the world.

Samson was a person for whom the description “the struggle is my life” was made. He was still a youth, and a member of the ANC Youth League when his father invested his life savings (his pension) in a smallholding in Steel Valley. There were rumours at the time, Samson told me later, that the area had been polluted by the giant steel mill – then Iscor – and that no-one should buy there. But it was the early 1990s and legislation stopping Black people from owning land in “white” South Africa had just been repealed. Samson’s father, and other prospective Black landowners, like Strike Matsepe, dismissed the rumours as racist attempts to prevent Black people from buying land there.

They were sadly mistaken. The South African apartheid parastatal Iscor had been polluting the area since they started operations in 1961. When the new South African water law in 1965 obliged them to regulate their water quality, they did tests. Documents show that from then on, they knew that dirty water leaving their factory was polluting the smallholdings to the west of them. It was flowing down a canal to smallholdings that – according to the title deeds of these properties – could be used for irrigation of crops. There were no warning signs, so children swam in the polluted water without a care. The huge Iscor uncapped slagheap across the road from these smallholdings covered them in fine, toxic dust when the wind blew. And the tar filled water from the coke ovens seeped into the fractured rocks and aquifers of Steel Valley, through a holding dam that had no protective lining. This pollution also seeped into people’s bodies.

As the old and new residents of Steel Valley discovered the pollution. They also discovered that a number of farmers had already signed agreements for compensation based on non-disclosure with Iscor as a result of the pollution. But people hoped for something better. It was the new South Africa. The new local government supported these farmers with water quality tests. They even worked on competing relocation plans, but these would be only for some selected owners, and for others, like ANC local government official Neville Felix, it would be a relocation plan to move the whole community including labour tenants and farm workers.

A forum initiated by the Department of Water Affairs in 1996 put a heap of pollution evidence on the table. Justice would be done. But in 2000 the department and Iscor backed out and collapsed the forum after a group of white smallholders (maplotters as Iscor management derisively referred to them), the Johnny Horne group, had taken Iscor to court in 1998. They won a settlement, Iscor bought out their farms and they left. Another mixed group of 16 applicants from across racial divisions decided to repeat this in 2001. Samson’s father was amongst them, and so Samson got involved in a struggle for environmental justice that would last for the rest of his life. This second attempt failed and Iscor a single buyer in a devastated Steel Valley, got to buy out the remaining smallholdings on the cheap. The big polluter had won the second round, but the people of Steel Valley were not ready to give up.

During the court case, Iscor obtained a gagging order against the 16 applicants. In response, the children of the 16 applicants formed the Steel Valley Crisis Committee around which the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA) grew.

I first met at Samson Mokoena around 2001, when we were preparing for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), a 10 year repeat of the famous Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, that produced the equally famous Agenda for the twenty first century, Agenda 21, with its forty chapters outlining the responsibilities of various groups for a sustainable planet, and what should happen in terms of water quality, oceans, climate change and other burning environmental questions. During the WSSD the Steel Valley struggle became the object of worldwide attention as environmentalists who had flocked to the summit in Johannesburg, drove the 70 km from Johannesburg to Vanderbijlpark, to talk to people, witness protest marches and see the pollution for themselves.

In 2004, the Iscor steel mill was sold to Lakshmi Mittal, a global steel magnate who later also bought the Luxembourgian Arcelor steel company to create AMSA. It was reported that he had built his family a jewel encrusted pool.

In the same year, Steel Valley residents now united with other communities fighting pollution in the Vaal Triangle, founded VEJA. Affiliates included the Samancor manganese workers suffering from manganese poisoning, affiliates who were working to beautify the place, create food gardens and grow indigenous medicinal plants, NUMSA ex-workers, the then powerful Anti-Privatisation Forum and Working Class Crisis Committee. I started research for my PhD[1] in environmental studies on the tactics and strategies Samson’s family and the Steel Valley residents used in their struggle to end pollution and find justice for the residents, and the politics of knowledge that protected the managers from taking responsibility for their impacts on people and their environments. VEJA invited me onto their steering committee, on which I served for the first four years.

I particularly recall a “Day of Remembrance” in 2007, in what remained of Steel Valley after Iscor/AMSA had bought out the vast majority of farms and bulldozed them into nothing. We were standing in the Highveld cold on Strike Matsepe’s smallholding, one of the few houses that still defiantly clung to the landscape. We planted crosses in the polluted earth in remembrance of those who had not only lost their livelihoods and health, but also their lives.

In 2014 VEJA won a major legal victory in the supreme court. AMSA was forced to release its master plan after more than 10 years of refusal and struggle. In the plan, AMSA detailed information describing the pollution it had all along claimed did not exist, and revealed plans for cleaning up the some of the pollution, as well as plans to live with pollution that was too difficult or expensive to deal with, for example the tar from the coke ovens in the groundwater beneath what used to be Steel Valley.

Samson was a true leader and activist. He was never short of energy to connect and learn, to debate and advocate, to organise, to protest and to struggle. His political positions were clear and engaged, and he could navigate the tricky terrain of politics in the Vaal. He played a leading role in VEJA activities as VEJA engaged on the streets, in boardrooms and corporate annual general meetings, in the broader EJ and social justice movements, in the media and policy forums. The list of activities and struggles VEJA embarked on is long. It is evidence of their broad and spirited engagement, for many on a volunteer basis. VEJA got involved in, amongst others:

The Rietspruit catchment management forum, where water pollution from the steel factory, gold mines and as part of South Africa’s slowly developing catchment management system was discussed. Samson briefly chaired this forum until he decided that he would have more freedom to speak as an ordinary member.
Research for the Water Research Commission into citizens science for water quality. In this project, VEJA engaged with traditional healers to claim their space as water users whose needs were not being met or even recognised in legislation.
Samson played a long-standing role in the SA Water Caucus (founded in 2001), bringing water activists together nationwide, and built up the Free State Water Caucus (like the Vaal Triangle, VEJA extended into the Free State starting with Sasolburg).
The Highveld Air Quality Priority area, an attempt to work with officials to monitor air quality and discipline dirty industry in the area, to improve air quality in the Vaal.

