Medupi impact concerns community

LEPHALALE -  The environmental justice organization, GroundWork, facilitated a workshop at the Mogol Club in Onverwacht on Saturday to assist community members in voicing their environmental concerns related to the construction of the Medupi power station.
Last year, GroundWork played in major part in convincing the World Bank (WB) Board to review its loan to Eskom. According to GroundWork, the board will make a decision on an inspection panel report on May 22.
Before the loan was granted to Eskom, various issues were highlighted by the Lephalale community including concerns about water availability, health impacts, cultural and heritage issues, impacts from increased mining, impacts of sand mining, climate change and a host of other concerns.
The inspection panel, after their review of the WB-loan to Eskom, reported that the WB had overlooked various issues before approving the loan. Issues related to the availability of water, air quality and climate change challenges were alledgedly not adequately assessed and the issues of influx of labour, poverty and other local social impacts remained untouched.
Siziwe Khanyile, Air Quality campaign manager for GroundWork, said that GroundWork is concerned about the impact of Medupi on the community of Lephalale.  “Even though the community is situated next to coal-fired power stations [Medupi and Matimba], they do not have access to electricity and have to suffer from the environmental and health impacts.
The electricity generated by these plants is not for the people but rather for industry who receive it cheaply. This is an environmental injustice.”
Martha Molapo, secretary of the Nthole Morwalo community organisation in Lephalale and organiser of the workshop raised a concern that dates back to the 1980s and 1990s: “When people were forcibly removed during the apartheid era, their graves were removed and this continues to happen as a result of developments such as Medupi and the mines. The cultural and heritage aspects of the community are not considered by Eskom and other industries”.
Other issues raised at the meeting included increased traffic, waste, opening of new mines and water issues. These problems are also exacerbated as a result of the town’s infrastructure not being able to support developments such as Medupi and other industry developments, delegates said.
Molapo told Northern News the meeting showed that community members are concerned about their environment.