Recent fieldwork in Musina-Makhado in March 22nd -31st 2021 again underline the relative lack of knowledge transfer between the provincial government agency, the Limpopo Economic Development Agency (LEDA), the Environmental Impact Assessment practitioner Delta BEC and communities in the area on the proposed Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone that promises close to 55 000 jobs for locals. The African Centre for Citizenship and Democracy (ACCEDE researchers and Mining Affected Communities Unite in Action (MACUA), together with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s Climate and Energy Coordinator, Richard Worthington, met with the Mulambwane Community, the Leshiba, the Vhembe District Community Property Owners Association (CPA) Forum, the Mudimele Community and the Musina MACUA Group. Communities have been empowered to be able to participate effectively and meaningfully in further public participation processes.…
Musina-Makhado SEZ: ‘We don’t want Limpopo Valley to turn into industrial wasteland’
Sheree Bega14 Mar 2021
It’s midday, and the sun is blazing in Makhado, but a khaki-clad Johan Fourie is unperturbed as he traipses through his lush bushveld paradise: his game lodge in the scenic, sensitive Limpopo Valley. “This is cool weather for us,” he smiles.
He is dwarfed by an ancient giant that towers over his property. “It’s amazing, isn’t it,” Fourie says, gazing up at the 1 200-year-old baobab tree.
But the deputy chairperson of Save our Limpopo Environment (Solve) fears he may soon be forced to leave his home and abandon his hunting and tourism business here.
…Plan to uproot 100 000 trees in Limpopo ‘sacrilege’, says baobab expert
Sheree Bega 20 Mar 2021
Plans to uproot more than 109 000 trees at the construction site for the government’s proposed Musina-Makhado special economic zone, including thousands of protected mopane, marula and baobab trees, don’t sit well with Isaac Sekwama.
“These trees are woven into our culture and are sacred to us,” says Sekwama, who lives in the Tshikuwi village in Limpopo, around 25km from the proposed 8000-hectare southern site of the controversial metallurgical cluster.
“There are a lot of indigenous trees, which have cultural significance to us as the Venda people, because the roots, the bark, are used for many different things.”
Last month, the final environmental impact assessment (EIA) report by the project’s environmental consultants, Delta Built Environmental Consultants, described how the total number of trees recorded in the proposed construction area is 109 034, of which 51.3% are marula trees, 41.9% shepherd trees, 5.2% baobab and 1.65% leadwood trees.
Its specialists recommend that juvenile and subadult trees need to be relocated and transplanted.
“This should be done when the plants are actively growing, and the outside temperature is less than 30°C, which would increase the likelihood of successful translocation and with the input of a horticulturist, or a plant translocation specialist.”
A horticulturist and a plant translocation specialist need to be consulted on the feasibility of the relocation of the adult trees, says the final EIA, which notes how De Beers’ Venetia Mine did successful relocation of baobab trees in 2016 and SANParks in 2005.
…The Developmental Significance of Special Economic Zones in the Global South and the Case of the Dirty Energy Musina-Makhado Zone (MMSEZ).
Policy Brief,
Hazel Shirinda and Lisa Thompson
Part 1 – draft– March 2021
Introduction
Over the last decade, Special Economic Zones have been promoted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Bank as effective mechanisms for ensuring growth across the developing world.
The SEZ model has gained popularity as a result of China’s use of the Zones to ensure rapid industrialization and diversification of manufactured products. The first SEZ in China is the Shenzhen SEZ, now a thriving smart city used as a example of what SEZs can add to Global South Development.
China’s developmental influence has been expanded by a number of forms of institutional cooperation. These include the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the BRICS bloc (Brazil Russia-China-India-South Africa). China has championed the notion of the Global South.
The international institutional term Global South refers to a new configuration of global geostrategic power, led by China. The rise of the alignment of states that refer to themselves as part of Global South is linked to China’s economic leadership role in the world economy, tactically as part of the geostrategic (as opposed to geographic) South, so as to balance the power of the United States and Europe (the Global North).
Inspired by the Chinese use of SEZs, South Africa has put Special Economic Zones at the forefront of our National Development Plan. The need for industrial development combined with large scale infrastructural upgrading and expansion is seen as even more critical after the economic devastation caused by COVID 19.
