By Ngazibini Siyephu
For many years, Durban South communities have complained about toxins released into the air by refiners and factories around them, greatly affecting the health of the people in their communities. As a result of exposure to polluted air, residents have developed respiratory infections, asthma, and cancer, among other health problems over the years. This area has refineries run by Engen, Mondi and Safripol as well as the recently shut-down SAPREF.
42-year-old Lee-Anne Saunders, a resident at the Hime Street flats in Wentworth says breathing has always been a struggle in the area. “I stay on the fence line of Safripol, where we get polluted quite often. In 2019, I remember clearly, my grandson was two months old when they came to visit us one Friday afternoon, they were coming for a weekend. Safripol released a grey-blackish smoke into the air, and the smell was terrible, almost like gas; we could not even breathe. Because the baby was so small, we had to take the baby and my family, and we had to move out for that day. When we returned in the evening, the gas smell still filled our flats. All our people were complaining, they were coughing, and they could not breathe. We had to close the windows, but we still could smell it inside our flats. The smell stayed in the air for two months after that day. It was everywhere, even on our clothes. People are now living with asthma and cancer because of all these gas emissions,” said Saunders.
Areas here include Clairwood, Bluff, Wentworth, Merebank, and many others. These communities neighbour all these refiners and factories. Reports show that refineries and factories are both major contributors to air pollution, due to their daily emissions of sulphur dioxide and other harmful chemicals.
Colin Cowlen, who has lived in the area for 48 years, says that besides battling with air pollution and health issues, they also battle with a high unemployment rate across Durban South communities, including Umlazi, Lamontville, and Isipingo, and yet they are the most polluted.
“We have had a lot of pollution in our areas because a lot of companies have polluted us for all these years. There is a big oil refinery right here, Engen, which has been here for over 50 years. They have been polluting our air since then, but they have not compensated us in any way. They have also not created a lot of work for the community. The same applies to these other companies, too. Three-quarters of these companies’ employees are from outside our communities,” said Cowlen.
In celebration of Air Quality Week, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) – a non-profit justice organisation based in the south of Durban, together with the eThekwini Municipality, hosted a workshop in Wentworth to bring awareness to the residents of these communities about air quality and air pollution. As well as hold these big-name companies accountable.
Bongani Mthembu, GIS and SDCEA air quality officer, says that these companies have subjected these communities to over the years, dating back to the early 2000s, to recent years.
“These companies not only pollute the air through the toxins they release daily into the air, but also through their uncontrolled frequent fires. In November 2007, Engen’s storage tank, which had seven million litres of petrol, burned to the ground. The fire was up for over 58 hours, releasing dangerous chemicals into the air. Again, on 4 December 2020, Engen experienced an explosion. Some flats caught fire, and over three hundred houses were affected; a child even suffered a burn from that explosion,” Mthembu explained.
EThekwini Health Unit and scientist, Melusi Molefe says communities must understand their rights. “The key thing that we want to achieve with this education and awareness is that people know the sources that impact their health. We want residents to be aware of what type of pollutants are there and what to avoid, and how those pollutants come about, but most importantly, how to reduce their exposure.” Community members are also urged not to burn substances that can put them in danger as well.