VEJA worked closely with other parts of the EJ movement, including groundWork, Earthlife, the Centre for Environmental Rights, the Benchmarks Foundation and the Environmental Justice Fund. VEJA, under Samson’s guidance, also engaged middle class activists in Save the Vaal Environment and the local campus of the North West University. VEJA involved the Human Rights Commission in a hearing on the water pollution in the important Vaal River, and many more, too many to mention. The struggle, against pollution, for better regulation by the state, for people’s health and wellbeing and building a strong EJ movement, is a long and difficult one.

The last time I worked with Samson was in a research project this year, in support of a global green steel movement which was pressuring Arcelor Mittal to make the same investments in their South African and other global South countries steel mills, as they were making in their “First World” European operations. It was part of a decarbonisation push. The research revisited 20 years of VEJA’s existence and work. Samson was in the room with us, but he was often interrupted, having to visit the doctor or go to the hospital. The years of pollution, struggle and stress were beginning to take their toll on him. On Friday 28 June 2024 he left us for good.

Victor Munnik is a groundWork researcher and research associate at the Society, Work and Politics (SWOP) Institute at Wits University.

For information please contact:

Dorothy Brislin, Senior Communications Campaigner at groundWork 082 319 3741 dorothy@groundwork.org.za, cc media@groundwork.org.za

Images of Samson Mokoena (please note photographer James Oatway as credit for images in this folder): Folder includes image of tar on Samson’s hands referred to in the article.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kWSUFE

August 24, 2016. Effects of pollution from Arcelor Mittal South Africa on the surrounding area. Vanderbijlpark, South Africa. Centre for Environmental Rights (CER). Picture: JAMES OATWAY for CERektEVudUTBXAYNGMaTEIzWhroG?usp=drive_link

Kindly publish the following announcements with this article:

Partners in the #LifeAfterCoal campaign, groundWork, friends of the Earth South Africa, Centre for Environmental Rights and EarthLife Africa, VEJA and other organisations in the environmental justice movement will arrange a hybrid memorial service later in July to be announced.
The Environmental Justice Fund has set up a BackaBuddycampaign to raise and process funds for immediate support to Samson’s family for funeral costs, and thereafter to set up an educational trust for his children.

https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/in-memory-of-comrade-samson-mokoena

[1] https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/items/133c60c8-df61-4fba-9c43-0f396682af58/full for the thesis. See also the groundWork Report 2006, Poisoned Spaces: Manufacturing wealth, producing poverty, at https://groundwork.org.za/category/reports/ and Throwing Stones at a Giant: an account of the Steel Valley struggle against pollution from the Vanderbijlpark Steel Works at https://ccs.ukzn.ac.za/default.asp?3,28,10,2449

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A tribute to the life of Samson Mokoena (2 August 1976 – 28 June 2024)

by Bobby Peek

A couple of weeks before the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, I got a call from Samson Mokoena, who introduced himself via his links with environmental justice activists in Sasolburg, Earthlife Africa and Professor Jacklyn Cock. He’d heard that groundWork was going to host an event calling for corporate accountability the week before the Summit, together with global and local partners, to challenge governments and corporates. He wanted in on it. He had a story to tell. A story of a struggle against the apartheid created steel giant, Iscor, which subsequently became ArcelorMittal. And so it was that late on a Monday afternoon the week before the Summit, that Samson walked into the Balalaika Hotel, opposite the South Africa Stock Exchange, and introduced himself.

He was a young radical, and so he remained until last week, when I heard the news of his early departure at the age of 47. We often laugh about how the politik in South Africa interprets youth. But in Samson, it lived in a real space where there was real meaning. As Cock puts it in her reflections on the struggle for environmental justice in South Africa, Samson and those with him in the local struggle against the neighbouring steel giant, radicalised environmental justice. Indeed, Samson was, and always will be part of the long tradition in South Africa, of local community organising and challenging for environmental justice to be real, to be on the streets, to be at the fence lines of corporate pollution and power where they operate, and at the headquarters where decisions are made. Environmental justice is not only about NGOs in cities. Samson demanded that we be on the ground in struggle. He made this demand in person, from Johannesburg to Paris, from Durban to Luxembourg, from Cape Town to Conakry.

Samson made sure  we heard the hard questions and his thoughts, which forced us to interrogate our actions. I cannot forget how he challenged me to explain why I think that sitting on the Presidential Climate Commission helps those in struggle on the ground. It was not an easy debate;  but it was one he demanded we have. He would just not accept that it delivered to people on the ground. He wanted to see real change under his feet, not writings and meetings in Johannesburg and on Zoom. He wanted us to deliver actions on the ground. He never gave up on these demands.

His tenacity was evident in the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA), the local organising entity that he led, since the early 2000s. The Alliance is a space where many local organisations come together to strengthen the environmental justice struggle – by bringing food struggles together with worker struggles, health struggles together with waste struggles, energy struggles together with education struggles, land struggles together with water struggles. This is where, long before the Presidential Climate Commission, people knew that by joining struggles we can work towards just transition.