Linking Development to Special Economic Zones
Most developing states have undiversified economies. This means they lack industrialization and diversified manufacturing economic bases. While the aim is to ensure long term sustainable growth, this goal …
State pushes ahead with its toxic zone
The flawed public participation process of the proposed mega-toxic Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) left people in the dark about its negative livelihoods and environmental risks.
The dirty energy metallurgical cluster centres on a huge coal plant for mineral extraction and processing, of which, according to the MMSEZ’s master operational plan, 70% of what is produced is destined for China. The list of proposed industries includes a coal washery, a coking plant, a thermal plant, a ferrochrome plant, a ferromanganese plant, stainless steel, high manganese steel and vanadium steel plants as well as lime and cement plants.
The initiative — described in the final environmental impact assessment (EIA) as “the largest single planned SEZ [Special Economic Zone] in the country comprising 20 closely linked and interdependent industrial plants — will be run by a Chinese conglomerate, Shenzhen Hoi Mor Resources. Its chief executive, Yat Hoi Ning, is on the Interpol watch list after being charged with fraud by a Zimbabwean mining conglomerate, Bindura Nickel Corp and Freda Rebecca gold mine group, both listed in London.
This does not bode well for due diligence on the part of the department of trade and industry, who awarded the contract in 2017, when the charges against Yat Hoi Ning were already public, nor for accountability practices in the future, especially as there are so many oversight warning bells clanging at the start of the project. The rushed-through EIA process is a disturbing case in point.
Objections sidestepped
Between September 2020 and 31 January 2021, environmental organisations and activists hoped to stay the approval of the first high-level EIA on a variety of concerns, including the fact that Limpopo is a climate change and biodiversity hotspot. The 8 000ha site designated for the MMSEZ, situated between Musina and Makhado municipalities …
Development Dilemmas of South Africa’s Special Economic Zone Industrialisation policy- the Case of Musina-Makhado Energy Metallurgical Special Economic Zone and its potential socio-economic impact.
Table of Contents
i. Executive Summary
i.i. Introduction
i.ii. Special Economic Zone Legislation in South Africa
i.iii. The Greenwash of the EIA
i.iv. Tick-box Public Participation
1. Introduction
2. Repackaging South Africa’s Development Policy Past: From Industrial Development Zones to Special Economic Zones- Understanding the difference
3. China’s Investment Aid to Africa and South Africa- infrastructural megaprojects
4. Why Special Economic Zones are key to South African Development
5. The Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone: Geostrategics and the Political Economy of the Global South
6. The MMSEZ Greenwash: the September Environmental Impact Assessment
7. Conclusion
8. Reference list
i. Executive Summary
i.i. Introduction
The immediate objective of this policy paper is to critically analyse the lack of sustainable development public policy thinking to South Africa’s largest development mega-project of the Covid era: the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ). Fieldwork undertaken in 2019 and 2020 has established that local municipalities and communities in Musina-Makhado have little, if any, knowledge of the SEZ.
This policy paper further explores how the MMSEZ is part of the Brazil Russia India China South Africa (BRICS) and Forum on China -Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Global South development strategy led by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to accelerate ‘inclusive’ development and to rewire trade and developmental aid globally. The MMSEZ mega-project is linked to China’s Global South development narrative, and links to China’s da Yuanzu, or “going out” as a global economic strategy to reconfigure the geographical epicentre of the world economy to China, rather than the Global North. Central to the strategy is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The policy paper focuses on infrastructure led industrialisation in the Global South through Special Economic Zones. Two main aspects are examined, namely the impact on the environment and on local communities, given that the Zones are purported …
Muddying the waters in the Musina Makhado economic zone
Meshack MbangulaHazel ShirindaLisa Thompson
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is touted by the government to be the new “regional economic epicentre” much like other mega-projects in the Global South.
Many of these projects drain the fiscus with heavy infrastructural requirements, heighten foreign extraction of resources and raise carbon pollution levels. Multinational companies, endorsed by governments for the fiscal kickbacks, commit to alleviate people’s poverty where the primary goal is to shift their need for Africa’s rich mineral resources and to offset their national carbon footprint.
