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 productioncomplaints, buy up <strong>the</strong> farms from <strong>the</strong> complainants and <strong>the</strong>n rent <strong>the</strong>m out again. Asa result, <strong>the</strong> Association now owns large stretches of land affected by sinkholes and, as<strong>the</strong> landlord, is in a powerful position to deal with complaints. By 1984, <strong>the</strong> area had589 sinkholes, most of <strong>the</strong>m caused by dewatering and o<strong>the</strong>r mining activities. Theyseriously damaged railway lines, roads, mining infrastructure and buildings, includingpeople’s homes. Some structures just disappeared into <strong>the</strong> dolomite caverns below.The gold miners deliberately built large numbers of slimes dams on top of sinkholes.In mining terms, according to an industry seminar [Robinson and Toland 1979],sinkholes add ‘stability’ to slimes dams by draining away fluid and so preventing abuild-up of pressure with <strong>the</strong> potential to burst <strong>the</strong> walls. Slurry thus drains straightinto <strong>the</strong> caverns of <strong>the</strong> aquifer which are <strong>the</strong>n made into sumps for toxic waste. Insome cases, miners attempted to plug sinkholes with mining waste. Predictably, inWolmarans view, it didn’t work. The waste simply dropped down into <strong>the</strong> water of <strong>the</strong>aquifer.That <strong>the</strong> waste is heavily contaminated with uranium has been known to a closedcircle of miners, scientists and state officials for decades. With <strong>the</strong> political transitionfrom apar<strong>the</strong>id to majority rule, argues CSIR water researcher Anthony Turton, <strong>the</strong>mining corporations’ controlling grip on this group slipped. Some began to speak outand confirmed public suspicions that <strong>the</strong> Far West Rand aquifer was contaminatedwith radioactive uranium. “It is this new generation of public domain literature thathas given rise to <strong>the</strong> dilemma now confronting Government, because in essence, whatit has shown is that <strong>the</strong>re is a massive pollution plume downstream of gold-miningactivities, consisting of a cocktail of heavy metals, sulphates and radionuclides” [2008:3].The seriousness of <strong>the</strong> situation was brought home to people on <strong>the</strong> Far West Randin a dramatic way. Two local farmers, <strong>the</strong> Coetzee bro<strong>the</strong>rs Sas and Douw, decided toclean up <strong>the</strong>ir farm dam on <strong>the</strong> Wonderfonteinspruit during 2007. As soon as <strong>the</strong>yremoved <strong>the</strong> wall and exposed <strong>the</strong> sediment, a satellite picked up <strong>the</strong> radiation fromuranium that had accumulated at <strong>the</strong> bottom of <strong>the</strong> dam and alerted <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong>alNuclear Regulator (NNR). The NNR <strong>the</strong>n instructed <strong>the</strong> Coetzees to repair <strong>the</strong> wall,never to drain <strong>the</strong> dam again, not to disturb <strong>the</strong> sediment, not to allow <strong>the</strong>ir cattle todrink <strong>the</strong>re, and not to sell any produce from <strong>the</strong>ir farm as it might be contaminated.The Coetzees complied because “we were brought up to believe that it is not rightto knowingly harm someone”. But <strong>the</strong>y are not happy to bear <strong>the</strong> cost while those<strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong> - groundWork - 93 -