cradock

2012-03-28 11:20

Duncan Alfreds

Cape Town – Miracles are of an alternative realm and cannot be used to disprove science, a palaeontologist said.

“When you’re talking about miracles, that’s well and fine. You’re totally out of the scientific rational viewpoint. But don’t use your miracles to try and disprove science,” Dr Jurie van den Heever, a palaeontologist at Stellenbosch University told News24.

Van den Heever is an author and science educator who has spent time instructing South African teachers on how to teach evolution in life science lessons.

It has emerged that some teachers do not teach the required curriculum, but Van den Heever said the government’s policy to teach evolution was correct.

“Our government has now come and said ‘We acknowledge the fact that evolution is the foundation of biology and much of other science and consequently, if we want to teach true knowledge, we must teach evolution at school’.”

Alternative ideas

In the US, fundamentalist groups have questioned the teaching of evolution, saying that it is only a theory. Alternative ideas such as intelligent design and other creationist viewpoints have been proposed for science lessons.

The idea has gained popularity in SA and the education department’s Caps (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement) document for life science specifies “different cultural and religious expalanations for the origin and development of life on Earth” (sic).

Some have slammed the position of science teachers who do not teach evolution correctly in lessons, saying that it stunted the development of students.

“People are resilient and they’re capable of change and sometimes people who come from a very fundamentalist background can still at some point see the light and… be saved. But I think it’s really terrible when a teacher has that position over a child,” psychohistorian Auke Slotegraaf told News24.

Van den Heever went further, and said that if one was opposed to evolution, it meant that one was racist.

“All humans belong to the same species and it can be proven genetically; anatomically. And if you belong to the same species, the biological species concept tells you if you can interbreed and produce viable offspring you belong to the same species and you cannot discriminate people the way that they did in the apartheid regime.

“If you are using those kinds of arguments to say that evolution is wrong, you are automatically in that whole morass of racism and apartheid,” he added.

Evidence

He urged people not to interpret the Bible literally, saying that miracles went beyond the scientific method.

“This is the creationist view: In the sense of these fundamental people who think that the Bible can be interpreted literally. Even theologians tell you it can’t.”

Science had the ability to demonstrate evidence for theories that made it reliable and testable, Van den Heever said.

He cited the example of the ear bones that evolved from the reptilian jaw and commonly found in Karoo fossils.

“We have in South Africa the best scientific evidence for macro evolution in the world. We’ve got this array of mammal-like reptile fossils in the Karoo and these fossils are abundant and they’ve been studied for hundreds of years.

“They show how one major group of animals – the reptiles – slowly changed into another major group of animals – the mammals, Mammalia. These fossils show gradual changes over time – changing from a reptile-like animal to a mammal-like animal.”

In the mammalian middle ear, the incus, stapes, malleus, and tympanic membrane have been shown to correspond to the quadrate, prearticular, articular, and angular structures in the reptile jaw.

Van den Heever said that evolution was a reality and that people who disputed it were deluded.

“If you want to live in la-la land and think of miracles, that’s fine – no problem – but you cannot disprove science by miracles.”

– Follow Duncan on Twitter

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

File photo: Anti Fracking protestors march down Long Street. Picture: Brenton Geach

Related Stories

• Water shortages could cause wars – report

If drilling for shale gas in the Karoo gets the go-ahead, the industry will become a “serious competitor” for water, one of SA’s leading earth scientists has warned.

According to a media release sent out on behalf of his consultancy, Dr Chris Hartnady told the Shale Southern Africa conference in Cape Town on Monday that shale gas production would require as much as four times the current annual groundwater use in all three of the Karoo areas that have been allocated to Shell for exploration.

Hartnady, an expert in structural geology and tectonics, said players needed to be aware of the environmental impacts and geophysical risks of shale gas production, and should evaluate the full energy cost and other economic considerations of the proposed gas exploitation in the Karoo.

Hartnady quoted estimates that the gas exploration phase in three areas of the Karoo would require between 48 000m3 and 216 000m3 of water, using 24 exploratory wells.

But should these test wells prove that the gas deposits were viable, actual production would require about 10 000 wells, he said, pointing out that the Marcellus and Barnett shale gas areas in the US, with similar reserves, required 12 000 and 14 000 wells.

This meant the gas production phase in the Karoo would require an additional 5 000m3 to 20 000m3 of water per well, with overall water demand in the range of 50-200 million cubic metres.

