- Life After Coal (LAC), in partnership with Earthlife Africa will host the Waterberg Air Quality and Health Workshop at Lephalale, Limpopo.
- The Training aims to raise awareness and build community advocacy around the serious health impacts of air pollution in the Lephalale area.
This initiative focuses on tools to monitor air quality, complemented by knowledge on the health effects of air pollution and providing practical strategies to mitigate, reduce, and manage pollution from industrial sources.
Lephalale lies within the Waterberg–Bojanala Priority Area that was declared a National Priority Area under Section 18(1) of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act No. 39 of 2004—due to high levels of pollution from heavy industry, especially coal mining and power generation.
The region is home to the Waterberg coalfields, which fuel the Medupi and Kusile power stations which are the major contributors to air and water pollution.
According to the annual emissions in the Waterberg–Bojanala Priority Area are estimated at Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), 2014:The Waterberg-Bojanala Priority Area Air Quality Management Plan: Baseline Characterisation, October 2014.approximately 397,000 tons of sulphur dioxide (SO₂) and 87,000 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOₓ).
These pollutants contribute to a range of health problems, especially respiratory illnesses and long-term medical conditions. The broader impacts of pollution include lost productivity, increased healthcare costs, job losses, and rising unemployment in affected communities.
The workshop will also spotlight the significance of the recent #DeadlyAir judgment, which ruled that the poor air quality in the Highveld Priority Area violates residents’ constitutional right (Section 24(a)) to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being.
“This training is a platform to build the capacity of communities in Lephalale and the broader Waterberg region, who continue to face the devastating impacts of coal mining and power generation,” said Thabo Sibeko, Senior Programs Officer at Earthlife Africa.
As part of the training, community environmental activists will be skilled on how to use air quality monitoring devices known as air beams. These tools will help communities collect real-time data on pollution levels and use that evidence to demand accountability and change. Communities will be assisted to monitor air quality.
“We hope the air beams and training will produce reliable, publicly accessible data that strengthens community advocacy for clean air and better health outcomes,” said Mafoko Phomane, Senior Environmental Health Campaigner at GroundWork.
Equipped with relevant knowledge and information gathered from air quality monitoring, the communities of Lephalale, will also receive mobile media training in the next phase of this initiative to support advocacy initiatives calling for accountability from polluters and local government, adequate health services that are fit for purpose in their context, and to ensure that their environmental rights under section 24 of the SA Constitution are not violated or subordinated to corporate profit from the destructive extractive mining and its expansion which poses an unprecedented threat of destruction and/or contamination of lands, water sources, ecosystems, sacred spaces and livelihoods in the area.
This workshop marks a critical moment in amplifying the voices of fenceline communities in South Africa’s pollution hotspots. As climate justice, public health, and environmental accountability become increasingly urgent, the Waterberg-Lephalale Air Quality and Health Workshop serves as a powerful call to action for government, industry, and civil society to prioritize clean air. Media are invited to cover this pivotal event as communities take bold steps to demand their constitutional right to a healthy environment backed by data, training, and determination.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
