The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has allegedly authorised the large Chinese bulk carrier, NS Qingdao, which set sail from the Port of Durban to St Helena in late October where it has been anchored, to dump more than 1000 tonnes of toxic chemicals into the ocean.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) sounded the alarm on Wednesday, calling for the department’s minister, Barbara Creecy, to intervene to avoid an environmental disaster.
According to a report in Fleetmon, the Qingdao had to be relocated from Durban after its bulk chemicals cargo started to emit toxic fumes.
It quoted the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) as saying that the cargo became unstable after it became wet during a discharge operation in rainy weather.
The ship arrived in Durban from Gwangyang, South Korea, on October 14 last year, and departed again on the 27th before arriving at St Helena Bay, Namaqua, on November 8.
Fleetmon added that the vessel had remained anchored there for some time with an offshore tug on standby and that a team of salvors and hazmat experts had been deployed.
The cargo was expected to be offloaded into lighters, neutralised and stored on shore at St Helena Bay.
DA Member of Parliament, Dave Bryant, who is the party’s spokesperson for forestry, fisheries and the environment, as well as the alliance’s spokesperson for transport, Chris Hunsinger, said in a joint statement they had “noted with concern” reports of a large Chinese bulk carrier that had “apparently been given the go-ahead (by Creecy’s department) to dump at least 1 500 tons of toxic chemicals into the ocean off the fragile St Helena Bay coastline”.
“We call on the minister to urgently intervene.
“We will also request that both Minister Creecy and Samsa account to the parliamentary portfolio committees on the environment and transport regarding how permission was granted and whether the potentially devastating consequences of the dumping have been properly investigated,” the MPs said.
They said the intention appeared to have been to dump some of the waste elsewhere, originally, but the owners of the Chinese vessel now seem to have decided to rather dump the waste into the pristine waters of St Helena Bay.
“There are serious concerns as to how the dumped waste will interact with the powerful Benguela current, which could carry it into areas where it may pose a risk to other marine life and humans.
“The department needs to come clean as to how this vessel was granted carte blanche to dump such a large volume of chemicals in South African waters, especially after recent disasters such as the UPL chemical spill, which destroyed all life in the Umhlanga Lagoon ecosystem,” they said.
The MPs warned that the SA coastline was not a garbage dump for other countries.
“International bulk carriers should be mandated to transport their waste back to their home countries to dispose of it properly.
“The ANC government should be taking steps to prevent this type of dumping, instead of actively helping to enable it,” they said.
The DFFE had not responded to questions at the time of publication.
