By Kris Abrams
Night after night, Caroline Npaotane awoke to her daughter’s cries. Her 3-year-old was suffering from nosebleeds that wouldn’t stop; at times she struggled to breathe. Caroline would rush her to the hospital, but the doctors didn’t know how to help.
One night, Caroline attended a community meeting. Environmentalists told her that a chemical plant—located just one block away from her home in Sasolburg, South Africa—was spewing toxic chemicals into the air. Those chemicals included sulfur dioxide, which can cause severe irritation of the nose and throat, shortness of breath, asthma, and even death.
“It made sense,” Caroline said. “My daughter was suffering. The neighbor kids were suffering. And that chemical plant was just one block away from us.”
That meeting changed Caroline’s life.
She decided to volunteer. She took air samples outside of her house and confirmed dangerously high levels of sulfur dioxide and benzene. She never dreamed she would soon be testifying before Parliament.
Sasolburg, the city where Caroline lives, is a company town founded by petrochemical giant Sasol. Many residents see the company as a benevolent force: it pays for critical infrastructure, everything from traffic lights to schools.
But Sasol also operates the chemical plant that is polluting Caroline’s community.
“White people used to live here, in this area,” Caroline said. “But when the chemical plant expanded, Sasol realized it was not a good place to be. So they moved the whites to the other side, and relocated blacks here.”
Locals don’t benefit from the proximity to the chemical plant. Very few residents today can get jobs there, because the health problems that come with living downwind of the plant are so severe that locals can’t pass Sasol’s own health inspection.
When Caroline began her environmental activism, the South African government didn’t have air quality emissions standards. Instead, they allowed companies like Sasol to monitor their own emissions and proclaim the environment to be safe.
So one of the first things that Caroline and her colleagues decided to do was to press for a new air quality law.
They wanted a law with teeth to set emissions standards and mandated that government officials independently monitor emissions.
Caroline told her story to Parliament:
“You feel intimidated, because you’re just a community member. You’re not a doctor or a scientist. But you don’t need to be a doctor or scientist to know when you know your kids are suffering.”
She recalled, “One of the Parliamentarians called me up and said, ‘You’re being used.’ But we knew why we were involved, and it wasn’t because of environmentalists from outside our community. They helped us to understand the link between the chemical plant and our health. But then it became our responsibility. We knew what we were doing.”
Thanks in part to the testimonies of people like Caroline, the new Air Quality Act was passed in 2004. Caroline joined the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance and started pressing the government to independently monitor Sasol’s emissions. Global Greengrants was VEJA’s first funder.
VEJA won a huge victory when local polluters—including Sasol—were told they had to comply with new air quality standards by 2015.
Today, Caroline is living in another part of town, and her daughter’s symptoms have dramatically improved. But the battle isn’t over.
In April 2014, a decade after the Air Quality Act passed, Sasol applied for an exemption from the emissions standards. They claimed that they were not technically feasible.
When the government rejection the exemption, Sasol sued the minister of Water and Environmental Affairs and the National Air Quality Officer, this time claiming that the standards are illegal.
If Sasol wins, it will open the door for industries all over the country to keep polluting communities.
“It’s so hard,” Caroline said. “You take one step forward, and the industries with the money and powerful connections they have, they will take five steps ahead of you.
“Sasol is trying to weaken the South African law and the standards that have been set. Because it has money, instead of complying and saving the community’s health, Sasol is taking government to court. It is undermining the legislation and constitution of South Africa.”
She adds: “Internationally Sasol has painted a picture that is a good company that cares about community and environment. We are saying that if it cares, it should drop charges against government and use the profit it has made over all of these years to clean up the environment like it claimed it would.”
How does Caroline keep going?
“There are times when I feel like I don’t know why I am doing this. But it’s worth it. Seeing people become aware, getting involved, becoming part of the change—it’s worth it.
“Next, we’re going to launch a lawsuit of our own. The South African Constitution guarantees everyone’s right to a clean and healthy environment. We are going to sue Sasol for violating those rights. Ultimately, we will win.”
6
number of Greengrants to VEJA
2005-present
years of support
$103,000
total value of grants