He pointed out that groundwater contamination was possible.

Hartnady also warned of the dangers of seismic events like earthquakes.

Referring to a 5.6 magnitude earthquake measured in Oklahoma last year, he said this US shale gas-producing state had previously had about 30 small earthquakes a year but since 2010/11, this had soared to more than 1 000 annually.

He believed this was because of the “dramatic increase” in the disposal of waste-water brines from unconventional oil and shale-gas production.

“The 2011 ‘hydroseismic’ events in Oklahoma and Ohio bear important lessons for the Karoo, especially since significant earthquake activity is present.

The earthquake catalogue of SA shows many epicentres within and around the Karoo,” Hartnady warned. – Cape Argus

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REUTERS

International petroleum group Shell could spend up to 200 million US dollars (about 1.4 billion rand) in the exploration phase of its plans to extract shale gas in the Karoo.

Thirty-five Nigerian villages are suing Royal Dutch Shell PLC in a British court, claiming that the company’s slow response to two spills in 2008 left their delta region soaked in crude oil that destroyed the environment and their livelihoods.

Shell, long the dominant oil company in crude-rich Nigeria, on Friday quickly denied the lawsuit’s allegations and said the spills represented only a fraction of the damage done in a community where thieves routinely tap into its pipelines without concern for the environment.

The lawsuit, which was publicised in the British media long before it was filed Friday, seeks unspecified damages and a legal order for Shell to clean the polluted waterways and marshlands of 35 villages around the town of Bodo in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. There, the suit alleges Shell allowed 560,000 barrels of oil – or 88.9 million liters (23.5 million gallons) – to spill over weeks before finally stopping the flow from its malfunctioning pipelines.

The spills, estimated by experts from video footage of the damage at the time, came before any other spills or damage occurred in the communities, said lawyer Martyn Day, a senior partner of Leigh Day Co., which is representing the villages.

Lawyers for the communities filed the suit in London, where the transnational corporation has one of its head offices, out of concerns of not being able to get a fair trial in Nigeria. Shell agreed to the jurisdiction of the suit.

The villages are part of a region of Nigeria’s Niger Delta known as Ogoniland. Crude production in Ogoniland stopped in 1993, but pipelines and flow stations operated by a Shell subsidiary and the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. still run through villages and fields.

Villages and communities remain largely hostile to Shell and other oil firms because of environmental damage and the execution of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by Nigeria’s former military regime in 1995. However, Day said the communities would have welcomed Shell’s help during the 2008 spills.

“The communities were absolutely desperate to bring Shell to get the leak capped,” the lawyer told The Associated Press on Friday.

Shell, however, has said only 4,000 barrels of oil – or 635,000 liters (168,000 gallons) – spilled in the two leaks.

The company now blames many of its spills on “bunkering” in the delta, where thieves drill or saw directly into pipelines to steal the crude oil inside.

The stolen crude either gets shipped out in the country’s thriving black market oil trade or is refined into crude diesel or kerosene in makeshift refineries.

In a statement Friday, Shell blamed the threat of a lawsuit for “preventing us from gaining access to the area and cleaning up the pollution caused by others since 2009.”

Compensation for the spills was “severely delayed because of internal rifts between members of the Bodo community and lawyers representing factions within the community,” the statement quoted Mutiu Sunmonu, the managing director of Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary, as saying.

The lawsuit comes amid new international attention to spills in Ogoniland and across the Niger Delta, a region where some environmentalists say much as 2.1 billion liters (550 million gallons) of oil have spilled during more than 50 years of production. That would be at a rate roughly comparable to one Exxon Valdez disaster per year.

Today, oil stains coastlines and brackish creeks in the delta. Large plumes of dark smoke also rise in the air from the makeshift refineries’ massive blazes to cook stolen crude oil.

A report released in August by the United Nations’ environmental program estimated it could take as many as 30 years to clean Ogoniland alone. The report suggested the Nigerian government and the oil industry set up an initial $1 billion trust fund for the cleanup – something that has yet to be done.

That report sparked a $1 billion lawsuit in US federal court. The US Supreme Court currently is considering another lawsuit by 12 Nigerians against Shell claiming that the company aided a brutal government crackdown in the Niger Delta in the 1990s.

