DA calls for urgent enquiry into the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone

The DA in Limpopo has today called on the Limpopo Local Economic Development, Environment, and Tourism (LEDET) Portfolio Committee to urgently investigate the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ).

Additionally, I have called for the MEC for LEDET and the department to appear before the committee.

The MMSEZ represents the  largest Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and industrial development project attempted in South Africa. Equally significant, however, are the potentially devastating impacts it could have on the environment, water resources, local communities, other economic sectors, and South Africa’s urgent need to transition to a low-carbon economy.

Over an extended period, grave concerns have been raised by various communities, economic stakeholders, interested and affected parties, as well as the media regarding the proposed MMSEZ.

These concerns encompass several critical issues, including:

1. Environmental impact: Potential large-scale environmental damage from the proposed development.
2. Water resources: Adverse effects on water access and quality, which could have severe consequences for both communities and the farming sector.
3. Energy challenges: The project’s reliance on power and the lack of a commitment to clean energy solutions.
4. Climate change: The implications for South Africa’s climate goals and the pressing need for a low-carbon transition.

Of equal concern are governance-related issues, including:

1. Conflict of interest: The questionable dual role of LEDET and its MEC as both the environmental assessment applicant and decision-maker, as well as the appeals authority.
2. EIA process: The splitting of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, which is perceived as a deliberate attempt to avoid proper scrutiny of the project’s environmental impact, necessity, and desirability.
3. Public participation: Procedural irregularities in the public participation processes.
4. Transparency and accountability: The perception that the provincial government is withholding critical information about the development’s impacts, failing to operate transparently, and determined to push the project forward regardless of the consequences.
5. Legal compliance: Concerns over adherence to the principles of the National Environmental Management Act, EIA Regulations, and requirements for Just Administrative Action.

Recently, public outrage has grown over LEDET’s approval to remove approximately 9,000 trees from the northern site of the MMSEZ. This is further exacerbated by pending applications to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment to destroy an additional 658,058 protected trees.

I have written to the Chairperson of the LEDET Portfolio Committee, urging the committee to demand full disclosure of all matters relating to the MMSEZ (as set out above) and to ensure that the MEC for LEDET and LEDET appear before the committee to give a full account of their governance of the matter and the decisions they have taken.