Samson’s drive and energy demanded that NGOs work with local struggles. And he gave real meaning to this. In the early days of the Centre for Environmental Rights, groundWork linked Samson and the Alliance with the Centre, and through a couple of years of strategic campaigning, we took on ArcelorMittal. For far too long, CEOs at ArcelorMittal had kept evading the question of handing over information which, according to our Constitution, belongs in the public domain.

In 2014, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a High Court decision that a “requester must be given access to any record of a private body if – (a) that record is required for the exercise or protection of any rights” and that “corporations operating within our borders, whether local or international, must be left in no doubt that in relation to the environment in circumstances such as those under discussion, there is no room for secrecy and that constitutional values will be enforced.” After many years of going nowhere slowly, ArcelorMittal (and the sleeping State) had to handover 8000 pages of information on historic pollution. This has laid the foundation for the real meaning of freedom of information and open democracy.

NGOs from all over the world came to visit the Alliance and met with Samson and those in struggle. Their long-time funding partner, the Global Greengrants Fund often visited and shared the Alliance’s strong organising praxis with other grantees they were supporting. Friends of the Earth International and Bankwatch linked local struggles to  ensure  that communities in Liberia, India, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Romania, and the Czech Republic learnt from the experience of local organising. Over the last two years, Samson and the Alliance have hosted and engaged with community and NGO activists from Guinea supported by the 11th Hour project. And one of the learnings from a community member from Guinea, which is articulated in a short documentary to be released in the next month, is about the power of local people and organising; the power of not having to depend on NGOs in big cities, and that people have power at a local level. Indeed, this is the evidence constantly demonstrated by Samson and the Alliance.

Samson was a strategist of note from the early days of his environmental justice activism. Often, he mentioned that this strategy came from organising against the apartheid state. At the Balalaika Hotel, as the world was gathering in Sandton to pat themselves on the back for their Greenwashing – 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 – Samson’s strategic approach demanded that we protest at the Iscor annual general meeting which was being held just down the road. I said, “Samson, we have not applied for permission yet, and there are cops all over the show.”

“Exactly!” he replied, “They will not be expecting us to protest in the space they think they own.”

So, protest we did, and we halted the meeting with our noise from the entrance of the hotel where the AGM was being held. To quell the noise and protest we were invited inside. We refused, as we had not been invited in the first place. We were demanding to be heard, and indeed we were. Local security on site did not know how to respond, and as a helicopter hovered above, the police finally arrived, confused that this had slipped through their system. Action had to be taken, and while they were still puzzling about what to do, we slipped out and away. Our point was made.

Samson was also a quick thinker. At a gas masterplan meeting where the government and gas industry were concocting a strategy for gas in the country, designating swathes of land as ‘gas corridors’ without people’s consent, Samson asked the expert consultant running the process if he had visited the towns on the map showing the corridors. The answer was no. The meeting went berserk.

In South Africa, organisations and movements including the Environmental Monitoring Group, Oxfam, 350.org, Greenpeace, Alternative Information Development Centre, Khanya College, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Mining Affected Communities United in Action, Benchmarks, and many others all demanded  time from Samson and the Alliance. It is incumbent upon all of us, that we not only demand time from local community organisations and activist, but that we stay with these struggles for the long haul, for the good times and the bad. As NGOs and movements, we must never allow our activism to be outsourced to voluntarism on the ground. We need to resource local struggles in order that communities can define their own trajectories, even if this means that we, as NGOs, are challenged.

Working with Samson as an activist, you often realised that he was forever on the move –  making things happen and demanding that others act. This did not always go down well with others in the struggle. Being a justice activist in a post-apartheid South Africa was not easy. The links with old political comrades often blurred the lines – although no more. But being an activist, Samson demanded good governance, and our participation in governance processes from air quality committees as a local level to participation national parliament.

Activists are not meant to be managers of process and systems, and indeed that is where my friend Samson fell short. And I often feel that I failed in him. We cannot overlook the need for care, for community organisations to be supported, not only administratively and financially, but by fortifying the health and wellbeing of the people involved in struggle organisations and movements.

May we learn from, and cherish, all that Samson Mokoena gave us, during his short life.

And finally thank you to his family, especially Jason and Musi, his young children, for having allowed their father the time to be a remarkable leader in the struggle.

Bobby Peek is the Executive Director of groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa.

ends………………….

For information please contact:

Dorothy Brislin, Senior Communications Campaigner at groundWork 082 319 3741 dorothy@groundwork.org.za,  cc media@groundwork.org.za

Images of Samson Mokoena (please note credit in folder):

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1U2Pwf9CQS0FUcHonPTOkHGAo8YntT5c9?usp=drive_link

Announcements:

The funeral will take place on Saturday 6th July 2024 in the Vaal
Partners in the #LifeAfterCoal campaign, groundWork, friends of the Earth South Africa, Centre for Environmental Rights and EarthLife Africa with VEJA will arrange an online memorial service. The timing and registration details for this will be announced soon.
The Environmental Justice Fund has set up a BackaBuddy campaign to raise and process funds for immediate support to Samson’s family for funeral costs, and thereafter to set up an educational trust for his children. https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/in-memory-of-comrade-samson-mokoena

The post Remembering Samson: A tribute to the life of Samson Mokoena (2 August 1976 – 28 June 2024) appeared first on groundWork.