The UK court will use Nigerian law to rule on the lawsuit filed Friday, barring any pretrial settlement. – Sapa-AP

REUTERS

International petroleum group Shell could spend up to 200 million US dollars (about 1.4 billion rand) in the exploration phase of its plans to extract shale gas in the Karoo.

Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and US financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said.

Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to $1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels.

“Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC,” said an industry source, who requested anonymity. “It’s very sensitive and very difficult. They want to stay on good terms with Iran, while abiding by sanctions.”

A Shell spokesman declined to comment.

The European Union toughened financial sanctions and placed a ban on Iranian oil imports on January 23, but gave companies until July 1 to wind down their existing business.

With daily contract volumes of 100,000 barrels, Shell ranked as Iran’s second biggest corporate client – along with France’s Total – behind Turkey’s Tupras.

Shell CEO Peter Voser said on Mar. 7 the company would take its final deliveries of Iranian crude “within a matter of weeks”.

Rigorous US and European financial measures, aimed at punishing Iran for its nuclear programme have already come into force, making it increasingly difficult to pay for and ship crude from Iran, say oil executives.

“There are big frustrations with the payment route – the US pressure is really working,” said a senior oil source. “It’s now nearly impossible to use the banking system.”

Such financial restrictions were in part behind Total’s decision to stop purchasing Iranian crude at the end of last year, industry sources say. Total also bought about 100,000 barrels per day from Tehran.

Industry sources say some of Iran’s big customers may have been using the Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank to channel payments to Iran. It is not known whether Shell was processing payments via Noor Islamic Bank.

Diplomats say the bank bowed to pressure from Washington and cut ties with Iranian banks in the United Arab Emirates at the end of last year.

Given the outstanding amount owed in the face of sanctions, senior oil executives say the only way forward is for Shell to ask the British government to help settle the account with Iran.

An approach was made by Shell, sources say, but the company was rebuffed.

A small portion of the Shell debt could be written off through an outstanding payment NIOC owes the company for development of the offshore Soroush/Nowrooz oilfields, say industry sources.

Shell and European rivals such as Total and Italy’s Eni have built longstanding relationships with Iran, OPEC’s second largest exporter, through their work at the country’s oilfields and years of crude oil purchases.

But while the are loath to burn bridges with Tehran, they also cannot afford to put business in the United States and elsewhere in the West at risk. – Reuters

INLSA

Michael Tessmer helps teammate Matthias Klug up a hill

Murray Williams

and Natasha Prince

Staff Writers

YESTERDAY’S prologue of the ninth Absa Cape Epic gave the 1 200 riders a taste of what to expect on the gruelling eight-day challenge.

Today’s Stage One was expected to be a “rude awakening”, according to race organisers, with a 115km duel against nature’s treacherous rocky trails on the mountains that loom above the Klein Karoo town of Robertson and the surrounding Nama Karoo.

They will attempt to ride up 2 350m of hills, tackling ascents such as “Hangman’s Tree” and “Tortoise Peak”. And this in predicted 36°C heat.

Last night Robertson was under siege by an army on 1 200 bicycles.

The Absa Cape Epic of 2012 has gripped this wine and fruit capital on the R62 near the Breede River, as the invaders set up a hi-tech camp at the local school.

For the next three days this quiet corner of the Cape will be shown on sports channels around the world, tracing every pedal of these off-road cycling champions.

Kati Czak, who commands a staff team of about 800, said the squads of paramedics, caterers, radio experts – the list is near endless – all knew their drills after eight Epics.

“So we just let it roll!” she said.

Yesterday SA/Swiss duo Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser came out top for a second consecutive year in the men’s category for the prologue.

The pair, who ride as team 36ONE Songo Specialised, finished the 27km prologue in 1:12:52.

Not far behind were SA teammates Kevin Evans and David George of 360LIFE, with Alban Lakata and Robert Mennen of Topeak Ergon Racing in third place. In fourth place were Max Knox and Kohei Yamamoto of Songo Specialised.

Stander said they had had a good start despite a crash on the bend.

“Soon after Christoph almost crashed, we decided to back off a bit. We found our rhythm soon thereafter and Christoph was very strong today… It was a fast course and you had to keep up your speed through the turns. The dust made it a bit difficult. Luckily I didn’t hurt myself or damage the bike, so all in all it was a good day.”

Sauser added: “Tomorrow the real mountain bike racing starts and we need to conserve energy – it’s still a long way to Lourensford Wine Estate.”

