WATCH: Documentary exposes ‘big oil companies’ toxic impact on Wentworth community
Angelo Louw who is the Greenpeace International content editor, said it took him about three months to conduct research for the documentary.
A NEWLY-RELEASED documentary has exposed the toxic impact on Wentworth and surrounding communities due to the various ‘big oil companies’ that have encroached onto residential boundary lines over the past 60 years.
CRUDE: Wentworth Community vs Big Oil, which was made in partnership with Greenpeace Africa and International, was recently released at the 1-Minute Film Festival held at Ster Kinekor in Sandton.
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Angelo Louw, the director said the idea to do the documentary was due to Shell’s pursuit for drilling rights along the Wild Coast.
“This had me thinking that while big oil companies keep promising jobs and wealth, the reality is that they just leave devastation wherever they go.”
Louw, who is a journalist and social justice activist, said the 25 minute film was shot in Wentworth, which is surrounded by a cluster of chemical refineries.
“This documentary details compound tragedies that have afflicted this community, and their 60-year battle against big oil companies, that drove them into this spiral of poverty and suffering. CRUDE tells the stories of some of the residents of the South Durban Basin, their battles with ill-health, their suffering at the hands of the surrounding fossil fuel companies, and their attempts to bring change to their community. It also details some research from the University of KwaZulu-Natal into the health impacts in the area, and how Wentworth came to be a cancer cluster,” he said.
Louw, who is the Greenpeace International content editor, said it took him about three months to conduct research for the documentary.
“Luckily, I was familiar with the area and the various issues that the residents faced. I also made contact with activists for the community, such as Oliver Meth and Desmond D’sa, who have been fighting against these oil companies for a very long time. For me, it was important to give these activists a platform to speak about their tireless work and how they have affected change. But, it was also important for them to speak about what is still needed to achieve justice in Wentworth because they are embedded in the community,” he said.
Louw said he hopes that the documentary will make South Africans and people across the continent, more aware of the impact that big oil companies have on communities.
“Our leaders have an opportunity to make the shift to green energy instead of investing into outdated sources of energy that have an even greater cost to ordinary people,” he said.
Louw said a community screening in Wentworth is also in the pipeline. While Meth, a gender-based violence (GBV) activist and Wentworth resident, said his role in the film was working as a fixer and telling a narrative as a resident of the community.
“The south Durban basin area has seen numerous events of ecological damage that feed into GBV and femicide in the surrounding communities. Climate hazards from water shortages to air pollution create chronic stressors which trap these communities in poverty and rigid gender roles. We must hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for its role in the architecture of chronic injustice,” he said.
The documentary will be available for streaming early next year.
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