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Tribute to Samson Mokoena: Thorn in the side of ArcelorMittal

Compiled by Tsepang Molefe and Dorothy Brislin of groundWork

The environmental justice movement is reeling since hearing of the untimely passing of Comrade Samson Mokoena; a fierce fighter for the right to breathe clean air, he died on Friday 28 June 2024 due to pneumonia. Samson was born on 2 August 1976 in Vanderbijlpark, on the fence lines of South Africa’s most culpable polluting industries that continue to wreak inter-generational havoc on the health and lives of people living in the Vaal. Over the decades of struggle in the Vaal and beyond, Samson often voiced the impact of polluting industries on his community, his family and his own health. 

We heard in a voice note from his sister, Aletta Mokoena, that it started with tonsillitis on Tuesday last week. It worsened, so he went to the local clinic and was provided with medication. He became weaker, and on Friday morning, his mother and neighbour drove him to the doctor who put him on a drip and treated him for pneumonia. It was too late though, he passed away soon after the first drip was administered. 

Samson’s work and life has been a source of immense inspiration, a galvanising force in building people power to challenge environmental and human rights abuses. He worked for decades to highlight the pollution caused by companies like ArcelorMittal and Sasol, in Vanderbijlpark, Sasolburg and surrounding areas. 

He also took on the state over their failure to respect, protect and promote environmental and human rights. His leadership of the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance has been part of his legacy of change making and mentorship, leaving an indelible impact on those he worked with. He did all this with a sense of humour, injecting a courageous energy into any space he found himself in. 

“As a struggle stalwart and grassroots activist he dedicated his life and every breath to fighting for clean air and clean water for his community. His vast legacy remains, as people are inspired by his journey of speaking truth to power, and being a true comrade, standing in solidarity with those most affected by one of the most dangerously polluted areas in the world, the Vaal Triangle,” said Avena Jacklin, Operations Director at groundWork.

Samson co-founded the South African Water Caucus (SAWC) and served as the coordinator of the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA). Over the 25-plus years of struggle, his passion and focus evolved into locally, nationally, regionally and internationally connected solidarity networks, and many friendships. Below are some of the messages of tribute from colleagues and comrades who walked part of this journey by his side.

“I still can’t believe that Samson is gone. That I will never again – except in photos and films – see his face, at once intense and friendly, hear his strong voice and feel his warm, comradely hug. We have been comrades in the struggle for environmental justice, in particular against water and air pollution, for 23 years now. He was not only a friend and comrade, but an important leader in the struggle for environmental justice in South Africa, Africa and the world. The last time I worked with Samson was in a research project to support VEJA’s involvement in a global green steel movement which was pressuring ArcelorMittal to make the same investments in their South African and other global South countries’ steel mills as they were putting into their European operations. It was part of a decarbonisation push. The research revisited 25 years of VEJA existence and work. Samson was with us in the room, but he was often interrupted, having to visit the doctor or go to the hospital. The years of pollution, struggle and stress were beginning to take their toll on him.”

Victor Munnik groundWork Researcher 

“Samson Mokoena was such a force, fighting tirelessly against air, water and land pollution which led to the Supreme Court of Appeal agreeing with him that the environmental pollution activities by ArcelorMittal SA must be exposed. After winning that landmark case, Samson continued to fight the good fight, taking on this multinational corporation. This unspeakable loss is devastating. His determined, courageous, fighting spirit was infectious, bringing people together and amplifying those often unheard voices that suffered, living near polluting industries. He was fearless but also patient and kind. I am deeply honoured to have known and worked with him.” 

Michelle Koyama of Center for Environmental Rights

“For some years Bobby Peek and Gill Addison had been asking me to provide on-site admin support and training for VEJA, but I was reluctant to commit to travelling to Vanderbijlpark from Johannesburg, so I kept declining. Then, in 2011, Jackie Cock invited me to a seminar at Wits University, featuring none other than Samson Mokoena. By the end of the seminar I was completely bowled over and knew that I definitely wanted to work with Samson. So I did. I travelled up and down that highway for two days a week for some years, then for one day a week for a few more years. My respect for Samson grew apace with what became a deep and abiding affection.”

Joan Cameron of groundWork

“To convey in words the enormity of the loss is not possible, to the movement, to our individual struggles, to the human that was Samson Mokoena. He took on giants, challenged power, and never stopped fighting. Corporations trembled at the thought of VEJA. His personal experiences with AMSA shaped his activism, from a humble farmer to a defender of rights on international stages. He acted with boldness and integrity, and did not waver in the fight for a just and equitable society for all South Africans. Hamba kahle, my friend.”

Yegeshni Moodley Climate and Energy Campaigner at groundWork

“His unwavering dedication to activism will never be forgotten, he will be especially missed by members of the SACAN Community Based Organisations Working Group who held him in high esteem. Cde Samson’s leadership and courage in the face of adversity earned him a place among civil society and community heroes. He lived a life devoted to community emancipation and the restoration of human dignity for all. Cde Samson, we will honour your memory by carrying forward your mission. Rest in power.” 

South Africa Climate Action Network 

“Samson had a vision for environmental and social justice for his community and for South Africa and challenged us to find innovative and bold new ways to realise this vision – to involve local and global networks in seeking change that we could never achieve just on our own. Building people power through collaboration was his way and he taught us all, led us all, and has made the world a better place through his work and life. We have been privileged and humbled to have shared our lives with someone so brave, smart and fun.” 

