Courtesy SDCEA
When BP and Shell sold the South African Petroleum Refinery (Sapref) in 2024 to the Central Energy Fund, a government entity, for R1 (or six US cents), environmental advocates warned that Sapref had not taken any steps to clean up pollution. Neither had it made reparations for harm inflicted on the health of nearby residents from over six decades of crude oil processing. The refinery is in the port city of Durban, on South Africa’s east coast.
One year after the sale, the cleanup still needs to happen. South Africa’s National Environmental Management Act is based on the “polluter must pay” principle. This law states that every person (including companies) who caused significant pollution or degradation of the environment must take measures to prevent, minimise and rectify it.
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Section 28 of the law applies retrospectively, so BP and Shell can still be held responsible for pollution they caused, even if the contamination occurred years ago. This law also gives the director-general of the department responsible for environmental affairs or provincial environmental authority the power to recover the costs of cleanup or remediation from both the polluter and the landowner, past or present.
In this case, the government has the power to issue a directive compelling BP and Shell to take specific steps to remediate the site. Alternatively, the government could pay for a cleanup and then recover the costs from the polluters (BP and Shell) using section 28 8(a) of the National Environmental Management Act.
There is no sign yet of this happening. In the meantime, the communities of South Durban, near the refinery, remain at risk. A key worry is the presence of hydrocarbons (the primary compound of petrol). These are hydrogen and carbon compounds that harm human health and the environment once they are released, for example, during an oil spill. They stay present in the environment for decades, and even centuries.
In South Durban, hydrocarbon residues and soil contamination were found at the Sapref site in 2004. And in March 2022, Sapref closed after severe floods washed hydrocarbons out of the refinery and onto a nearby beach.
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I’m an environmental sociologist who has researched the effects of oil refinery pollution on the residents of South Durban for 20 years.
The South Durban Basin has long been the epicentre of South Africa’s petrochemical industry and of environmental injustice. The residents there – and future generations – deserve the safe and healthy environment that South Africa’s constitution promises them.
Ultimately it will be up to the state to act and hold Shell and BP accountable for the full costs of remediating pollution in the area. The question is whether they will do so, considering the close relationship between government and industry. The state has failed to hold industry accountable in the past.
Environmental and health damage left by closed refineries
The South Durban Basin has housed two refineries – Sapref and Engen – and several chemical factories, side by side with the low-income communities of Merebank, Wentworth and Lamontville, as well as the more affluent Bluff suburb, for decades.
Health problems from industry in the area include chronic exposure to toxic air from frequent fires, spills and industrial accidents. In 2015, residents mounted a lawsuit demanding access to Sapref and Engen’s licences after experiencing unusually high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses in South Durban.
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As part of my ongoing research I spoke with residents who still live with the inheritance of health impacts. Prabern Padayachee, who has lived in Merebank near the refinery for several decades, said:
The refinery may have shut its gates, but for us in Merebank, the impacts haven’t ended. We’re still living with the toxic legacy left behind, the smell, the health problems, the uncertainty of what’s in our soil and air. We have paid the price for the profits made by Sapref.
Babu Haripersadh, a longstanding resident of the nearby Bluff community, added:
Sapref has been sold, and BP and Shell have walked away from their responsibility. We, the residents, are left with the pollution and the mess. The least they can do is clean up properly and take responsibility for the harm they’ve caused – to our health, our environment, and our future generations.
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For the affected communities, litigation is expensive, lengthy and technically demanding. Seeking justice might feel like an impossible fight against powerful corporations and an indifferent state.
I also spoke with Bongani Mthembu, air quality, health and senior project officer at the community based South Durban Community Environmental Alliance:
While we have not pursued any class action lawsuits to date, our organisation has been working closely with legal firms to obtain advice … regarding the lack of access to crucial health; environmental data and other industrial activities. This is essential for holding polluters accountable and for understanding the full extent of the environmental and public health harms caused.
Accountability and community power
The refinery may have changed hands but this does not mean the polluters need not pay. The impact of the hydrocarbon pollution has not disappeared. What’s needed urgently is a community health study to see what kinds of pollution remain in South Durban, and how this affects people living there.
The government should arrange medical support for those suffering long-term effects. Residents of the area previously called for the establishment of a community clinic equipped to deal with illnesses specifically caused by petrol refinery pollution, but this never happened.
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Decisions about cleaning up the toxic land must include consultation with affected communities. Justice is not just about the cleanup operation. It’s about restoring dignity, health and agency to those who have borne the costs of Sapref operations over the years.
The story of South Durban is, ultimately, about accountability: who profits, who pays, and who is left with environmental and health impacts. Until those responsible for decades of harm are held to account, injustice will remain.
