‘Eskom’s Kendal Causing Excess Pollution Deaths, Studies Show’ 29 April 2020

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s Kendal power plant, where pollution abatement equipment was damaged in a 2018 strike, allegedly caused as many as 274 excess deaths between the start of 2018 and October last year, studies show. The coal-fired plant’s emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, are often a multiple of those recommended by the World Health Organisation, the Cape Town-based Centre for Environmental Rights said in a statement, citing studies it commissioned. Power-plant pollution has been tied to complaints ranging from respiratory diseases to heart attacks and strokes.

Environmental rights groups have sued the government to enforce its own rules against Eskom and petrochemicals company Sasol Ltd. because they say the air pollution violates constitutional rights. “Eskom is not above the law,” Thomas Mnguni, a campaigner at Groundwork, an environmental organization that works with the CER, said in a statement. Holding Eskom to account for their rampant pollution is a matter of life and death for those of us living on the Highveld.” The Highveld refers to the country’s inland plateau and includes the region east of Johannesburg where most of South Africa’s power plants are located.

…Of the plant’s six generating units two are operating within emissions limits, one is being repaired and is offline and three are exceeding the limits, Eskom said in a response to queries. The electrostatic precipitators, which use an electric charge to take particles out of the emissions, and dust handling plants were damaged during the strike, it said. Full repairs of the units “can only be executed,” Eskom said. While “Eskom is committed to addressing the emissions issues at Kendal power station” shutting down units exceeding emission limits would compromise the company’s ability to meet national power demand, the utility said.