Leanne Govindsamy of Center for Environmental Rights 

The funeral will take place on Saturday 6th July 2024 in the Vaal and partners in the #LifeAfterCoal campaign, groundWork, friends of the Earth South Africa, Center for Environmental Rights and EarthLife Africa will arrange an online memorial service which will take place in the following week.The timing and registration details for this will be announced in the next few days.  

The Environmental Justice Fund has set up a BackaBuddy campaign to raise and process funds for immediate support to Samson’s family for funeral costs, and thereafter to set up an educational trust for his children. 

https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/in-memory-of-comrade-samson-mokoena

…ends…

For further information contact:

Tsepang Molefe: 074 405 1257  media@groundwork.org.za

Images of Samson Mokoena (please note credit in folder):

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1U2Pwf9CQS0FUcHonPTOkHGAo8YntT5c9?usp=drive_link

Video excerpt: Samson Mokoena speaking in Luxemburg on People Planet earlier this year:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rKiTkNrPdaazkUcicBS2IdCN8cfAv6Cu/view

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06 June 2024

Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Tension is brewing in Mtubatuba in the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal where coal mining company Tendele is proceeding with the expansion of its mining operation which has demolished houses and removed residents from their homes and ancestral lands. On Wednesday, 6th  June,  Community members and activists held a protest organised by MCEJO (Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation) in the KwaMyeki village in Mtubatuba where the mine has already operationalised its bulldozers, excavators, and machinery without an approved EIA nor having informed or consulted the community.

The protesters were threatened by a group of local business people, some of whom were carrying arms and are said to be working with the Tendele mine. The threats happened in full view and presence of the police. While the protesting group had permission to hold the protest, the police did not warn or arrest those who were making threats of violence with firearms and intimidating the protesters. The conveners of the march had to cut it short due to safety concerns for the community. A photographer on the scene was also prevented from taking photos of the mine machinery carrying out its destruction.

“Human rights defenders in South Africa are still not feeling safe. The pro-mining group threatened to shoot us in the presence of the police who stood by watching without taking any action. It is very sad that we are experiencing such failures of the police to do their work and protect the citizens of this country and prevent crime as per the constitution and the work they are supposed to do”. Robby Mokgalaka, groundWork’s Coal Campaigner

On the same day, in solidarity with MCEJO, MACUA (Mining Affected Communities United in Action) led another protest in Lyme Park, Brynston, Johannesburg at the head offices of Petmin which is the holding company of Tendele Coal Mine.

Tendele is yet to complete the Environmental Impact Assessment and public consultation processes required to obtain a licence, but this has not stopped the mining company from commencing and expanding operations in the area. With machinery active 24/7, the  mine has already relocated and a number of families away from their land. This has cost the community their land, livelihoods and homes. The areas targeted for this phase of the mine expansion are Emalahleni, Ophondweni and Mahujini settlements.

“Our clients are entitled to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being in terms of section 24 of the Constitution, as well as a number of other rights regarding land, culture, water, food security and livelihoods. They have rights to information, consultation, mitigation, compensation and being part of decisions made about them. Tendele has violated these rights and continues to do so on a daily basis. And very sadly, our government turns a blind eye. Yesterday our clients exercised their right to a peaceful protest, and even this was not respected by the pro-mining contingency or upheld by the State. Not only were our clients voicing their justifiable dissatisfaction with Tendele’s commencement before it had completed its EIA and consultation process, which in itself has been grossly flawed, but also the relocation of approximately 150 families without proper planning and compensation, in the midst of violence, intimidation and coercion”. Janice Tooley, All Rise Attorneys for Climate and Environmental Justice

While the mine seems determined to continue its dirty work, the people in the area are questioning some of the unfulfilled promises it made in the villages where Tendele currently operates. The villagers are also concerned about the unbearable noise from the machinery which gives them sleepless nights. They demand that the mine engages with them directly and not through traditional authorities or municipality representatives. In a memorandum of grievances handed to the mine, the community members highlight a number of issues that have had a negative impact on them and how they want the violations of their rights and the rule of law to be addressed.

There are also concerns about a rise of threats and intimidation aimed at community members and activists in the area. In October of 2022 Fikile Ntshangase as senior member of MCEJO was gunned down at her home in Ophondweni for refusing to back down and make way for mining.

“Democracy and freedom are words that are used by political parties to say that we are now free and living in a democratic country but what I saw yesterday is not what it’s supposed to be. People were being threatened in front of the police but the police did nothing about it. Instead they were pushing and blocking the people who were protesting peacefully without any weapons. Is this democracy? Is this freedom? All we want is justice and what we saw yesterday was far from it. All we wanted was to hand over our memorandum so that they understand our grievances. All of that did not happen because of people who were fully armed and claimed to have power. I saw it with my own eyes that our people are not safe”. Israel Nkosi, member of MCEJO

MCEJO has sent a letter to local police in the wake of threats to community members opposing the expansion of the mine that has proceeded without due process and with apparent impunity. The letter has been escalated to bring the matter to the attention of provincial and national law enforcement agencies as the situation remains volatile. KwaZulu-Natal Violence Monitor, Mary de Haas has also filed a complaint letter with the KwaMsane Police station to escalate this incident.

Resources:

Images and videos from the protest: Credit Tsepang Molefe for groundWork

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-05-28-coal-mining-company-sends-bulldozers-into-kzn-village-before-impact-studies-are-finalised/

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-07-16-tendele-coal-mining-rights-unlawful-and-invalid-yet-judge-rules-they-are-legal/

Contacts:

Tsepang Molefe, groundWork, +27 74 405 1257, media@groundwork.org.za

The post Protesters over Tendele Coal Mine land grab threatened with violence –  KwaZulu-Natal appeared first on groundWork.

