ABOUT 200 Wentworth residents held a peaceful protest to hand over a memorandum to the Sapref Refinery today (April 30). In the memorandum residents raised concerns about the unemployment rate affecting the South of Durban

After seven decades of industrial pollution with minimaI community benefit, the leaders of the march in the South Durban Basin said the community deserves to participate in and benefit from the industries they have supported.

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Tracey Williams, who was part of the march, said: “After years of struggle, we are happy with the progress made by Paramount Chief Jason Abrahams.

“Some light was shed on our community and a ray of hope to all in attendance. All these refineries were built by our fathers that had no matric and worked on them from 16 years old. They had no college degrees either. Our children deserve this opportunity,” said Williams.

Abrahams said the purpose of the handing over was to present the Central Energy Fund with a list of the community’s priorities for the South Durban Basin.

Abrahams said the community wants to see how employment, skills development, and business opportunity processes are implemented.

“It was basically about those key aspects and [our intention] to show support for the Central Energy Fund. We want this refinery to succeed. It currently accounts for around 30% of our national energy need. So it is essential that it operates at full capacity, especially as the country risks becoming more of a consumer than a producer. We want to open the doors to more production and manufacturing businesses so that we do not become dependent,” he said.

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Although there is a growing perception that some companies are not prioritising employment opportunities for nearby communities, Abrahams dismissed this narrative, saying it was not accurate.

“I think there is a bit of a misinformation on that because a lot of local fence line communities work within these spaces. However, it is unfortunate that sometimes a company cannot employ everybody. We emphasised that the companies need to source skills within our nearby communities which includes Lotus Park, Lamontville, Umlazi Wentworth, The Bluff and Merebank,” he said.

Managing director of South African National Petroleum Company (Sanpc), Sesakho Magadla, said: “We engaged the authorities and the Durban South Basin Community, we are quite happy with the support and peaceful approach of the Durban Basin Community Coalition in how they handled the handing over of the memorandum.

“We are also encouraged by their commitment to support the project. We are going to take it to our principals so that they can review it, discuss it and see how we can find a way for us to work together with the community,” she said.

She emphasised that it will be essential to strike a balance between the demands of the national project and being responsive to the needs of the community.

“We do believe that with the spirit of engagement shown today there is commitment to building the refinery together. If we succeed, the benefits will extend to nearby communities as well as nationally,” she added.

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