OPINION | Big oil’s generational curse: Pollutant-related epigenetic changes keep South Africans in poverty: After 60 years of air pollution by oil refineries, it will take Wentworth residents at least two generations to reverse epigenetic changes.
D’sa’s mission to protect his community’s constitutional right to a healthy environment earned him the. His family was split up by the Group Areas Act when he was a child — with only some of his siblings moved to Wentworth, while others were placed in other racially-based neighbourhoods.
Veteran environmental justice activist and co-ordinator of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance Desmond D’Sa stands on the veranda of the organisation’s offices. His home can be seen behind him and smokestacks of another refinery behind that.Soaring unemployment rates in the community, coupled with the mounting financial burdens created by chronic health issues, has had a toxic knock-on effect on the social fabric of Wentworth.
“The main struggle for them is that people are thinking about the immediate, like to put food on the table, and not the long-term consequences that these refineries pose to them. The long-term effect is not as important to them for now because they are just trying to get through the day,” adds Meth. “And yes, it can be done. If these companies have been generating massive amounts of profits for all these years, then now, it’s in a sense, payback time. You’ve exploited these communities. You’ve exploited these environments. Now, you’ve got to make good.”
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