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This is particularly the case for places like Johannesburg, which is one of the biggest cities in the world not situated on a water source (in fact, it lies on a watershed and water tends to drain away).\u00a0 80% of its water still comes from rivers in KwaZulu-Natal, the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme notwithstanding.\u00a0 The water reaches the metropolis via another ambitious water transfer system.\u00a0 Despite this, Johannesburg, situated in South Africa\u2019s economic powerhouse province of Gauteng, felt the not inconsiderable effects of a recent drought believed to be one of the most severe ever experienced in the country, when the level of the Vaal Dam fell to below 30% and water had to be pumped from Sterkfontein Dam, which forms part of the transfer system bringing water from KZN.\u00a0 Water restrictions were only recently lifted, although scarcity is likely to become a fact of life.\u00a0 Cape Town, with two consecutive low winter rainfall seasons under its belt, is facing similar constraints.\u00a0 This all serves to illustrate a cold, hard reality \u2013 development prospects in South Africa are likely to be constrained by future water availability; the country is fast approaching its ecological limits with 98% of water resources already allocated to users.\u00a0 This has been amply illustrated by the country\u2019s summer rainfall areas experiencing the worst drought in decades, if not since records began, in the 2016\/17 summer rainfall season, a scenario which is now being played out in the various Cape provinces of the country too.<\/p>\n
Not only are many rural regions important water source areas and food production hubs, they are also tourist draws for locals and visitors,<\/strong> offering a range of attractions from country pubs and quaint hotels to arts and crafts rambles, birding routes and cultural experiences.\u00a0 Of course, the relatively unspoilt natural landscapes in some regions are added attractions in and of themselves, especially when twinned with national parks or game reserves, whether private or public.\u00a0 Some towns, like Clarens in the Free State and Dullstroom or Wakkerstroom in Mpumalanga, have based their local economies on weekend trippers from the cities, as well as overseas visitors.\u00a0 This provides an important income source for rural dwellers, be they business owners or employees.\u00a0 And then there are the allied services, including food, laundry, vehicle and property maintenance, arts and crafts production, activity operators and plenty more.<\/p>\n It all sounds amazingly idyllic but there are challenges.\u00a0 At least some of this stems from the fact that South Africa is particularly mineral-rich with deposits of gold, diamonds, platinum and just about everything in between.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, the country has for over 100 years been reliant on mining as its economic mainstay.\u00a0 In 2009, the industry contributed around 10% of South Africa\u2019s GDP and employed some one million people.\u00a0 This has since reduced significantly due to plummeting global commodity demand.\u00a0 The mining sector has also historically provided numerous jobs, especially to unskilled workers, but as mines increasingly mechanise, the picture has altered considerably.<\/p>\n Many parts of South Africa have also experienced, especially in recent years, the effect of what has come to be known as the \u2018resource curse\u2019.\u00a0<\/strong> Some years ago, Johannesburg began to experience acid mine drainage from century-old mine workings decanting into rivers, one of which provided water to Krugersdorp Game Reserve west of the city.\u00a0 There are increasing concerns about the presence of potentially radioactive uranium in old waste dumps, many of which are now in close proximity to economically disadvantaged communities.<\/p>\n In Mpumalanga, the Olifants River near Witbank is now so badly polluted by acid mine drainage and other mining wastes from the area\u2019s coal mining industry, together with industrial wastes from allied industries such as steel production, that Eskom, South Africa\u2019s power utility, can no longer use it for its power stations in the region.\u00a0 Farmers also told the Benchmarks Foundation about negative impacts on their cattle and crops, as they have few alternatives for irrigation, while poor communities are obliged to use the polluted water, which places their health at risk.\u00a0 One mining company put in a water treatment plant to help relieve pressure on the river but many others have not done anything to improve environmental impacts.<\/p>\n Mining has often been found to create boom and bust economies.\u00a0<\/strong> Towns and communities flourish economically while mines are open but this quickly collapses once mines close.\u00a0 In addition, mines rarely clean up after closure, despite being legally obliged to do so and having to establish special funds to pay for rehabilitation.