The “rotten egg” smell reported across parts of Johannesburg in recent days is a sign of deeper industrial air pollution that workers and surrounding communities have long been forced to breathe in, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) said on Friday.
The union blamed large industrial polluters for the sulphur-like odour, saying companies often delay installing pollution-control systems to avoid the financial cost, while communities carry the health burden.
Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said what residents in Gauteng are now smelling is a reality that communities in Mpumalanga have lived with for years.
“What people are smelling in Johannesburg is the cost of industry that somebody else must pay for,” he said.
“And the people paying that cost are workers and their families, and the communities that house them.”
He said people in Mpumalanga had been suffering from this for many years, and it affected the eyes of young children and the lungs of everybody.
“Only now, when it hits Gauteng, it becomes newsworthy.”
Preliminary monitoring data indicates elevated levels of sulphur-related gases during the recent odour incidents.
Environmental specialists said gases such as hydrogen sulphide and related industrial emissions can travel long distances under certain atmospheric conditions. Weather patterns such as temperature inversions can trap pollutants close to the ground, allowing them to spread across large areas and affect communities far from the original emission sources.
Pollution affecting Gauteng is also influenced by emissions originating from the Highveld Priority Area in Mpumalanga and eastern Gauteng, where coal-fired power stations and heavy industrial facilities are concentrated. The region was declared a pollution hotspot in 2007 under air-quality legislation due to concerns about deteriorating air quality.
Amcu also pointed to emissions from the Sasol Secunda complex, which has repeatedly been identified in global emissions inventories as the world’s largest single point source of sulphur dioxide.
Satellite-based atmospheric monitoring studies have shown that emissions from the facility can reach levels comparable to the total sulphur dioxide output of some industrialised countries.
Sulphur dioxide contributes to the formation of fine particulate pollution in the atmosphere. Long-term exposure to these pollutants has been linked to respiratory illnesses such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and other lung diseases, which disproportionately affect communities living near major industrial zones.
“This pollution does not stay inside the factory fence. It travels through the air into the homes of workers and into the lungs of children who had nothing to do with producing it.”
Amcu said coal was central to South Africa’s electricity system and supported thousands of jobs across the mining and energy sectors. However, the union said the problem lay in the failure to properly control pollution after coal is burned or processed.
Several large industrial facilities operating in the Highveld have received postponements from stricter emission standards under the country’s air quality laws.
According to the union, delays in installing pollution-control systems allowed companies to save billions in capital expenditure while higher emission levels continue.
“When pollution controls are delayed, companies save money,” Mathunjwa said.
Amcu called for greater transparency on the full economic cost of electricity generation, including the health costs borne by workers and surrounding communities exposed to industrial pollution.
TimesLIVE
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