Health Threats Emerge from South African Chemical Fire Disaster

Thousands of people living in the immediate vicinity of the former UPL chemicals warehouse in Durban face twice to three times the risk of developing heart and lung diseases (including lung cancer) after breathing in a cocktail of poisonous chemical fumes when the warehouse exploded during the July 2021 riots, Daily Maverick reports.

In a study conducted by toxicology and epidemiology experts at the Witwatersrand and North West universities and the Durban-based Apex Environmental occupational health consultancy, recommendations were made that the Mumbai-based agrochemicals giant should commission a series of comprehensive human sampling checks and long-term health studies.

The Daily Maverick also reports that UPL has argued that it was a victim of deliberate arson at the height of the riots. However, the Green Scorpions (the government's special environmental management inspectorate) presented a criminal docket to the Director of Public Prosecutions on June 20, 2022. More than a year after the docket was finalised, the National Prosecuting Authority has not laid any formal criminal charges against UPL or indicated whether it is negotiating a plea and sentence agreement with the company in terms of Section 105 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

The July riots of 2021 erupted when former president Jacob Zuma began serving a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court over failing to appear before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state capture. Looters vandalised shopping malls, other retail outlets, businesses, factories and infrastructure with over 1,000 people arrested as a result.