URGENT PRESS STATEMENT
4 November 2008
I have been requested and credibly informed by the authorized representatives of the dismissed employees of Uranium One, to notify the press and to urgently call for news media coverage of the mass protest march by thousands of dismissed mine workers, all former employees of Uranium One and the community of Dominionville, and SANCO against Uranium One. The purpose of the march is to present a Memorandum of Grievances to:
· Uranium One,
· the Department of Labour,
· the Department of Minerals and Energy,
· Cosatu and
· the local municipality.
The grievances include health and safety issues, labour related issues and alleged unfair dismissals.
The protest march will commence at 9h00 from the Pigane Stadium in Hartebeestfontein, Klerksdorp on the Thursday, the 6th of November, 2008.
The grounds for the grievances are relevant to the contents of previous press reports on Uranium One. The recent Report by the Labour Resource and Research Institute and the public debates during the last week of October, 2008 in Namibia, subjoined hereunder, have significant relevancy to the grievances of the former employees of Uranium One and the community of Dominionville.
FORUMS FOR PUBLIC DEBATE ON THE IMPACT OF URANIUM MINING IN NAMIBIA
Of similar fact evidence is the Report which was recently released by the Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI) in co-operation with Earthlife Namibia, Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, Citizens for Justice, the World Information Service on Energy, Human Rights 3000 and the Federation for a Sustainable Environment. The Report and the debate were extensively reported upon by the Namibian news media.
The debate forms part of a global campaign to raise awareness about uranium mining and the implications, that is, economics social, environmental or health, particularly on countries rich in this resource. The debate will be partly informed by a recent study by LaRRI, Uranium Mining: The Mystery Behind ‘Low Level Radiation’ that considers environmental and health concerns linked to uranium mining. It also reports on interviews conducted with over 50 former and current employees of the Rossing Uranium Mine that now suffer from cancer and although it does not find a direct causal link to these cancer cases reported mostly in Arandis, the coincidences said LaRRI are uncanny and worrying.
According to Hilma Shindondola-Mote, Director of LaRRI, uranium mine workers are not aware about the true nature of their health status. “During the time we conducted the study, employees claimed that Rossing does not explain what health problems can arise from exposure to uranium and the workers are not aware of the true status of their health:, Shindondola-Mote said. She further said that workers of the company raised concern that although they are tested annually, the results are never revealed until such a time when they leave the company. “The workers feel that there is a conspiracy between the doctors and Rossing. They are only informed about health problems like cancer after leaving their jobs. The doctors tell them that the deterioration in their health is because of their genes, family history or lifestyle.”
Inge Lindemann, a former member of the German Green Party and journalist, said the effect uranium has on health is still highly underestimated. Lindemann explained that uranium is a known nephrotoxin. Cancer can be caused by low and medium contaminations of uranium. More recently, uranium has been proven to mimic the effect of oestrogen at drinking water levels, which are considered as being ‘safe’ by authorities. In addition, she said, the brain is a ‘target’ for uranium toxicity.”
Gunter Wippel, a member of Friends of the Earth Germany and Society for Threatened People organizations, said in countries such as Canada and Tanzania, people are driven of their land in order to make way for uranium mines. And in cases where people stay on, they no longer use the land for raising cattle or growing crops. “This is a violation of human rights of the people, it seems like a trade off between human health and economic development”, he said.
It is sincerely trusted that my request for news media coverage will not be passed over.
Sincerely yours,
MARIETTE LIEFFERINK
PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL ARBITERS
073 231 4893
CANE reminder to readers of reports that don’t make front pages of the news:
§ The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) has admitted there are 53 areas dangerously contaminated by radioactivity in South Africa
But, the NNR said in it’s annual report to Parliament last year, it had “discontinued” proposed rehabilitation of sites in the Karoo that were “contaminated …with radiological hazard to members of public and to future generations” since the late 1970s and early 1980s because the DME had issued uranium prospecting permits to new companies in that region. The NNR said it was understaffed and overwhelmed by governments proposed nuclear energy plan.
http://www.pmg.org.za:80/viewminute.php?id=9845
§ The North West Province’s 2002 “State of the Environment” Report disclosed substantial evidence of radioactivity in the drinking water of communities
This report found that “there is a growing body of evidence pointing that both the long- and short-term effects of radioactive substances present in the environment may be impacting on the health of the population of the North West Province, particularly in the gold mining areas. Communities that are not currently supplied with safe, treated water and which rely on radionuclide-contaminated surface or ground water resources for their potable water are the most vulnerable to such health risks.”
§ One in 20 mineworkers exposed to excessive levels of radiation – Council for Nuclear Safety
Around 1999 the Council for Nuclear Safety (CNS) estimated that at least 10,000 mineworkers, or roughly one in 20 mineworkers, had been exposed to radiation levels that exceeded safety limits.
(Business Report Oct 7, 1999). In February 2007 during the NNR submission of its annual budget, its CEO Mr. Magumela stated that in 2002, 7 931 people had been exposed to unacceptably high doses, but this number had declined year by year to 1133, 424, and 8. He said there had been an improvement over the last five years but failed to mention this was as a result of a largely stagnant uranium mining industry at the time.
§ 500 former South African nuclear workers no closer to compensation
The cases of over 500 ex-workers at the National Energy Corporation of SA (NECSA)’s Pelindaba complex who came forward for an Occupational Health Study initiated by Earthlife Africa around 2005 remains unresolved since the company claimed its own “health study” showed there is no basis for the claims. Well over 20 of these people – seriously ill and poor – have now died.
§ Vaalputs communities fear nuclear contamination
Representatives from Namaqualand communities living near the Vaalputs national nuclear waste facility in the Northern Cape told Parliament’s Minerals and Energy portfolio committee this year they feared their water supply was being radioactively contaminated. Community leader Tony Coetzee appealed to Parliament to test the water in their area but the Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA, which manages Vaalputs, rejected these allegations, saying the region’s groundwater had not been contaminated by radioactive waste from its facility
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2386935,00.html
§ Radioactive waste is piling up at Pelindaba & Koeberg
Reports indicate that there are alarming statistics of radioactive waste piling up at Pelindaba and Koeberg – where it is also being poured into the Atlantic Ocean. At the Pelindaba complex thousands of litres of radioactive waste has been discharged into the Crocodile River which flows into the Hartbeespoortdam. These practises have continued unabated for decades and continue to this day.
The ONLY way to stop these criminal activities is to ensure an end to the quest for nuclear expansion in South Africa. Clean, safe and sustainable renewable energy sources ARE available and CAN provide sufficient power for this country but the reports that prove this are not seeing the light of day.
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