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2 South Africans awarded the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize

groundWork, Friends of the Earth SA congratulates Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu, 2024 recipients of the 35th Goldman Environmental Prize for the Africa Region. The seven awardees from the six global continental regions were announced on Monday 29th April.

The other global recipients of the 2024 awards went to Alok Shukla from India for the Asia region; Teresa Vicente of Spain for Europe; Murrawah Maroochy Johnson of Australia for Islands and Island Nations; Andrea Vidaurre of the United States for North America; and Marcel Gomes of Brazil for South and Central America.

In September 2022 Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu, indigenous activists from the Eastern Cape, stopped destructive seismic testing for oil and gas off the Wild Coast. Organising their community, Nonhle and Sinegugu secured their victory by asserting the rights of the local community to protect their marine environment. By halting oil and gas exploration in a particularly biodiverse area, they protected migratory whales, dolphins, and other wildlife from the harmful effects of seismic testing. Most importantly, they secured the land, heritage and  livelihoods of their local community.

They join the ranks of five previous South African grassroots environmental activists honoured with the Goldman award – Liziwe McDaid and Makoma Lekalakala (2018), Desmond D’Sa (2014), Jonathan Deal (2013), and Bobby Peek (1998). In the words of its founder, the annual Goldman awards seek to honour “People of ordinary backgrounds doing extraordinary things to save our Earth.”

Each year, the Goldman Prize solicits nominations from its alliance of nominating partners who have global reach and on-the-ground knowledge which enables them to identify a diverse cohort of grassroots environmental changemakers across the world.

“Nonhle and Sinegugu Zukulu have worked tirelessly in supporting  the campaigns and struggles challenging the rampant greed of corporate Oil & Gas prospectors around our coastline,” said Bobby Peek, Executive Director of groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa.

“ Once our esteemed awardees have returned home, we will be sure to celebrate their win, which is a victory for environmental justice that benefits all our struggles and future generations,”  said  Desmond D’Sa, Executive Director of SDCEA.

For more information contact: media@groundwork.org.za

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Eskom’s latest plan to get three units at Kusile coal power station in Mpumalanga back into operation would lead to unabated and increased sulphur dioxide (SO2) pollution at a deadly health cost to local communities.

The Life After Coal campaign (LAC), a joint campaign by Earthlife Africa (ELA), groundWork (gW), and the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) has made legal submissions on Eskom’s application for postponement of compliance with applicable Minimum Emissions Standards for SO2. Eskom wants to bypass pollution control measures by building a temporary stack over the next 7-8 months, while it repairs the permanent stack damaged in a structural failure in October 2022.

In the 2022 judgment of the “Deadly Air case”, the Pretoria High Court confirmed that failure to adequately control air pollution in the Highveld Priority Area (“HPA”) is an infringement of the Constitutional right to an environment not harmful to health or wellbeing.

“Against a backdrop of raging debate, contradiction and deeply damaging policy uncertainty around the future of coal-fired electricity, we are faced with this practical and tragic example of how the system continues to fail, and literally sacrifices people living in the Mpumalanga Highveld and elsewhere” Makoma Lekalakala , Director at Earthlife Africa.  

“For how much longer are we going to invest in an electricity system that is unreliable, expensive, deadly, when cheaper and safer alternatives are available? Eskom should use this opportunity to give serious consideration to accelerate the coal phase-out and the rollout of Renewable Energy” Bobby Peek is Director at groundWork. 

“The limitation of rights arising from bypassing the pollution abatement is particularly egregious considering the judgement in the Deadly Air case handed down a mere year ago. The judgment reaffirmed the immediately realisable nature of Section 24 and that failure to adequately control air pollution in the Highveld Priority Area (“HPA”) is an infringement of that right” Ntombi Maphosa, Attorney at the CER Pollution and Climate Change Programme.

END

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The Africa Climate Justice Collective is concerned about the ravaging effects of the climate crisis in Africa, especially the recent flood disasters that submerged some parts of the Southern and Central African regions of the continent.

Cyclone Freddy has wreaked havoc in Southern African countries especially Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi since February 2023. Thousands have been displaced and hundreds have lost their lives while others are still missing. In Madagascar at least 300,000 people have been affected, 17 people have died and 3 are missing. Malawi has recorded 563771 displaced persons, 511 deaths while 533 are missing. In Zambezia province of Mozambique, 22,000 people have been displaced, 10 dead and 14 injured.

In Central Africa, Buea City in southwestern Cameroon between 18 and 19 March 2023 experienced torrential rains that caused floods and landslides and resulted in casualties. The twin disasters which were both triggered by several hours of rainfall had led to the loss of lives (media reports confirmed 2 deaths) and destruction of properties. In total, nearly 300 people living at the foot of Mount Cameroon have been affected. In all these countries, houses and infrastructure have been destroyed and it will take a long time as well as require a significant stream of funds to recover. These events highlight the urgent need for effective disaster response strategies and climate change mitigation measures to protect vulnerable communities in the affected countries and beyond.

Faced by these tragic events, the African Climate Justice Collective (ACJC), which is made up of 27 movement-based and other allied civil society organizations, and individuals and partners all across Africa, is calling for concrete actions to address the ongoing Climate emergencies not only in Southern Africa but in the continent as a whole. Cyclone Freddy’s long journey began off the coast of Australia in early February 2023. After becoming an exceptionally powerful storm and crossing the Indian Ocean, Freddy first struck eastern Madagascar on February 21 and southern Mozambique a few days later.

