Mounting cost: Eskom is SA’s single biggest polluter. Every year, thousands of premature deaths are caused by pollution from Eskom’s coal-fired power plants. Picture: FINANCIAL MAILOn the right side of the main street of the dilapidated village east of Johannesburg is a fenced-off electricity substation with a red sign warning of pollutants. On the left, a power plant belches emissions from burning coal into the air. Both are owned by Eskom.
The environmental group Greenpeace, using satellite data, said that between June and August 2018, the area suffered the worst nitrogen dioxide power plant pollution on Earth. In a separate study, it said emissions such as sulphur dioxide, particulate matter and mercury were causing deaths from respiratory disease, strokes and heart attacks even beyond Mpumalanga, including in greater Johannesburg, a metropolis of 10-million people lying to the east.
The utility has at least $30bn in debt, its revenue isn’t enough to cover running costs and it can’t afford to complete the two biggest power plants it has ever constructed. In his June 20 state of the nation address , Ramaphosa said his government would accelerate R230bn in government support to help Eskom stay solvent.
“On a bad day this whole place looks white. You can barely see the houses that are just nearby,” said David Mashilwane, as he stood in front of a mud house, chickens at his feet. “I chose to remain here because I grew up here and I started my first job this side. With or without problems, this is my home.”
Since then, a separate lawsuit has been filed by two local environmental groups, GroundWork and the Vukani Environmental Movement in Action, to compel the government to enforce its own emission limits, which are already significantly higher than those in China and India, the world’s biggest coal consumers.