Durban July protest focuses on racecourse land sale

HIGHLIGHTING their concerns for the industrialisation of the Clairwood Racecourse zone, the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) picketed outside the Durban July on Saturday, 2 July.

“This development will have catastrophic effects on the community and Durban as a whole. This will increase this already highly toxic environment’s alarming levels of chronic asthma, leukaemia, and other cancers as well as bring increased pollution and in addition to the above an increase in traffic congestion on residential roads and the M4, which will pose a risk and danger to pedestrians, especially school going children,” said SDCEA in a statement.

The main focus of the campaign was to speak out against Gold Circle, which sold the land for development. SDCEA claims the company put profits before the lives of residents when they sold the land to Fortress Income Fund (FIF) for development.

“SDCEA and the communities have opposed the development and Gold Circle’s greed. Residents vehemently disapprove of this venture and expose Gold Circle for their disregard for the lives of South Durban residents. Gold Circle has put R430-million first in their endeavours to increase their profits, while the community will face 2,000 more hazardous trucks per hour on our roads. Already, trucks are responsible for the majority of severe traffic accidents in the South Durban area, killing residents at alarming rates.

The company is well aware of the challenges and health problems experienced by residents through the rise of the petro-chemical and chemical industries from the early 60s.”

The protest saw a few people gather to highlight their concerns while a memorandum was handed over to Gold Circle HR specialist, Wesley Roux, calling for further communication.

In response to the protest, Gold Circle’s marketing executive, Graeme Hawkins said: “As the sale of Clairwood Racecourse was a done deal four years ago, Gold Circle considers this matter closed and does not wish to comment any further.

FIF’s development manager, Nico Prinsloo said as the developer of the Clairwood Logistics Park, FIF is committed to good corporate governance and investment that will create much needed jobs in the south of Durban.

“Throughout the planning process, FIF had adhered to all legislated requirements and fulfilled all the stipulations for the Environmental Authorisation (EA), including public participation requirements. We are committed to being a good neighbour to the surrounding community and have invested over R3,8-million in schools and community resources in the area.

Fortress will be investing R110-million to improve the road infrastructure surrounding the Clairwood Logistics Park. Much needed upgrades of aging road infrastructure will include far safer waiting areas for school children in order to significantly reduce the possibility of pedestrian accidents. As part of the development, we will remove alien vegetation, create green conservation spaces of approximately 10 hectares on site, and rehabilitate the wetland,” said Prinsloo.