According to Anabela Lemos, Director of Justiça Ambiental/Friends of the Earth Mozambique and a convenor of the ACJC ‘our people are compelled to pay the debt they never owed, they are forced to reap pain and agony from the crisis they never created while the government and multinational corporations go to the Bank with fat pockets’.
Rumbidzai Mpahlo who coordinates the ACJC stated that “As a collective, we continue to call for the activation of both climate finance and the Loss and Damage Fund without any debt- creating and repressive conditions. This is an emergency which should be treated with the urgency it deserves.

Maimoni Ubrei-Joe of Friends of the Earth Africa and Nigeria has stated that the recent IPCC report has further demonstrated the failure of world leaders to commit to addressing the global climate crisis. ‘The time to act to reverse the negative impacts of climate change is now’.

This recent IPCC report has sufficiently shown how short-term climate forecasts (spans next decades) are not brilliant, and weather disasters like Cyclone Freddy, will multiply with disastrous consequences. It is therefore more than ever the moment to build a more effective and efficient disaster management that is capable of anticipating these risks and disasters, looking urgently at the case of the communities affected by Cyclone Freddy. Positive experiences of management of extreme floods and other climatic phenomena on the African continent should inspire the development and strengthening of rapid alert and response mechanisms.

The CADTM African network demands that the polluting multinationals recognize their climate debts and pay due compensations to the victims of climate change and Africa as a whole focusing on these three countries; Mozambique, Malawi, and Cameroon which are currently grappling with climate change impacts. The CADTM African network invites African leaders to restrain from refunding the debts they have contracted in repairing the climate damages.

We are hereby standing in solidarity with those affected in Malawi, Mozambique, Cameroon and Madagascar. The Global North and Governments of these nations should ensure that funds and relief materials are made available for loss and damages as agreed upon at COP 27 and these funds should be made available to those directly affected and not channeled to the nations ecological funds where they will be diverted to meet other national needs leaving out those that have been badly affected by the cyclone.

We are traversing a great moment of transition, from a system that is crumbling away, to a new one, that is not yet fully formed. At this very moment, a few and powerful blood-thirsty Africans continue to sell out our countries and our sovereignty, fomenting wars and destruction for vanity and personal gain to feed. At the same time, on the ground are showing the best of our human principles, throwing themselves into the post disaster chaos, to help victims, often reaching the areas where “no aid ever comes”, and so many others who mobilize their solidarity in their own ways to support their fellow nationals.

As much international solidarity there may be in any major disaster, African nations must muster themselves the vision, capacities, skills and resources needed to not only be prepared for disasters, but to manage its territories in harmony with Nature. The ACJC recognizes that there is great complexity in the actual implementation of this proposal, but only the Nation itself can claim its own sovereignty. African Governments MUST CHANGE COURSE. The solutions and proposals of the ACJC provide a guide for this. But there is much more to be done. Now more than ever, there is ample evidence that territories with wider biodiversity are significantly more resilient, or able to more rapidly recover from climate related shocks. Some, if not most, of the solutions are already within our grasp as a society.

Our hearts go out to all of the lost ones, and to those who are left behind in mourning, but also to all the survivors and those on the ground working to make their communities a better place for our loved ones.

A NEW AFRICA IS POSSIBLE!

CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW!

Find the full press release attached in three languages or visit our website at www.africaclimatejustice.org.
Contact: Benson Dotun Fasanya info@africaclimatejustice.org

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On Friday 2 December, Sasol Limited will be hosting its 43rd Annual General Meeting of shareholders (AGM). The hybrid meeting will be attended both virtually and in person by shareholders. Frontline communities, activist shareholders and civil society groups including the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA), the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), Earthlife Africa, Just Share, groundWork, Greenpeace Africa, Justica Ambiental (JA!), 350Africa.org and the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) will express their discontent and concerns around Sasol’s ongoing non-compliance with pollution laws.

At the AGM, questions will be asked on a wide variety of topics, including: Sasol’s air and water pollution; pending criminal charges against Sasol; Sasol’s continued push for fossil gas; Sasol’s involvement in securing gas from Mozambique; and Sasol’s climate change-related plans and targets. Communities will also march to Sasol’s headquarters in Sandton to hand-over demands for environmental compliance which would improve the health and wellbeing of fenceline communities.

Protest to demand answers and action

Fenceline communities that have been negatively impacted by Sasol’s toxic emissions for decades will stage a protest march on Friday, 2 December 2022 to Sasol’s headquarters in Sandton. The march will commence at George Lea Park, Sandton at 09h00. At 10h00, community members will start walking to Sasol’s head office at 50 Katherine Street, Sandton. The march will stop at Sasol’s main gate, where community leaders will speak about the impacts on their daily lives of pollution caused by Sasol’s operations. A memorandum of demands will also be handed over to Sasol management at 12h00.

“The science is clear, we are in a climate crisis, and it is being driven by climate criminals like Sasol. They do not prioritise the health of surrounding communities or the environment, only the health of their profits. We only need to look past their greenwashing to see it. Sasol’s entire business is built on historic injustices, rooted in the colonial practice of extractivism. A just transition to renewable energy is the best and most immediate solution to South Africa’s energy and unemployment crises, and will also help us to remain firm in our commitments to the Paris Agreement.” Nhlanhla Sibisi from Greenpeace Africa.

