Mbombela residents near Sappi mill say they’re forced ‘to live in mud houses’

Bhamjee is an informal settlement a stone’s throw from the Ngodwana Mill. It is built around a truck stop/bar on the N4 highway to Mozambique.

At first glance, you would think it’s a poverty-stricken settlement where residents have built mud houses for sustainability or preference. But according to Jabu Nhlanzi (not his real name) due to an inexplicable corrosion of galvanised corrugated iron used to build shacks and roofs, they had to settle for the alternative as “we can’t afford to change the iron structures four to five times a year. We had to settle for the mud houses”.

Nhlanzi said although they could not pinpoint the reason for the corrosion, it was also a problem they noticed with the waterproof and dustproof tarpaulin covers, which were used as an alternative for roofing.

“It could be because of the weather conditions we have like the normal fog, rain and sun, it’s a mixture of those. But as much as we can attribute it to that, we cannot overlook the chances that it could be because of the chemicals coming from the mill,” he said.

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Sappi blames weather conditions

Sappi spokesperson Zelda Schwalbach said it was unclear exactly what was being referred to, or whether it was possible to have been caused by the release of gases in the papermaking process. “It is probably more likely that any corrosion that is occurring is related to the oxidisation of certain material types as a result of prevailing weather conditions,” she said.

“Sappi is very cognisant of the effects of its operations on surrounding communities, and it is one of the reasons we have an active environmental liaison and monitoring committee.

“This public forum provides transparent communication on the mill’s environmental performance and compliance monitoring, which is shared with the public and environmental authorities.”

Corrosion of corrugated iron

But residents said one of the houses in the area had used corrugated iron for the past few years and the people living there were forced to change the roofing each year “especially because of the extreme corrosion. If it was the weather, it would be a different story but because of the situation, we suspect it’s not”.

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It is understood the presence of sulphur could be a factor in corrosion and a lead acetate test would have to be performed, but it is not commonly available in SA.

Meanwhile, Bhamjee landlord Sheila Mamba said while a number of people complained about health issues and the corrosion, nothing could be confirmed yet.

“We found the mill here, not the other way round, and since we chose to live here, we cannot complain,” she said.

She also said the bar had never had an incident of corrugated iron corrosion “and that’s why I can’t confirm or deny it. But we’ve had this building for a very long time in the family and I’ve never seen anything of that sort.

“And even since I’ve taken over, which is roughly more than 10 years, I’ve never changed the corrugated iron,” she added.

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Nhlanzi took The Citizen through the state of the corrugated metal at the Ngodwana Wellness Centre and said the clinic had been there since 2012.

“So I don’t think it’s grounds to say the corrosion was a result of the weather especially also looking of the windows of the clinic and the truck-stop bar which has a dark-brown lining “from the odour and cloudy fog”, he said.