SANParks happy over mining company’s large fine for water waste
THE South African National Parks (SANParks) announced last week that it welcomed the sentencing of Bosveld Phosphates (Pty) Ltd to a fine of R1 450 million as well as a suspended sentence of R1,1 million for water spillage at the Ga-Selati River in 2014.
Moyahabo Mabeba
LIMPOPO – THE South African National Parks (SANParks) announced last week that it welcomed the sentencing of Bosveld Phosphates (Pty) Ltd to a fine of R1 450 million as well as a suspended sentence of R1,1 million for water spillage at the Ga-Selati River in 2014.
The spillage is said to have caused significant pollution of the environment, including the Kruger National Park’s (KNP) Olifants River during the summer of 2013/14.
The ruling took place at the Phalaborwa regional court last Thursday.
Bosveld Phosphates (Pty) Ltd pleaded guilty to contravening sections of both the National Environmental Management Act and the National Water Act through their unlawful discharge of hazardous waste water. The sentence came at a time when increased climatic variability was expected to result in more frequent incidences of uncontrolled surface and sub-surface pollution events into water courses from industrial activities such as the Ga-Selati incident.
Dr Stefanie Freitag-Ronaldson, general manager at Savanna & Arid Research Unit: Scientific Services, said: “While SANParks welcomes the judgement by the magistrate in this case, changing climatic conditions are an ongoing cause for concern around environmental pollution events and their effects on national water security and biodiversity”.
Freitag-Ronaldson went on to say that much of the real cost of remediation of such pollution events was externalised and carried by the environment. “This judgement sends a strong message that compliance to South Africa’s environmental and water management legislation is non-negotiable and management strategies must be put in place by the investors to deal with the changing climate,” she said.
SANParks said it was committed to ongoing and long-term monitoring and evaluation of pollution events into the KNP’s rivers, which are the lifeblood of the iconic national heritage and international treasure.
