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Hundreds of people from several organisations picket along the beach front in Durban on Friday morning against oil and gas exploration along the east coastline.
About 300 people from several organisations picketed against
oil and gas exploration along South Africa’s eastern coastline outside Durban’s
Suncoast Casino, Hotels and Entertainment on Friday morning. Earlier they
marched along the Suncoast promenade.
The picket was led by members of the South Durban Community
Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) who wore yellow t-shirts which read: “Africa
will fry” and “Don’t Gas Africa” while singing in front of the
entertainment spot. Some people travelled from as far as Ulundi, Richards Bay
and Empangeni to join Friday’s action.
In a statement, the organisation said, “Residents of
Durban are raising awareness about the negative impacts of fossil fuels on the
poor and marginalised along the entire value chain, from exploration to
extraction to processing and refining to transport to combustion. In each case,
Big Oil firms and the petrochemical complex in and around Durban and Richards
Bay are playing a life-threatening role, while recording unprecedented profits.”
Some of the demands in
their memorandum include calls for: an end to new coal, oil and gas fossil fuel
projects; an end to fossil-fuel corruption within the departments of Minerals
and Energy, Public Enterprises, and the Presidential Climate Commission; and,
for PetroSA and other state agencies to be investigated for irregular coal-fired
power plants deals.
Desmond D’Sa, SDCEA coordinator, called out the group that
owns Suncoast Casino, which also holds shares in fossil fuel companies.
Israel Nkosi, a leader at the Mfolozi Community
Environmental Justice Organisation, and Desmond D’Sa of the South Durban
Community Environmental Alliance are calling for more action from the state to
mitigate climate change.
D’Sa told GroundUp that attempts to discuss the matter with
this company have been fruitless. He added that talks with the government have
also been unsuccessful.
“We are not going to allow them to drill for oil. We
are not going to allow them to take our land. We are not going to do oil mining
to exacerbate our climate change,” D’Sa shouted to the crowd.
He pointed out that the eThekwini Municipality was not
prepared for the devastating floods earlier this year.
Israel Nkosi, a leader at the Mfolozi Community
Environmental Justice Organisation, said that the government only approaches
citizens when it wants votes. “But when we want action, we as the decision
makers don’t get heard. Why are decisions made on our behalf?” he asked.
“This isn’t just about eThekwini but the entire
KwaZulu-Natal. We are all affected by climate change and something needs to be
done,” he said.
Suncoast’s response to our questions will be included once
it is received.
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