"Muddying the waters in the Musina Makhado economic zone" 22 October 2020

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is touted by the government to be the new “regional economic epicentre” much like other mega-projects in the Global South. 

Many of these projects drain the fiscus with heavy infrastructural requirements, heighten foreign extraction of resources and raise carbon pollution levels. Multinational companies, endorsed by governments for the fiscal kickbacks, commit to alleviate people’s poverty where the primary goal is to shift their need for Africa’s rich mineral resources and to offset their national carbon footprint. 

The Musina Makhado SEZ, or MMSEZ as it is now called by the government, is a perfect case in point. The zone will be the first in South Africa to be operated by a foreign (Chinese) company, Shenzhen Hoi Mor. The company has committed to investing $3.8-billion to its operational success. This will mean an unprecedented level of foreign control. To make matters worse, of the proposed industries in the metallurgical cluster, nearly all of them are carbon intensive, environmentally destructive and a threat to the livelihoods of communities in the medium term, as even the EIA admits they are environmentally red-flag carbon dioxide emitters.

The proposed list of industries includes a coal washery, a coking plant, a thermal plant, a ferrochrome plant, a ferromanganese plant, stainless steel, high manganese steel and high vanadium steel plants as well as lime and cement plants. The total pollution effect on the ecologically sensitive Vhembe district is devastating, with knock-on effects for the entire province and even neighbouring Zimbabwe. [...]