\u00a0 As a result, South Africa now has around 6\u00a0000 abandoned and\/or ownerless mines, which pose a constant pollution risk.\u00a0 As owners often cannot be found, it will fall to government (using income tax revenues) to rehabilitate them.\u00a0 The situation is likely to worsen, according to the web site Climate Home<\/em>, as large companies sell off to smaller ones, which have limited funds for rehabilitation.<\/p>\n A revised mining law, the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), passed in 2002, inter alia transferred ownership of all mineral resources to the state, which would act as custodian of such minerals for all South Africans.<\/strong>\u00a0 (Previously, landowners owned the minerals beneath their lands, which they could choose to exploit or not.)\u00a0 The state, however, also now gets a stake in such mines, should they proceed.\u00a0 Unsurprisingly, it was not long before the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) was handing out prospecting and mining rights post-haste.<\/p>\n More recently, South Africa adopted an environmental regime dubbed the \u2018one environmental system\u2019.<\/strong>\u00a0 In terms of mining, what this essentially means is that the DMR now has the final say on the environmental compliance of mining companies with the Department of Environmental Affairs only acting as arbitrator in the event of a dispute.\u00a0 As many have stated on social media and elsewhere, this is a real case of the fox guarding the hen house!<\/p>\n This has effectively compromised large tracts of rural lands, which were previously seats of agriculture and ecotourism, according to organizations such as the Centre for Environmental Rights and the Benchmarks Foundation.\u00a0 Mpumalanga has been particularly badly affected with over 60% of the province\u2019s land area now either under application for prospecting and mining or actually being mined.\u00a0 Rural water supplies have been significantly reduced or polluted (the town of Carolina in Mpumalanga has never fully recovered from an acid mine drainage spill into the town dam in 2012, for example); rural roads never intended to carry heavy vehicle traffic deteriorate under a barrage of ore trucks; and rural livelihoods disappear as once peaceful neighbourhoods and attractive scenery turn into pseudo-industrial wastelands.\u00a0 High potential arable land has been compromised, possibly forever, as has the province\u2019s tourist industry, which draws tourists worldwide to visit the Kruger National Park, and enjoy Mpumalanga\u2019s scenic beauty and attractions.<\/p>\n In addition, the MPRDA now mandates that landowners are obliged to give mining companies unfettered access to their lands, or part thereof, should prospecting and\/or mining rights be granted.<\/strong>\u00a0 This means that agricultural land is often taken out of production, resulting in rural livelihoods being compromised, together with reduced employment and security of tenure.\u00a0 In the long-term, this also has implications for South Africa\u2019s food security, already at risk due to increased incidences of drought.<\/p>\n The DMR has also awarded prospecting and mining rights in protected areas, despite this being illegal in terms of both the MPRDA and the National Environmental Management Protected Areas Act (NEMBA) 2004.\u00a0 The first time this happened was in the far northern regions of South Africa, when Coal of Africa Limited, an Australian-based company, was eventually granted rights to mine coal at the Vele Colliery.\u00a0 This despite the mining area including two nature reserves and being in close proximity to the Limpopo River, as well the Mapungubwe National Park and Cultural Landscape.\u00a0 The region contains numerous artefacts harking back to a very old civilization, thought to be a precursor to Great Zimbabwe, who apparently traded with the Phoenicians.\u00a0 Somewhat ironically, items discovered by archaeologists include golden rhino statuettes, smelted from locally mined gold.\u00a0 Despite considerable public opposition and a legal challenge launched by a coalition of conservation and preservation non-profits, universities and the like, the mine continues to proceed.<\/p>\n Another, lesser-known site was also impacted by an application to prospect in the Barberton Nature Reserve in Mpumalanga.<\/strong>\u00a0 In 2008, the Minister of Environmental Affairs began a process to have the reserve declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the reserve showcases some of the region\u2019s most unique geology, including rocks estimated to be around 3\u00a0600 million years old, representing the oldest and best-preserved sequences of volcanic and sedimentary rocks on Earth.\u00a0 But, just two years before, the DMR granted Barberton Mines a licence to prospect for silver and gold in them thar hills \u2013 the Makhonjwa Mountains, to be exact, sparking an eleven year battle.<\/p>\n An article in the Mail & Guardian <\/em>newspaper recalls that, in a desperate bid to refuse the mining company access, Mpumalanga officials locked reserve gates.