ENGEN SA, give us back our basic Human Right, the right to a healthy environment
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa released the latest national climate commitment under the Paris Agreement in Nov 2021. South Africa intends to limit GHG emissions to 398-510 MtCO2e by 2025 and 350-420 MtCO2e by 2030. SA’s commitment shifts SA closer to what is needed globally for us to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
This is generally considered an unsatisfactory offer since the 500 megatonnes currently emitted puts South Africa as the third highest emitter per person per unit of GDP. A much more serious commitment to ending South Africa's addiction to fossil fuels is required.
Mr Phuthuma Nhleko, Engen's local Black Economic Empowerment tycoon and President Cyril Ramaphosa's leading business partner (and purchaser of Shanduka empire assets in 2016) – consistently alienated communities that he should be empowering: the black communities of Wentworth and Merebank. Instead, he continues to deprive the communities of the right to an environment that is not detrimental to their health or well-being.
Nhleko and the Malaysian (Petronas) owners of Engen Petroleum want to turn the already toxic refinery into a storage facility for fuel and crude oil. Durban activists worry that the residential area will increase approximately 2000 hazardous fuel tankers into Wentworth and Merebank, passing schools, sports fields, hospitals or small family-owned businesses.
Instead of a detox, Engen is planning a retoxification instead of detox by introducing far more dangerous chemicals to the area, including methane pollution, despite CH4 being 85 times more potent than a greenhouse gas (GHG). The South Durban communities suffered terribly in terms of health and environmental damage during the April 11-12 and May 21 Rain Bombs.
They also dread the likelihood that leakages, pipe bursts and other accidents at fuel oil storage facilities will increase as more storms pound Durban due to climate change, whose primary cause is greenhouse gases such as those from refineries and oil storage sites. Moreover, in addition to health damage, the road infrastructure can also not cope with heavy hazardous tankers driving in and out of the residential area.
Mr Nhleko, we ask you to stop trying to kill the communities you are supposed to be empowering. Your toxic fumes from the Engen refinery have been disempowering the black communities for decades. These are breadwinners who are often too sick to go to work, lose their jobs, and suffer the cycle of poverty and hopelessness.
You are already a billionaire. For once, choose the community over profit. Do the right thing for the communities you claim to empower in the South Durban Basin area.
Compel your majority partner in Kuala Lumpur to decommission the Engen serial-killer refinery and fuel storage facility. Instead, detox the refinery complex and heed the community demands for a just transition, thereby giving hope for a healthier and more productive future for all South Africans and giving the environment a chance to recover after decades of pollution abuse.
- Photo Source >>>> Alfonce Martins