While his name translates to “he can see, but he remains silent”, fisherman Thulebona Shandu plans to defy this to join environmentalists in their fight against Karpowership’s floating power plant off Richards Bay, northern KwaZulu-Natal.
At the heart of objections to the Turkish company’s floating energy ships is the threat to their livelihood, marine life and the ecosystem.
And they say a deal sweetener to mitigate the environmental impact — by offering to donate the 1,750-hectare Madaka Game Ranch, which has been accepted by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife on behalf of the province — is an example of greenwashing.
Greenwashing is an initiative or claim by a company to influence the public that their action or product is environmentally friendly.
We are all confused. How will the farm avert the impact on the ecosystem and marine life? So we must go and fish on the farm?
— Thulebona Shandu, fisherman
The National Energy Regulator of SA awarded Karadeniz Holding Ltd (KHL), in conjunction with a SA BEE partners Powergroup SA, a 20-year tender worth over R200bn in 2021 to extract liquefied natural gas offshore at Richard’s Bay, Coega and Saldanha as part of the country’s risk mitigation independent power producer procurement programme.
Karpowership SA said Richards Bay presented a unique circumstance where the active industrial port, used largely for coal exports, operated within an estuarine bay.
But about 50km from Richards Bay in Mtunzini, Shandu — whose family has survived through his fishing for over 18 years and dozens of small-scale farmers, have added their criticism to the project after the green light from the provincial wildlife authority.
“We are all confused. How will the farm avert the impact on the ecosystem and marine life? So we must go and fish on the farm? They explained how they would operate, and we immediately saw red flags. We are totally against this because the ocean and the fish are food to us and a source of income that has been feeding our families for decades,” said Shandu.
Shandu, who is also the chairperson of Matigulu Mouth Fishing and Cooperation, which has 22 fishermen that supply fish to small businesses around Richards Bay, said through this he has fed and put his five children through school and now his 15 grandchildren.
“Not only will the fishermen be affected, but we also supply vendors and township businesses. We also employ several people who work on delivering and cleaning fish. So we have a chain of over 200 people that will go hungry, including our families. They say it will provide job opportunities, but most of us are too uneducated to work on that ship.
While Shandu and his team continue to fish for now, groundWork and 10 other environmental organisations have lodged objections with the department of forestry, fisheries & the environment.
Yegeshni Moodley, climate and energy justice senior campaign manager at groundWork, said experts have studied the environment in Richards Bay, which shows that the damage would not be rehabilitative.
“From what we understand, they will be burning gas in their engines, and they will use that to create steam in boilers, which turn turbines to generate electricity. From there, there will be vibrations and a lot of underwater noise. Water temperatures will be very high, which will kill marine life, and these impacts were not properly quantified in the environmental impact assessment processes,” she said.
“We see havoc, and as soon as the government understands this, the better.”
Prof Digby Cyrus, a senior estuarine ecologist specialising in fish and birds, said the project has great potential to impact the birds situated around the estuary, where the ship would be stationed.
“These birds are migrants that come from Africa's northern hemisphere. We are signatories to a number of conventions relating to migrant birds, and we are bound to try to protect these types of birds as much as we can. Ecological theory tells us that if birds are displaced by a loss of habitat, they will die,” said Cyrus.
“Their memory of using water as a cooler and putting warm water back into estuaries will affect fish. The estuaries are important as nursery grounds for our marine fishes as they breed at sea and come to estuaries to grow up before moving back to the sea,”
Cyrus said there has been an assessment of how important different habitats are and the estuarine habitat in the Richards Bay estuary is considered an irreplaceable habitat — and the land offset proposal will not address this.
But Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife integrated environmental management and protected area planning manager Dr Andy Blackmore said biodiversity offsetting principles, applied in South Africa and universally, are based on a principle of “no net loss of biodiversity” but preferably a “net gain”.
Blackmore said they were guided by marine specialist Dr Barry Clarke of Anchor Environmental, appointed by environmental assessment practitioner Hantie Plomp of Triplo4 KSA, who believed that the facility’s impacts on the marine and avifaunal environment could be “reasonably mitigated and offset”.
He said the authority recommended that Karpowership SA will have to secure an extensive marine offset if their application is to be authorised. Blackmore said as the project was considered of “national interest”, they recommended that Karpowership offers “as a show of good faith and commitment to biodiversity, what offset could be secured immediately”.
Karpowership is aware that the Port of Richards Bay faces a decline in bird species due to its expanding industrial port and coal exports. To mitigate noise impacts on bird and marine life, the powerships have been designed with noise mitigation measures like dampeners, double hulls and anti-vibration mounts
— Karpowership
The farm, which is on the outskirts of the Ithala game farm and can be annexed to the existing provincial authority, was offered as the solution.
Blackmore said this should not be equated to the authority trading its “integrity and independence” for the game farm.
One of the owners, Izak Kirsten, said as far as he knew, the farm hadn’t been sold yet.
Karpowership SA denied their land offset was an example of greenwashing. It said its operations will not affect the fishing activity and they will operate in a way that respects the commercial rights of the fishing communities and have offered both land and marine offsets.
It has undertaken comprehensive assessments to measure the impact of water discharges on marine life and ecological systems, and hydrodynamic reports determined that the thermal plumes will not exceed any biological thresholds.
“Karpowership is aware that the Port of Richards Bay faces a decline in bird species due to its expanding industrial port and coal exports. To mitigate noise impacts on bird and marine life, the powerships have been designed with noise mitigation measures like dampeners, double hulls and anti-vibration mounts,” said Karpowership.
Department of forestry, fisheries & the environment spokesperson Peter Mbelengwa said the department was not commenting on issues around Karpowership pending the finalisation of the appeal processes.
Meanwhile, KHL is mired in a legal battle with Karpowership SA, who have accused influential businesswoman Anna Mokgokong of hijacking their R230bn project.
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