Durban - Merebank residents and environmental activists south of Durban continue to put up a fight in the hope that operations at a logistics park, which has allegedly resulted in their homes being coated with thick dust, ceases.
But they have left the matter with the courts to decide the way forward.
“We are fighting the good fight. Our case against the developers, Fortress REIT Limited (previously Capital Property Fund), is a good one.
"We are not putting too much pressure on our legal representatives as we are awaiting a decision from the judge,” said the environmental project officer at the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), Shanice Firmin.
“Our representatives were in court in December and we are now waiting for a return date and to hear the verdict. We have a good case, but more residents need to campaign.
“For years, developers and greedy businesses have been creeping into residential areas, grabbing residential land to reduce costs and make profits.
"Areas such as Clairwood, Merebank, Isipingo, Wentworth and the Bluff have decayed as the government has adopted a hands-off approach.”
Lawyers, she said, were challenging the first respondent, the MEC of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, for allowing the second respondent, Fortress REIT Limited, of taking the wrong decision and allowing a logistics park development at the old Clairwood Racecourse.
According to reports, the site has approval for warehouses, buildings, parking and a distribution yard to service heavy haulage vehicles transporting containers to and from the park.
Firmin said during construction dust, sand and chemicals were being blown into homes, leaving residents frustrated and angry.
“This has major effects on the health of families. Meals are exposed to dust and chemicals. The dust could lead to a ‘slow grab of land’, where companies come in and their activities start to affect residents, making their lives unbearable until they eventually sell up and move.”
Firmin said the chief executive officers of companies turned a blind eye to these problems.
“This is because they live in well-established communities and they employ people who are not concerned about the well-being and the quality of life of local communities.
“Infrastructure such as lights and stormwater drains in Merebank have also been taken over and destroyed by trucks. The government is failing to provide any services to these areas or as minimal as possible, to drive communities out of these areas. This is called forced relocation.
“Profits are put ahead of people, plants and animals. When will the government understand that we cannot eat money and chemicals?
"People who have lived in Merebank for more than 50 years should never be relocated due to development. Most of the families in Merebank, Wentworth and Clairwood are products of forced removals and will never accept to being removed or relocated again.”
Anneline Turpin, acting on behalf of SDCEA, said they challenged the MEC’s decision and the matter was argued before the court in December.
“The matter was argued at the Durban High Court and we are currently awaiting the judgment.
“We have asked that the matter go back to the provincial department and they reconsider their decision because the former MEC (Mike Mabuyakhulu) approved the development of the construction of a logistics park on the former Clairwood Racecourse and we also want the current decision of the MEC to approve the construction to be reviewed and set aside by the court,” said Turpin.
The eThekwini Municipality declined to comment, referring queries to Fortress REIT Limited.
Its development manager Nico Prinsloo issued a statement saying professional teams managing construction at the logistics park recently engaged with residents regarding dust pollution.
“We are actively pursuing a number of options with a view to providing both short- and long-term solutions to this unfortunate problem,” read the statement.
“We would like to assure residents that we are working hard to mitigate this problem and we will continue to communicate with them as we progress. Unfortunately, Durban’s weather at present – high heat, strong winds and little rainfall – is exacerbating the spread of dust during the construction process.
“Because the eThekwini Municipality has water restrictions in place, we cannot access additional water to damp down dust on site.
"Nevertheless, we do use dust meters and have six full-time water carts on site that are dedicated to dust control and operate regardless of weather.
“Water for these is accessed at the Lafarge quarry, which is, unfortunately, 16km away. We are also putting in place measures to store rainwater for use in dust control. In addition, we intend installing shade cloth along the fence line to reduce dust immediately adjacent to the site.”
The logistics park is expected to create 19 000 jobs during the construction phase and a further 4 000 permanent jobs after completion.
According to Prinsloo, the site was chosen because facilities in the Durban South Basin are almost non-existent.
“As Durban is the largest and busiest container port in South Africa, there is a growing demand for logistics facilities within the city.
"The Clairwood Logistics Park is not only the last flat land available for development, but is strategically located just 11km from the Durban Container Terminal and about 3.5km from the proposed Durban Dig-Out Port.”