Oil giants’ toxic cocktail trades life for profit

When dealing with them it is important to focus on the future you envision for your loved ones

The oil cartel has blood on its hands. When we started fighting the oil-related giants 29 years ago, we did not think existing refineries would be operational now. But if you want to beat giants, you can’t expect victory overnight.

When ordinary people take on major corporations, it involves much effort. They have a lot of money and resources, and their modus operandi seems to be to try to scare you. They will find ways to try and destroy you. They send lawyers’ letters to shut you up. There are many instances in this country where SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) suits are used to bankrupt activists and organisations opposing their injustices. Engen attempted seven interdicts against us; Sapref too.

When dealing with them it is important to focus on the future you envision for your loved ones and community. Whenever I look out of my window, pollution is visible and I struggle to breathe. This keeps me focused.

The health studies are clear. Air pollution has caused chronic asthma in my community — more than 53% of residents have been affected. Research shows leukaemia rates in children from the South Durban Basin are much higher than the national average and this toxic cocktail of sickness has created an environment for even more violence and death. Povertystricken communities like Wentworth are damned and very little is done to improve conditions. The refineries ignore the destruction surrounding their massive plants because the status quo means huge profits.

Our government is as complicit in the money leaving this country as the apartheid government was. Our wealth ends up on the

London or New

York stock exchanges and is divvied up between rich shareholders. They tell us oil expansion will benefit us, but nothing benefits people in our area. Visit the townships around us and you’ll see the way we live. Oil is destructive and robs us of life.

We saw that with the gas truck that blew up under a bridge in Gauteng, killing many people, and the recent gas pipeline explosion in the Johannesburg CBD. There is talk of running these gas pipelines all the way from Secunda to northern KwaZuluNatal. This will ruin the land and cause rural people to suffer.

We cannot allow such companies to begin operations, because they destroy the land, they destroy the water, they destroy us. Let’s not give them an inch in taking over our properties, our land. We need, on our terms, to develop the land for the benefit of each and every one of us and for the future. The climate crisis threatening that future is caused by, among other things, the chemical and petrochemical industries. We are struggling with water. We’re fighting about food because they chase profit. If we allow them to continue to build pipelines, crops will be destroyed and we will suffer.

They promise the world to desperate people and leave behind less than they found. Once you take their money and work with them, you are co-opted. You are never going to find a solution to the problem because they distract you from the fact that they are responsible for it.

All the work we’ve done regarding refineries has involved sharing knowledge, empowering communities and making them understand what the effects are. We need more people to become aware because you cannot fight giants alone.

The fossil fuels industry is intent on destroying what is good for humanity. It wants to profit from the scarcity and desperation it is creating.