Climate-related financial risk 

Last week, after reviewing Sasol’s 2022 annual reports and other public documents, Just Share and the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), published two briefings addressing important issues related to climate change and air quality. Given the significant shortcomings in Sasol’s climate-related plans, shareholders are advised not to support Sasol’s resolution in which it asks shareholders to “endorse, on a non-binding advisory basis, Sasol’s climate change management approach, including its climate change ambition, strategy and progress towards achieving the 2030 target and 2050 net zero ambition”.

According to shareholder activist organisation Just Share, the rejection of Sasol’s climate change management approach will send a clear message that a great deal more detail is required to assess whether Sasol is actually capable of addressing climate-related financial risks.

“Sasol’s latest annual reports once again reveal the company’s lack of meaningful progress in addressing its significant climate-related risks. Sasol’s commitments remain too vague, without sufficient measurable targets and timelines. The first measurable commitment from the company is only set for 2026. This leaves Sasol’s stakeholders with little confidence that it will reach its long-term decarbonisation goals, not to mention the catastrophic environmental and financial risks posed to the company and SA’s economy by Sasol’s operations.” Ayabulela Quzu, junior analyst at shareholder activist organisation Just Share

Sasol’s insufficient decarbonisation plan is cause for serious concern 

Sasol’s decarbonisation plans have much leeway for “flexibility” and not enough concrete plans for emissions and pollution reduction.  Avena Jacklin from groundWork and Friends of the Earth, South Africa says that “Sasol’s decarbonisation plan includes an increased reliance on gas as a ‘transition’ fuel, which also involves building new gas infrastructure.” According to Jacklin, these plans will lock in greenhouse gas emissions and will crowd out space for least-cost renewable energy.

“Sasol’s plans for decarbonisation continue to be insufficient, and relies on false solutions such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), while failing to illustrate how science-based climate targets will be met. Moreover, their hydrogen plans are too vague to illustrate benefits to South Africa and local communities, who are concerned about the impacts of hydrogen production on scarce water resources,” says Jacklin.

Mozambican communities face the dangerous consequences of gas exploitation

Anabela Lemos, from Justiça Ambiental (JA!), says, “Since Sasol opened the floodgates to gas exploitation in Mozambique two decades ago, the communities around its Pande and Temane projects have been pushed deeper into poverty, the economy remains in tatters and only 30% have access to electricity. Since 2017, the gas industry in the north has left thousands of people without homes and livelihoods and has fuelled a violent insurgency and militarisation. This has destabilised communities, exposing them to displacement and loss of life.” In April this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa extended South African National Defence Force (SANDF) deployment to Mozambique at a cost of R2.8 billion to “combat acts of terrorism and violent extremists affecting the northern areas of Mozambique, and South African private security company, DAG, was accused of firing indiscriminately into groups of Mozambican civilians”.

Major contributor to Deadly Air    

Sasol is a fossil fuel giant and is the second biggest polluter in Africa. It is also one of the primary contributors to South Africa’s position as 13th largest emitter of CO2 in the world, continues a dirty legacy as a major emitter of toxic air pollution resulting in dire health and climate impacts.

In the Deadly Air Case, High Court Judge Colleen Collis n her landmark judgment handed down in February 2022, she found that: “When failure to meet air quality standards persists over a long period of time, there is a greater likelihood that the health, well being and human rights of people are subjected to that air are being threatened and infringed upon.”

According to Samson Mokoena of the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA):  “Communities have been negatively impacted by Sasol’s operations for decades. Sasol has done little to clean up their water and air pollution, and rehabilitate the land from current operations. They have no concrete plans with deadlines for emissions reductions, nor made evidence of rehabilitation plans available to us. Communities continue to be left out of decision-making processes, making it difficult for us to engage on issues which affect our health, well-being and livelihoods.”

A malodorous legacy

Rotten egg stenches plagued Gauteng during winter 2022 – attributed to elevated levels of hydrogen sulphide (H2S).  Apart from its unpleasant odour, H2S is toxic. Expert evidence has pointed to the source being Sasol’s Secunda facility.

Following multiple complaints, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) appointed a task team to investigate. The task team found that the smell “may have emanated from industry operations in the Secunda and Mpumalanga regions”. An October 2022 DFFE presentation at the Annual Air Quality Governance Lekgotla states that the intention is to set stricter H2S Minimum Emission Standards (MES).

Undisclosed criminal charges

Sasol failed to disclose in its South African reporting suite that it is facing criminal charges relating to its Secunda operations. Sasol appeared in the Mpumalanga Regional Court in Secunda on 20 September 2022 on various environmental charges after summons were issued on 27 July 2022. The charges relate to the illegal disposal of toxic waste and of contaminated and untreated water; illegal construction of its desalination plan without an environmental authorisation; and unlawful prejudice and/or dismissal of a whistleblower who “in good faith disclosed evidence of a potential environmental risk”.

These are serious offences, some of which are subject to R10 million fines, ten years’ imprisonment, or both, including extended criminal liability for directors, managers, agents, and employees of Sasol under certain circumstances. Various environmental authorisations could also be withdrawn by the court, and Sasol could be ordered to pay the cost of loss or damage caused by the offences – including the cost of rehabilitating or preventing damage to the environment. The criminal case has been postponed until 13 January 2023, to enable further investigation.

[Ends]

SPOKESPERSON/ MEDIA CONTACT:

Samson Mokoena, VEJA+27 82 467 1295

The post Sasol AGM: Civil society and community organisations to challenge Sasol over insufficient decarbonisation plans and ongoing pollution – Groundwork appeared first on Vuka News.