Durban - More than 400 jobs are on the line as concrete block manufacturers south of Durban grapple with the loss of a key ingredient - ash - from Sappi Saiccor, the world’s biggest producer of dissolving wood pulp.
The company’s plan to stop its supply of ash, after a Daily News exposé last week into the alleged dumping of tons of the potentially toxic material on river banks and near homes where the block yards are located, has got block makers up in arms.
And the environmental activist who raised the concerns has asked the Umkomaas police to step up patrols around his home after he was allegedly threatened.
Les Spence said he was told that a Sappi Saiccor contractor wanted to protest outside his house.
“I was told that they were going to come to my house and toyi-toyi. They are now inciting violence and threatening the lives of my family when their anger should be directed at Sappi,” he said.
“I am concerned about this as we are talking here about my wife and children at home. ”
Spence said he reported the threat to the police, who confirmed that an Occurrence Book entry had been made.
In the meantime, fears are growing that up to 400 jobs will be lost in Umkomaas, Umga-baba, Inknagala, Magabeni and Mfune if Sappi stops delivering ash to 40 small block yards.
The ash, a by-product of the coal Sappi uses to fire up its furnaces, has been delivered free to the block yards.
Sappi said that a meeting was held last year with the block makers to inform them that in terms of the new National Environmental Waste Act, if they wanted to continue receiving the ash, they would have to go through their own waste management licence applications and do environmental impact assessments.
Company spokeswoman Zelda Schwalbach said Sappi had tried to get environmental concessions for the block makers through a “beneficiation process”.
She said concerns had arisen about the manner in which block makers were managing the ash, and this year Sappi-Saiccor began investigating various alternatives in case the “beneficiation process failed”.
One of these alternatives was to transport the ash to NPC’s cement factory 40km away. Since the environmental concerns were raised, Sappi Saiccor has decided that as of next Wednesday, all ash will be going to NPC.
“No block makers will receive ash until such time as they comply with the law and the general norms and standards. Only block makers in Zone A (10km radius) who are members of the Umkomaas Block Makers Association and who comply with the law and the general norms and standards will be eligible to receive ash in future,” Schwalbach said.
“The control of these businesses will be a joint venture between Saiccor and the Umkomaas Block Makers Association. Saiccor will assist and guide them as to what is required. As per the previous arrangement, ash will only be permitted for block-making. Any reports of block makers contravening the rules and conditions, which are to be clearly defined, will not receive ash going forward.”
Mandla Mngadi, secretary of the Umkomaas Block Makers Association, said that should Sappi Saiccor stop supplying the block yards with ash, 400 jobs would be lost.
“Each block yard employs on average 10 people. If these people do not have jobs, they will have to find other means to feed their families…” he said.
Mngadi said that they were aware of the environmental concerns raised and were willing to comply to ensure that none of the ash ended in the river system on in the air.
“We have been going to the block yards and telling them that if they have a yard near a river or a school, they must move and go some place else.
“We also want direction from Sappi on the best way to store the ash. We will do everything to comply, but what we are telling them is that they must not stop (delivering) the ash.”
IFP MP Narend Singh, who has lived in Umkomaas for 60 years, said that environmental concerns should be balanced with the economic activity in the area.
“The allegations that the ash is being dumped indiscriminately has to be looked at. I would hope that if they do stop delivering ash, it is only temporary. The block makers rely very heavily on the use of ash for making blocks, and they have been doing it for years,” he said.
Former Umkomaas mayor Manny Pillay agreed.
“We are putting our foot down on the block makers to ensure that no ash is stored near rivers. The whole community does not want it in the rivers.
“We drink the same water and we swim in those beaches. We do not want ash, but for us the concern is that there must be no loss of jobs, because people’s lives depend on this ash,” he said.
Daily News