\u00a0 The company thereupon went to court, asking that it be \u2018guaranteed entry because it had been granted a right to do so\u2019.\u00a0 On that occasion, the mining company won.\u00a0 It also alleged that Barberton Nature Reserve was not a formal protected area, as it had not been proclaimed properly in terms of the relevant provincial legislation.\u00a0 But, more recently, in March 2017, that decision was overturned when the Mpumalanga Tourism & Parks Agency took their case to the appeal court.\u00a0 The court found that the reserve had been properly proclaimed and repealed the prospecting right.<\/p>\n This is good news, as it upholds the provisions of NEMBA and, incidentally, the MPRDA, which also prohibits mining in protected areas.\u00a0<\/strong> There are other cases pending, such as the issue of an Indian coal mining company, which was granted a licence to mine in the Mabola Wetlands near the town of Wakkerstroom, Mpumalanga, in an area recently proclaimed a Protected Environment.\u00a0 An NGO coalition is planning to go to court to appeal this; in the light of the recent Barberton Mines decision, it is hoped they will succeed.<\/p>\n Also in March 2017, EarthLife Africa took the Department of Environmental Affairs to court, launching the first ever climate change lawsuit in South Africa.\u00a0 This is significant; South Africa is the world\u2019s 13th<\/sup> largest carbon emitter, largely because over 90% of our electricity is generated by coal-fired power stations.\u00a0<\/strong> The case was brought because the Department did not conduct an environmental impact assessment concerning the likely climate change impacts of building a new power station \u2013 Thabametsi, situated in Limpopo Province.<\/p>\n It has been suggested in some quarters that South Africa\u2019s carbon emissions may well increase as more coal-fired power stations, including Kusile and Medupi, are under construction; Medupi is the fourth largest such facility in the Southern Hemisphere.\u00a0 Medupi in particular is already facing a number of challenges.\u00a0 The region of Limpopo Province in which it is situated is already considerably water-scarce and water for the power station will be brought from the Crocodile River catchment via an inter-basin transfer scheme.\u00a0 Sand mining, allegedly done unlawfully, has also negatively impacted the ecological functioning of some important regional rivers.<\/p>\n So what has this got to do with oil and gas exploration and possible production in South Africa?\u00a0<\/strong> South Africa has never found viable oil and gas resources and is completely reliant on imports.\u00a0 Government-sponsored surveys conducted in the 1960s and 1970s found resources in some places but these were not recoverable using technologies available at that time.\u00a0 It is believed in some quarters at least that the development of an oil and gas industry would occur along similar lines to the mining industry.\u00a0 Given the impacts of mining after just over a century, many of which are escalating today, this does not auger well for a potential oil and gas industry, regardless of the method of extraction, in the opinion of this writer.<\/p>\n If deployed, the overseas experience indicates that fracking uses and pollutes millions of litres of fresh water, which South Africa, the 30th<\/sup> driest country in the world with resources already at their limits, can ill afford.\u00a0<\/strong> This is perhaps the biggest issue concerning potential fracking in this country.\u00a0 According to international journalistic investigations by Pro Publica<\/em> and the New York Times<\/em> in 2012, the chemicals used are often toxic, resulting in human and animal health impacts.\u00a0 In addition, there are concerns locally that rural livelihoods such as farming and tourism, both of which rely on an ecologically productive and scenic natural environment to support them, may be lost.<\/p>\n Finally, if mining is anything to go by, the countryside may very likely be transformed into a space littered with abandoned, polluting wells and industrial-style constructs, unproductive farmland and damaged road infrastructure.\u00a0<\/strong> This would most probably increase rural-urban migration, a challenge in South Africa, where such migration is placing increasing pressure on urban resources.\u00a0 US studies by researchers at Cornel University also found that fracking is almost always allied to fugitive methane emissions \u2013 and methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, although it has a shorter residence time in the atmosphere.\u00a0 Should the same experience occur in South Africa, this is likely to add to South Africa\u2019s emissions burden and make it harder for the country to meet is climate change commitments made at international summits.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/South-African-acid-mine-drainage-by-Green-Peace.jpg\")
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