MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

I Don’t Know About You but Images Like This Make me Nervous

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So there we were with a wonderful new big harbour just down the drag from the Port of Port Elizabeth. Everyone had a fine time doing the Environmental Impact Assessments and then swung into action to keep an unsuspecting populace in check and ignorant of abuse of the very laws that were championed in order to establish the Nqura Harbour in the first place.

A few years down the line the EIA’s had been buried in paper and the watchers have become complacent – fat with the free lunches, drowning with the slow drip drip of legalese and buried under the ties of money that bind ones conscience into a deep dark pool of quiet.

On 15 March MyPE highlighted the concerns of the the Coega/Ngqura Environmental Control Officer (ECO) (Coega Oil Rig Repairs a Major Cause for Concern) and it can definitely be stated that it is highly unlikely that the Oil Rig presently in the Coega Harbour has entered under the pretext of undergoing Major Repairs as per a SAMSA order.

In fact the Longhair and I have watched the almost comical antics of the Oil Rig as it has positioned itself all over the bay for two weeks now. One wonders why the channel marking buoys were all activated once upon a dark and stormy night recently but, I digress.

Once again Transnet have cracked the door open just that little bit to allow them to continue cocking a snook at the Port Elizabeth public and continue to ignore legitimate environmental and safety concerns. Fair warning – it is actions such as these that lead to major disasters.

And just when you thought it had gone - the Oil Rig appears in Nqura Harbour. Sneaky, very sneaky.
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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.