‘Stop ecocide of our oceans”

“STOP ecocide of our oceans,” read the picket board of one of the Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) members picketing outside the Cape Town Civic Centre yesterday.

The protester formed part of a small group hoping to expose a meeting held by the Water Research Commission (WRC), about studies conducted on seawater quality in Cape Town and its effect on desalination.

PHA chairperson Nazeer Sonday said the association was initially invited to the meeting, but received notification that they could no longer attend after the meeting, he said, was made private due to the negative ramifications the study could have for desalination plants being constructed.

“We view the ‘dialogue’ with suspicion, given the central role of some of the elements in the city, who are endorsing expensive and hazardous desalination.

“This discussion was to unpack the CSIR and the Petrik study, published on the Marine Sewage Outfall and seawater water quality at Greenpoint.

“The City of Cape Town has a long history of excluding its citizens from decision-making, and this is one which will have far-reaching ramifications for us all.

“It seems the City is intent on capturing the science to further their agenda of commodifying and privatising our water supply,” said Sonday.

While chatting to the Cape Argus, WRC spokesperson Khosi Jonas addressed the group and invited them to attend the meeting, saying the retraction of the organisation’s invite was an error.

“We have dialogues all the time and we invite people to attend and so did the City, but one member forwarded the invite to other people to attend and it’s resulted in this now. It got a little out of hand. We couldn’t take everyone inside, but we can make the recording of the meeting public,” said Jonas.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released information debunking desalination, saying ocean water is very salty, which is toxic, and the brine of the water which would be consumed could contain chemicals used in the desalination process which can later harm marine life once the water is recycled.