Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 4: The toxic cradle of productionThe competition in conspicuous consumption finds direct expression in <strong>the</strong> ritualisedauctioning out of spectacularly commercialised sports festivals. Each Olympics orsoccer World Cup competes with <strong>the</strong> last for extravagance as corporate sponsorsdemand yet bigger bangs for <strong>the</strong>ir advertising bucks. 61 When South Africa won <strong>the</strong>bid for 2010, <strong>the</strong> major cities started competing with each o<strong>the</strong>r for national fundingof ‘iconic’ stadiums and transport infrastructure projects, running up debts that willsettle on citizens into <strong>the</strong> future. Abahlali baseMjondolo comment that <strong>the</strong> KwaZulu-Natal Slums Bill “is an attempt to legalise a KZN Operation Murambatsvina before<strong>the</strong> World Cup in 2010”. 62 The resources mobilised for <strong>the</strong> event contrast starkly with<strong>the</strong> repeated assertions that <strong>the</strong> state lacks capacity for ‘delivery’ to <strong>the</strong> poor.The sacrifice to miningMining is literally an extractive industry, clawing materials from <strong>the</strong> ground andgenerally impervious to <strong>the</strong> environment and people around <strong>the</strong> mines. Solid miningwaste is rarely managed beyond being piled into heaps or dams next to where <strong>the</strong>yhave been excavated and waste management textbooks pay little attention to it.In some places <strong>the</strong> task of managing mining waste is turned over to nature. For decades,if not centuries, it has been accepted practice to dump mining slurry in water coursesor <strong>the</strong> ocean, as illustrated by this ‘historical analysis’ given at a 1979 InternationalMine Drainage Symposium:Tailings disposal problems have faced <strong>the</strong> mining engineer for many years.Historically <strong>the</strong> easiest and most economical solution was to dischargetailings slurry by gravity to <strong>the</strong> nearest body of water and let nature takecare of <strong>the</strong> problem. However, as communities and farming activitieshave encroached on mining areas, and fishing industries and interestedindividuals have applied pressure to government regulatory bodies, <strong>the</strong>need for properly engineered tailings disposal areas has become apparent.[Robinson and Toland 1979: 782].In fact, it was mostly <strong>the</strong> mines that ‘encroached’ on farming, fishing and communities,but <strong>the</strong> idea that <strong>the</strong> land was empty made its enclosure easy, especially if it belonged61 Following <strong>the</strong> Beijing spectacular, Olympic officials challenged London to beat it.62 AbM press release June 21, 2007. Murambatsvina refers to Zimbabwe’s operation to ‘clean out <strong>the</strong> dirt’ [seeChapter 1].- 88 - groundWork - <strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong>