Durban - Glenwood, Durban, residents say their health is being compromised for the few thousand rand a month that Vodacom pays the Valhaven building owners to host cellphone antennas.
Vodacom signed a lease with the Cromwell Road property owners five years ago. Neighbours said they were never consulted before the installation of the 14 aerials.
“We were denied the right to raise our objection to having our families constantly exposed to radiation, all because of money,” said Katja Correa, whose home is less than 100m from Valhaven.
She said that besides cancer, the aerials were suspected of being linked to dementia, heart complications and sleeping and learning difficulties.
“You would think they (Vodacom and the eThekwini Municipality) would have considered the children that go to Glenwood Primary School before putting them up. Those kids are exposed to the radiation eight hours a day, more than 200 days of the year,” said Correa.
A Valhaven resident who wished to remain anonymous said the previous body corporate had signed the deal with Vodacom.
“We’ve been assured that they are safe, but a lot of us don’t like them and do not understand why they had to be put on our building. We are concerned about the potential radiation, even though there’s no concrete scientific proof,” she said.
The owner of Glenside Self-Service, Fizel Hoosen, said he had been unaware of the cellphone antennas opposite his shop until The Mercury had contacted him for a comment.
“I was never notified before installation,” he said.
Vodacom spokesman Richard Boorman said: “We fully understand that some people have concerns about the potential for health effects from base stations, and we respect these concerns.”
He said that according to the World Health Organisation, despite extensive research, there was no evidence to conclude that exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields was harmful.
However, the WHO has recommended a precautionary approach to the issue of cellphone towers.
An
eThekwini spokeswoman, Tozi Mthethwa, said applications of this nature (not stand-alone cell masts) were adjudicated on the basis of town planning scheme provisions, and did not require consultation or public participation.
“The city will investigate if an application was submitted for the property in question.”
Attempts to get comments from the body corporate were unsuccessful.
The Mercury