Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 3: The politics of wasteEarthlife also argued that South Africa was not managing its own toxic waste andimporting more would simply compound the problem. A series of tip-offs on illegalhazardous waste dumping confirmed the scale of the crisis. Ironically, but logically,a number of tip-offs came from formal waste companies who saw illegal dumpingeroding their markets. Further investigation showed that dumping in poor blackareas, mostly shack settlements, was routine for many waste handlers. Not knowingthe dangers, people from some settlements were tipping the contents from wastedrums and using them for storage or as water butts. Many were suffering evidentsymptoms of toxic poisoning. The conclusions were obvious: industry, including largecorporations, preferred cheap disposal to responsible disposal; government regulationwas entirely ineffective; neither industry nor government gave a damn for the peopleor the environment; and both hid behind a purposeful ignorance.Toxic waste trading and incineration were again at issue in the case of Thor Chemicals[see Box 3]. Thor traded in toxic mercury waste and used an incinerator to separate outthe mercury for ‘recycling’. The consequences were stark: four workers are known tohave died from mercury poisoning, many more suffered chronic poisoning, the site itselfwas saturated with mercury, a stream used by local people was heavily contaminated,and mercury emissions to air were unknown because not measured.While apartheid South Africa liked to represent itself as a First World state – andpositioned itself as such at the Basel Convention negotiations – the case highlighted itshabitual collusion with industry and the Third World state of environmental regulation:Thor ignored air pollution regulations and was not penalised by the Department ofEnvironmental Affairs and Tourism; the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry didnot act on evidence of water pollution until it became a public scandal; the Departmentof Manpower inspectorate failed to identify health and safety issues until forced to doso. Next, prosecutors were reluctantly forced to bring Thor to court but botched thecase and created the impression that legal action against corporate interests would failin South African courts. Under the new government, the Davis Commission was setup to enquire into the case and found that government shared responsibility with Thorfor the disaster because of the failure of regulation.Wasting the Nation - groundWork - 35 -