In the ladies category, Esther Süss and Sally Bigham from Wheels4Life took top spot in 1:29:27.3.

Close behind were Theresa Ralph and Nina Gässler of team Biogen Britehouse, followed by German team Ivonne Kraft and Elisabeth Brandau from team notebooksbilliger.de.

SA/Scottish duo Karien van Jaarsveld and Jane Nüssli of MTN Qhubeka came in fourth.

Bigham said the day had been “brilliant”. “I felt really good and strong. It was a good pace for me and we worked really well together as a team – I think we’re going to have a good week… although I’ve lost my voice yelling ‘Excuse me!’ to all the riders ahead of us.”

2012-03-23 10:29

Duncan Alfreds

Cape Town – The board of directors of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) organisation has announced that Canada has formally joined as an eighth member of the organisation.

At its meeting on March 19, the board formally recognised the admission of Canada which was represented by its National Research Council, Canada.

The SKA board also agreed to delay a final decision on the site to host the billion euro instrument which will link over 3 000 radio telescopes.

South African and Australia are bidding to host the telescope and both countries have built demonstrator instruments. SA has built the KAT 7 (Karoo Array Telescope) and Australia has produced the Askap (Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder).

A final decision was expected in March, and a top scientific panel has recommended SA as the host country for the SKA.

MeerKAT commitment

The board said that it would pass on those recommendations to the members of the organisation.

“The Board agreed to pass on the site recommendation to the members of the SKA Organisation, together with a commentary that captured the Board discussion and noted certain issues.

“The members will meet in Amsterdam on 3 April 2012, but it is not likely that this meeting will make a final decision on the site; rather it will be the start of a process of discussion and negotiation between the members,” the board said.

Members of the advisory committee and siting group will be questioned before a final decision is made.

SA, though has committed itself to building the MeerKAT whether or not the country is granted the SKA.

“We will build MeerKAT, but we have an exciting initiative that we’re currently trying to promote on the continent. That of building a VLBI [Very Long Baseline Interferometer] of radio satellites connected across the African continent and linking in to the VLBI network in Europe as well as the Americas,” Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor told News24.

The MeerKAT will consist of 64 linked radio dishes, closely aligned with the build requirements for the SKA.

The next meeting of the board is scheduled for April 4.

– Follow Duncan on Twitter

Vallende Maan, directed by Jaqueline Dommisse, is a compelling, adventurous romp through the Karoo with a delightful team of misfits, trying to find their way in the world. They face one tremendous and seemingly insurmountable problem: the moon has fallen out of the sky. What is to be done about it? Who will decide the moon’s fate? Whose opinion matters more in making important decisions – the voice of science and reason or the voice of business and economics? And what of imagination and creativity? Is any one person’s perspective more important than another’s? The three characters set off on a quest to solve this problem with the help of the audience, who not only create the environment for the narrative, but who ultimately help them find a solution.

Based on a script originally devised by the cast and director in 2007, Vallende Maan resonates with topical issues of the Karoo and its inhabitants, particularly companies seeking to tap natural resources of this delicate and beautiful environment. Firmly rooted in a story-telling idiom, the play has been translated into Afrikaans with isiXhosa, and sees the casting of Laduma Jungle graduates Candice Waries and Stacey Francke alongside Unathi Speelman and artistic director Vincent Meyburgh who said: “For some years now Jungle Theatre Company has been touring the Cape Flats with plays that bring together English, Xhosa and Afrikaans. Our Afrikaans has slowly grown over time. However, we have never presented a show at the KKNK. With Vallende Maan we have explored Afrikaans and the cultural landscape of the Klein Karoo in its various forms through three very different characters. We are looking forward to taking part in this festival of our unique and growing language.”

Vallende Maan is on at the Queen’s Mall Amfiteater at 14:00 on Monday, 2 April, 9:00 on Tuesday, 3 April and 12:00 on Wednesday, 4 April. Tickets are R50 and can be booked through Computicket.