The Musina Makhado SEZ, or MMSEZ as it is now called by the government, is a perfect case in point. The zone will be the first in South Africa to be operated by a foreign (Chinese) company, Shenzhen Hoi Mor. The company has committed to investing $3.8-billion to its operational success. This will mean an unprecedented level of foreign control. To make matters worse, of the proposed industries in the metallurgical cluster, nearly all of them are carbon intensive, environmentally destructive and a threat to the livelihoods of communities in the medium term, as even the EIA admits they are environmentally red-flag carbon dioxide emitters.
…Explaining Carbon Sequestration and the EIA’s Stupid Science
Carbon sequestration is a naturally occurring process whereby carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere. Trees play an important role in this process since they take in carbon dioxide and use it during photosynthesis to produce nutrients.
Uprooting of about 100 000 trees at the proposed construction site. Trees as we know, provide a micro habitat for small faunal and floral species and also provide, micro climatic conditions suitable for the survival of these species. Moreover, trees are carbon sinks and provide all living organisms with clean air for breathing. Thus said, cutting down trees, especially rare trees such as the baobab, and the mopani tree, on which the edible mopani worm feeds, will be disastrous to the ecology and to the livelihoods of those in Limpopo. The canopies of the huge trees such as baobabs also form micro-habitats since they limit light penetration allowing other species to grow in their shade.
If so many trees are uprooted from one site at once, many species, particularly birds, dependent on trees for nesting and resting, will be displaced. This will be problematic since species that are only endemic to the area could be completely eliminated and even driven to early extinction.
Even if the said number of trees are uprooted and taken somewhere, the species that are dependent on them cannot be transferred together with the trees. This implies that all those said species will be displaced and stand a great chance of elimination.
Another potential risk to the SEZ is that during rainy seasons, trees intercept rainfall, increases and increases infiltration, thereby reducing the risks of flooding.…
The Sham of the Public Participation Process on the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ) 14-19 September 2020
Meshack Mbangula, Hazel Shirinda and Lisa Thompson
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ) echoes the promises made by government backed mega projects in the Global South. Multinational companies, endorsed by governments for the fiscal kickbacks, commit to alleviate people’s poverty where the primary goal is to shift their need for Africa’s rich mineral resources and to offset their national carbon footprint. The Musina Makhado SEZ, or MMSEZ as it is now called by government, is a perfect case in point. The SEZ will be the first in South Africa to be operated by a foreign (Chinese) company, Hoi Mor Shenzhen. This will mean an unprecedented level of foreign control over the SEZ. To make matters worse, of the proposed industries in the metallurgical cluster, nearly all of them are carbon intensive, environmentally destructive and a threat to the livelihoods of communities in the medium term due to the health implications of such large CO2 emitters
The high-level EIA, as it is called, was completed by the Delta Built Environment Consortium (Delta BEC) and made public in September 2020. While admitting the environmentally harmful nature of the SEZ, it is still a self-justificatory document. The EIA assessment glosses over the endemic water scarcity issues in the Limpopo Valley stating “… if insufficient water is available in the catchment, and the social and economic opportunities offered by the SEZ operation are sufficiently attractive, additional water may be brought in from a neighbouring catchment”.
Although not unexpected, but still shocking in its lack of community buy-in, is the public participation process that has just taken place. All large-scale developmental initiatives, especially those with huge community impacts, should abide by the principle of “free, prior and informed consent (FPIC)” so that those affected communities can engage from
Killing the Holy Ghost: Limpopo’s Musina-Makhado SEZ – A not-so-go zone?
By Brandon Abdinor
The draft environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on the controversial proposed Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone was released on 1 September, and public participation meetings started in Limpopo and Tshwane in the week of 14 September 2020. Input from community members and other interested parties saw powerful questions and concerns being added to the sensible and potentially prohibitive ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ raised by the report’s expert authors.
Also read Kevin Bloom’s two-part series on the SEZ: Part 1, Killing the Holy Ghost: Inside the R145bn plan that would destroy the Limpopo River, is here and Part 2, How a R10.7bn “zero waste” megaproject was buried by Limpopo’s Chinese deal is here.
…