Transnet works hard to get ore out — and keep air clean
About 105km north of Cape Town is a natural splendour called Saldanha Bay that boasts abundant sea life and is a paradise for watersport fanatics.
Saldanha Bay also happens to be a crucial South African node, carrying the iron ore exports of the world’s sixth-largest producer. Bobby Jordan’s article,
“Saldanha sees red over ore” (January 27), refers.
For the past 43 years, Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) has operated an iron ore terminal in Saldanha — offloading iron ore from 342-wagon trains that are over a kilometre long. They come from the Northern Cape mines and TPT loads the cargo into vessels destined for the world.
We run this intricate operation daily through the expertise of over 700 employees and we’ve never impacted an employee occupationally in all this time.
To do this successfully, we have had to ensure that an agreeable coexistence is maintained with our employees who are residents of Saldanha Bay, as well as the community and stakeholders at large.
As such, upon obtaining our atmospheric emission licence in 2016 we had to take on 29 projects to comply with requirements, mainly aimed at preventing and mitigating emissions to protect the environment. We have successfully completed 21 of the 29 projects and eight are in the pipeline awaiting execution.
We’ve now set up the Air Quality Trust where air quality and critical community projects are prioritised — we regularly liaise with both community and authorities for guidance in order to maintain relationships and remain compliant to our atmospheric emission licence obligations.
And — while we are compliant and far below the fallout dust emission levels of 1,200mg/m³ — the right thing to do is compensate residents for the nuisance dust that settles on their houses, often becoming evident after a few years.
SA is home to more than 70% of the world’s highest-grade manganese, a commodity not as well known as gold but one that has contributed immensely to the creation of jobs, unlocked capacity at the ports and supply chain, and assumed a noteworthy role in stabilising the economy over the past five years.
The role of the various environmental practitioners TPT has contracted becomes more significant than ever before. The 300% head count increase over the past five years at the Saldanha terminal alone is just the beginning.
Nono Zulu, general manager: risk, safety, security and sustainability at Transnet Port Terminals
Eating Anglo’s dust
Anglo American was being less than frank when its spokesperson claimed in your report on Saldanha iron ore dust pollution that its Kumba division suppresses dust pollution “on site”. Kumba has no operations in Saldanha. It has only a small office building at the entrance to the port and a bakkie, both of which are covered in red dust. The spokesperson can only have been referring to what happens at the mine in Sishen, hundreds of kilometres away, where the notorious southerly winds of the Cape are not a factor.
Anglo is quite happy for the more than 100,000 people of our municipality to be forced to swallow their dust thanks to their cosy partnership with the dysfunctional, unresponsive, corruption-ridden, taxpayer-owned Transnet.
It is not only the district municipality that believes Transnet is failing to exercise a duty of care to the environment and to residents of our district. Both the local municipality and the province said that last year when they opposed Transnet’s application to also export the highly dangerous substance called manganese ore (an application which, as you reported, was — astoundingly — promptly approved by the national department).
Gareth Richards, Langebaan
On balance, ANC is a force for good
Many regard the ANC as a vanguard organisation that will free them from poverty. Others regard it as an organisation that betrayed their hopes.
There are many examples that can be cited to support the latter view, and corruption was indeed rampant in the Zuma era.
But the ANC has never reneged on its duty to deliver services to the people. Millions of poor people and low-earning households are benefiting from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. Millions are still getting their social grants. Health care is still accessible to a number of people. Infrastructure development in the form of roads and houses is often witnessed. The rule of law in this country is impartial and equates to international standards.
The damage caused by corruption and maladministration does not outweigh the good things the ANC has done for the people.
Lindani Ngcobo, Bellair
Probe this relationship
Is Bheki Cele not keen to renew Independent Police Investigative Directorate head Robert McBride’s contract because the latter is probing Cele’s relationship with convicted drug dealer Timmy Marimuthu?
Who protected Marimuthu while Cele was MEC for transport, safety & security in KwaZulu-Natal? How did Marimuthu end up purchasing numerous properties in inland provinces while Cele was later minister of agriculture? Did he not purchase them with money from his illegal drug dealings? Did the then minister of agriculture assist him to purchase them? We need another commission to probe this relationship.
A Singh, Durban