Metamorphosis, an outdoor spectacle on stilts, is a story of a neglected and pained child who experiences the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Hiding in a tree house and crying herself to sleep, the child dreams about the sounds of her garden, which turn into music. She dreams of two old giant butterflies dancing a dance of love. The male catches the pregnant female’s eggs and hangs them on a leaf where they hatch and grow into giant caterpillars. A hungry black crow is hunting and the haunted girl wakes up inside her dream to challenge the predator and protect the miracle of life. Accompanied by powerful drumming, this street theatre piece speaks to the beginnings of Jungle Theatre Company, which grew out of performances at street festivals and events back in 1995. Metamorphosis also speaks to Jungle Theatre Company’s goal of being universally accessible and director Vincent Meyburgh takes communication beyond the spoken word, into visual communication and soundscapes to tell a story that resonates with all.

Metamorphosis is the creation of Jungle Theatre Company’s Laduma Jungle team: Cebisa Fubesi, Siyawandisa Badi, Vuyolwethu Stuurman, Candice Waries, Stacey Francke, Athenkosi Dyantyi, Nokubonga Jita and Seyiso Qhola. Experiencing life imitating art, this is the team’s first performance at a national festival as professional actors.

Catch the Metamorphosis characters in the Klein Karoo Festival parades at 17:00 on Sunday, 1 April from Vrede Street and at 10:00 on Monday, 2 April from Bongulethu Police Station. The full performance is on at the Pendeldiens Grasperk on the corner of Voortrekker Road and Baron van Reede at 13:00 on Tuesday, 3 April, 16:00 on Wednesday, 4 April and 10:00 on Thursday, 5 April.

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Big energy companies proposed to start drilling for natural gas in the Karoo in South Africa, using a controversial drilling technique called fracking.

Under the plans, the drilling will be done just outside the town of Sutherland in the Karoo, one of the most remote and beautiful places in South Africa.

The Karoo is located in the driest part of the country and campaigners warn that water in the area could become contaminated as a result of fracking.

The South African government has stopped licensing for fracking while it studies all the arguments. The fate of the Karoo, South Africa’s most fragile landscape, could be decided by the end of March.

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Watch the full story of the Marketplace Africa‘s team inside on Friday March 23 at 1945, Saturday March 24 0245, 0515,1515, and Sunday March 25 0015, 1515 (All times GMT).

Western Cape, South Africa (CNN) — South Africa has an energy deficit on its hands. Too many people want fuel for their cars and electricity for their homes, and the country is struggling to keep up with demand.

To help ease this perceived crisis the big companies want to start drilling for natural gas using a controversial drilling technique called fracking. Under the plans the drilling will be done in one of the most remote and beautiful places in South Africa, the Karoo.

Fracking has caused controversy and protests across the globe, and South Africa is no exception. To release the natural gas the companies drill down and sideways into a rock called shale, and pump large quantities of water and other chemicals to release the gas.

Anti-fracking campaigners warn that this could have an irrevocable impact on this semi-desert region.

Jonathan Deal has written a book on the Karoo and he is now leading the campaign against fracking.

Read more: Explain to me: Fracking

See also: Fracking in New York: Risk vs. Reward

“The aspect of the report that I most disagree with deals with the jobs numbers”, Peet Du Plooy, an economist with the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies told CNN.

“The report cites 700,000 jobs, which is more jobs than the entire mining sector combined. I can understand the motivation to cite such a high number but I don’t think it is realistic.”

In America, the debate over fracking is just as fractured. In Ohio there have been accusations that fracking causes earthquakes and water has become so contaminated that it can be set on fire.

In France protests by anti-fracking campaigners and some politicians has resulted in the drilling technique being banned altogether. Campaigners in South Africa argue that the lack of international and scientific consensus on the economic benefits and environmental impact of fracking mean it should not be allowed in the Karoo.

Shell argues that they are pushing for fracking to begin because they want a new source of energy to help solve the country’s energy crisis.

“We are up to solving the vexing challenge that South Africa has and that challenge is that of the 50 million South Africans, 20% of this population has absolutely no access to energy whatsoever,” Bonang Mohale, Shell South Africa’s Chairman told CNN.

“That’s 10 million South Africans,” he continued. “They are the ones that have been busy chopping down our forests just to heat themselves and to cook and we are saying the case for gas is absolutely compelling because gas is much better as far as the environment is concerned than coal-fired power stations.”

The South African government has stopped licensing for fracking while it studies all the arguments. The fate of the Karoo, South Africa’s most fragile landscape, could be decided by the end of March.

Top economist Twine added that this had to happen soon if the country hoped to meet its future energy needs and boost its coffers. If the amount of shale gas – lying about 4000 to 5000 metres below the Karoo surface – was confirmed, it could provide the equivalent of 400 years’ worth of energy consumption in South Africa.

