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South Africa: Fish, Livelihoods Poisoned By Chemical Spill From Warehouse Torched in Unrest
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 19 August 2021
A warehouse storing chemicals was set ablaze during recent looting, poisoning a nearby estuary and strangling incomes of fishermen already crimped by repeated COVID-19 lockdowns Read more »
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South Africa: 'Lift the Cloud of Secrecy Over Durban Toxic Chemicals Explosion,' MPs and Community Leaders Demand
Daily Maverick, 12 August 2021
It has been exactly a month since a massive cloud of toxic chemical fumes engulfed residential areas over large parts of Durban for 12 days - but government officials and the… Read more »
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South Africa: Days of Reckoning - Reflections From Visiting the Devastating Aftermath in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands
Daily Maverick, 6 August 2021
A Nelson Mandela Foundation emergency relief team spent the last weekend of July visiting vulnerable communities in Durban and the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. We had an opportunity to… Read more »
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South Africa: Lessons to Be Learnt From Durban's UPL Pesticide Fire
Daily Maverick, 4 August 2021
It has been more than three weeks since a fireball explosion destroyed the huge chemical warehouse, seemingly packed to the rafters with thousands of tons of hazardous pesticides… Read more »
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Daily Maverick, 25 July 2021
The Indian-owned toxic chemical plant that blew up and polluted air, rivers and sea around Durban was part of a special 'fast-track' economic investment scheme by national… Read more »
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South Africa: Durban Chemical Fireball Puts Community Health Risks and Hazard Planning in the Spotlight
Daily Maverick, 25 July 2021
A fire at a chemicals warehouse during the recent unrest and the delay of authorities in announcing precautionary health measures have stirred up a hornet's nest around health… Read more »
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South Africa: Why No Health Warnings for Durban Chemicals Blaze?
New Frame, 23 July 2021
As firemen doused the toxic embers and smouldering sludge from a major chemical fire and explosion at a pesticide warehouse, questions about the lack of communication remained… Read more »
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South Africa: Unanswered Questions After Arson Attack At Pesticide Warehouse
Daily Maverick, 19 July 2021
Swimming was finally banned on beaches north of Durban and residents warned to stay indoors at the weekend to avoid breathing noxious chemical fumes after the massive fire at a… Read more »
Fish, Livelihoods Poisoned by Chemical Spill in South Africa
A warehouse storing chemicals was set ablaze during recent looting, poisoning a nearby estuary and strangling incomes of fishermen already crimped by repeated Covid-19 lockdowns, writes Kim Harrisberg for the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The Indian-owned toxic chemical plant was part of a special 'fast-track' economic investment scheme by national government, with no specific environmental or hazardous substance approvals or any local government scrutiny.
"I have never seen a thing like this," said 76-year-old Pillay from his home in Phoenix, a town north of central Durban that was badly hit by July's riots. "This is devastating for us, on top of lockdown, this just adds fuel to the fire," he said, holding up a local news clipping about the spill.
The cull came after looters - believed to have been spurred on by the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma - set fire to a warehouse owned by India's UPL Ltd. It took more than a week to control the blaze and stem the slew of chemicals that ran off from the firefighting into nearby uMhlanga estuary.
UPL said it was "committed to making all efforts to eliminate (its chemicals) from the environment", confirming the warehouse held a number of pesticides and fungicides that could cause skin, eye and respiratory irritation.
The arrest of Zuma in early July, for refusing to appear at an inquiry into high-level corruption, sparked protests that quickly evolved into widespread looting in the provinces of Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng.
InFocus
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South Africa has among the highest recorded levels of social protest of any country in the world. The reasons behind this are more complex than often assumed. The scale and ... Read more »
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Tensions flared between black Africans and Indians following killings in Phoenix, north of Durban, during unrest that affected large parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. In a press ... Read more »
Left: Riaz Khan on a fishing pier in Durban, South Africa. Top-right: A fisherman holds poisoned sea lice and fish on an ice-cream lid that he found on the beach soon after the chemical spill in in Durban. Bottom-right: Fisherman Bob Abrahams poses for a photo on a fishing pier in Durban.
