Vodacom says permission was given to erect cellphone mast

Country View Residents’ Association representative, Stanley Pitso, told Midrand Reporter that residents were not consulted on the cellphone mast which has since been erected.

Pitso argued, “Approval for the base station was given by the City of Johannesburg, but there was no meeting with residents to notify them of the issue or to give residents a chance to comment on it. We are concerned about cancer-causing agents researchers have found.”

Kelebogile Moselane, who runs a pre-school close to the mast said, “I am concerned about the rumours that it may affect children. Parents have said the same to me.”

Chairperson of the Electromagnetic Radiation Research Foundation of South Africa, Tracey-Lee Dorny, holds the view that cellphone masts affect people’s health. “There is no doubt that cellphone masts affect people’s health, the environment and property value. Due to the lack of educated regulation of these cellphone masts, the telecommunications industry continues to roll them out in sensitive areas, such as next to homes, in schools and hospitals, demonstrating a lack of responsibility and ethics.”

She mentioned that in May last year, “… One hundred and ninety scientists from 39 nations submitted an appeal to the United Nations, its member states, and the World Health Organization requesting they adopt more protective exposure guidelines for electromagnetic fields and wireless technology in the face of increasing evidence of risk.”

Executive head of corporate affairs at Vodacom, Tshepo Ramodibe said Vodacom received permission from the City of Johannesburg to erect a base station in Country View Estate. Ramodibe emphasised, “We never start erecting base stations until it has obtained all the necessary approvals from the relevant municipal council; relevant stakeholders were consulted and those in the adjacent property were notified.”

Vodacom said it enlisted the services of an independent consultant to conduct an additional electromagnetic field compliance assessment on the location. That assessment confirmed that the base station fulfilled the required health and safety measures put in place to safeguard the public and environment.

“We understand that some people have concerns about the potential for health effects [sic] from base stations and we respect these concerns. The World Health Organization, which looks at the totality of scientific evidence gathered from thousands of studies over more than 20 years, has said that despite extensive research, to date there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health,” said Ramodibe.

Vodacom also stated that there is a need for additional base stations as South Africa is in the middle of a mobile connectivity boom. Data traffic on Vodacom’s network and across all mobile network companies is growing as more and more people use the Internet and applications every day. According to Vodacom, 30 million people across the country use mobile devices to access the Internet on the Vodacom network. In the absence of additional base stations, the country is likely to see an increase in the incidence of dropped calls, as the limited base stations will not be able to cater for increased numbers of calls and data connections.

The City of Johannesburg’s Virgil James said the City has a policy on cellphone masts which does make provision for a public participation process to some extent, however, it is a policy and not a law. Adding to that, he said the City has received numerous studies over the years by various cellphone mast companies that these masts do not pose any health risks to residents.

The ward councillor for Country View, Leepile Motsumi, could not be reached for comment.

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