Alarm over potential expansion of manganese operations
The potential expansion of manganese operations from the Markman industrial area has drawn criticism from the Bluewater Bay Ratepayers Association, the Zwartkops Conservancy and Gqeberha residents.
Yesterday, Ward 59 councillor Bulelani Matenjwa held a meeting with the groups to discuss interventions in respect of the possible relocation of a manganese depot to an area less than 3km from the wetland and suburb.
According to Matenjwa, the potential relocation of the operator to a site near Enviro Serve along Grahamstown Road had not yet been approved by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, though residents and businesses had alerted his office to manganeserelated activity in the area in recent weeks.
“I have spoken to the directorate of public health and they informed me no new permits have been issued around that area,” Matenjwa said.
The meeting was also attended by MPL Tony Duba, Freedom Front Plus councillor Bill Harington, as well as representatives from Ward 60 and businesses.
Zwartkops Conservancy operations manager Femke de Wet said moving manganese operations closer to the wetlands could increase levels of heavy metal levels in the Swartkops River.
“We have subsistence fishermen who live off that river, they are taking out prawns and other fish already exposed to manganese so if a possible encroachment of what is already happening would have huge effects,” Slabbert said.
“The biodiversity will go down with fish species likely to decrease.”
Amsterdamhoek resident Lilian Slabbert said the area already had high levels of manganese dust as a result of the Markman operations and trucks that had been using Grahamstown Road as a bypass to the port.
“Since they have started regularly using that road the houses have black dust that has to be cleaned constantly,” she said.
Les Strydom of the Bluewater Bay Ratepayers Association said though it was not opposed to expansion in principle, any possible operations would need to be done in compliance with the relevant environmental and health and safety standards.
“We cannot focus on one operator,” he said.
A holistic approach is needed because the biggest challenge for the metro is that there are no bylaws which can be enforced.”
It was resolved that a follow-up meeting would be held with representatives from the directorate of public health at which possible interventions would be raised.
However, according to Frans Stapelberg, owner of
Milltrans Container & Abnormal Load Specialists, which has been identified as the possible owner-operator moving into the area, there were no immediate plans to move manganese to the site.
“There is no contract or stock at the site at the moment,” Stapelberg said.
“It’s a possibility for the future.
“I am levelling the site for containers. If there is a contract in the future, it will be stored in containers and we are prepared to adhere to any required regulations,” he said.