Admittedly I knew very little about this subject before moving to the Karoo. The people here are justifiably very vocal and emotional about the subject. It is the people living here that stand to lose everything. Hearing their questions and understanding their motives made it all clear to me. It’s pretty simple…the big guys extracting tons of cash, the government getting it’s slice of the pie and the little guys left to deal with the wrecked environment and their livelihoods .
I attended a meeting in Cradock held by “Bundu”, the S.A. subsidiary of the Australian company, Challenger Energy that are very quick to point out they are in fact a South African company. In truth they have found the most perfect “token appointed / headhunted 5% shareholder in the form of Donald Ncube. His credentials and achievements are impeccable. To me this just further arouses suspicion, a well thought out strategy by some guy on top.
The whole problem with this fracking issue is that nobody can precisely predict just how natures networks will evolve in the future. We all want assurances upfront from these companies that nothing during the harvesting of gas will damage our environment. They are the first to admit they cannot and furthermore that it is not their job to do this but it is up to the government. Are you joking?! The same guys that flicked the wrong switch resulting in a 7.5 BILLION rand loss to the economy??! Read about that here
Some interesting facts that came up:
– Landowners on whose property fracking will occur will enter into a “land use agreement”. Money will exchange hands, a contract signed and water results from testing underground will not have to be made public.
– The landowners were upset that full detail was not disclosed in the E.M.P. documents. Stakeholders needed more detailed information to be included in the consultative phase.
– Stakeholders have raised real concerns that have not been addressed which is a massive invasion of landowners rights. How can they decide when they don’t have the proper information?
One farmer quite rightly asked why compensation will only take place between these individuals and more importantly why they have a right to give the go ahead when the community as a whole stands to lose everything.
Ettienne summoned it up well. The gist of what he had to say was that the Karoo has a fragile ecology and this climate and environment is being challenged. Our water is precious and the reality is that it will be compromised. Generations to come will suffer from our greed and lack of foresight. How will these companies compensate for that? What will they do in an event of a major catastrophe? Bundu representative said that it is something that will have to be addressed by local law. His actual words were also “as a director of Bundu I can’t say I have an answer”. Does that not sum it up??? Why are we letting these overseas companies rape our land? Very concerning also is the fact that there are almost 300 farmers in the Cradock district. Fifteen people attended this meeting.
Orange Grove Farm 