Durban - UPL said that Tuesday marked one year since the violent attack on UPL South Africa’s leased distribution warehouse in Cornubia, Durban.
The attack resulted in a chemical spill from the leased Cornubia warehouse and forced the closure of beaches for months near uMhlanga.
UPL invested millions to alleviate the impact of the chemical spill which included clean-up and rehabilitation operations in the affected area.
UPL said that the company was one of the thousands of businesses attacked during the riots and looting that broke out in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng in July 2021, which cost the economy around R50 billion and tragically resulted in 340 lives being lost.
“Over the past year, UPL has spared no expense or effort to mitigate the impact of the attack, with about 130 people, including leading independent specialists, working around the clock to contain the overflow caused by containing the fire, undertaking sampling and co-ordinating with authorities. As a result of these efforts, all the beaches that were closed as a result of the incident were reopened for recreational purposes at the beginning of November 2021.”
UPL added that the company is pleased that the overall concentrations of substances related to the overflow have declined substantially (dropping to either a fraction of original concentration or undetectable levels) in the system since the end of November 2021.
“There has also been success in re-establishing vegetation in the area. The system is returning to health, with a variety of tadpoles, algae and birdlife returning to the system.”
UPL said that it is evident from both the testing of first responders and on-site personnel, as well as those few people who have attended the health clinic (set up by UPL South Africa in partnership with the health authorities), that there is very little by way of serious health impacts attributable to either the fire or the overflow.
“While the destruction of the warehouse also had the potential to seriously and severely disrupt food security in light of UPL South Africa being a major supplier of agricultural products in South Africa that are essential to food production and food security, this was avoided due to UPL manufacturing plants worldwide working overtime to make up for the stock destroyed at the distribution warehouse.”
UPL said that UPL South Africa worked tirelessly to arrange for the timeous delivery of the stock to South Africa. These joint efforts ensured the supply of vital inputs to farmers in time for their planting season and thus helped ensure South Africa’s food security.
“Since the attack, UPL South Africa has regularly produced reports on the clean-up efforts and progress made. All final reports have been submitted to the various government authorities and have also been made available on the online information repository, and thus available to all stakeholders. Multiple stakeholders have also visited the site and seen the progress first-hand.”
UPL added that they will continue working with the government to build on the gains on the spill impacted area. “UPL South Africa, guided by its team of experts, remains committed to continue working with the relevant government authorities to build on the significant gains made in terms of rehabilitating the spill impacted system.”
In an opinion piece published on IOL in August , South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) founder Desmond D’sa said that there were a number of unanswered questions after the inferno that caused the chemical spill at UPL’s leased Cornubia warehouse in July. “What was the specific inventory and content stored in the facility? Were legislative and regulatory requirements met for the storage of toxic chemicals at this site?
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, UPL refused to disclose vital information on the content and quantities of its stock. This made it impossible to assess the environmental risk, and the risk faced by emergency responders and affected communities.”
D’sa added that the impact of warehouse fire which raged for 10 days was devastating. “ As firefighters, unaware of the warehouse contents, fought the flames, the contaminated run-off found its way into the Ohlanga River, the Umhlanga lagoon and beaches north of Durban. Dead fish and shellfish littered the beaches and surfers started to complain of rashes.
As more of the chemicals entered the river and lagoon, turning them an eerie bright blue, the eThekwini municipality was forced to shut its northern beaches. By the time the scale of the environmental and health impact was apparent, the damage had already been done.”