First discovered by Soekor in 1967, the Karoo shale gas was currently only a “suspected resource” of about 485 trillion cubic feet. “This is big stuff in terms of contribution to GDP [and] in terms of employment potential,” Twine said. “Even if the gas finds turn out to be a lot smaller than the estimate […] we are talking about a mighty big fish.” According to Independent Online, Econometrix was commissioned to produce a report on the macroeconomics of the project. “To get the production rolling by the early part of the 2020s, we have got to start exploring soon,” Twine said, adding that the project could eventually lead to the creation of up to 700,000 jobs by 2035, after the initial proposed nine-year exploration period.

Read the full article on www.iol.co.za.

20 March 2012
Last updated at 06:34 ET

By Kate Forbes
BBC News, Johannesburg

Some fear that fracking would destroy the Karoo’s natural beauty

South Africa’s Karoo region is a pristine wilderness of red hills and wildflowers. It is beautiful, desperately poor and is now the new frontline in the global battle over a hugely controversial drilling practice called “fracking”.

The semi-desert area of about 400,000 sq km in the west of the country is home to what could be one of the largest deposits of shale gas in the world, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) – possibly enough to supply the country with gas for the next 400 years.

But the country is not sure whether to allow the gas to be extracted by fracking.

Fracking supporters say it is the future of energy; detractors that it is an environmental disaster – and the resource-rich country does not have laws in place to properly regulate what is literally an “earth-shattering” type of exploration, which can pollute water sources.

Both sides are furiously lobbying the government – and two major reports have just been published to back up their arguments.

‘Mighty big fish’

South African think-tank Econometrix says fracking would give what is desperately needed in the Karoo: Jobs and development.

The Karoo is popular with tourists because of its unspoilt landscapes – but the mostly black population battles with high unemployment and what services there are in the area are basic.

Continue reading the main story

A guide to fracking

• Fracking is a method that energy companies use to get shale gas out of shallow deposits in the ground.
• It uses a mix of water and chemicals at very high pressure to split rock.
• The gas can then escape into “wells” where it can be drawn out for use in homes and power stations.

• QA: What is fracking?

Preserving the status quo, Econometrix says, will do nothing for local communities – while, it argues, the trickledown effect of cheaper energy supply to business will help the local economy to grow and provide jobs.

“This is big stuff in terms of contribution to GDP [gross domestic product], in terms of employment potential,” author of the report, Tony Twine, said before his death earlier this month.

“Even if the gas finds turn out to be a lot smaller than the estimate, we are talking about a mighty big fish,” he said.

The amount of gas under the Karoo could provide 400 years worth of energy to South Africa, he said.

‘Wildly inflated’

The Econometrix study was funded by Royal Dutch Shell, the energy company that wants to explore for gas in the region.

Washington-based group, Food and Water Watch, says the link between fracking and local jobs is yet to be proven.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Fracking has to be explained to people, particularly in poor or rural communities without internet access and only basic education”

End Quote
Muna Lakhani
Earthlife Africa

“The US experience has shown that fracking helps oil and gas companies, not communities,” says its new report Fracking: The New Global Water Crisis.

“It is a favorite industry talking point but when you examine the fancy economic models and look at the actual number of jobs created, their claims are wildly inflated,” the report says.

The group which campaigns for safe and clean water and food, says that one industry study of fracking exaggerated projected job creation by 900%.

It also says that the damage to the environment and human health will be irreversible – citing examples in the US, where shale gas exploration has grown substantially in the past decade.

Last year in the US town of Wyoming, residents were told by the environmental protection agency not to drink the water because chemicals had leached into it as a result of fracking.

While in Texas, near the Barnett shale wells, environmental officers found the levels of benzene – which can cause cancer – were five times higher than allowed limits.

Ask the people?

The South African government has a dilemma on its hands.

The Karoo is an area that desperately needs economic development, and so could benefit from any jobs created by drilling for shale gas in the area, even if it is not the hundreds promised.

Its national development plan has committed the country to moving away from coal to cleaner fuels – and this could include shale gas.

But the same plan also promises clean drinking water for all – and the US experience shows that fracking could cause water pollution.

Another problem, says Muna Lakhani of South African environmental group Earthlife Africa, is that the local population has largely gone unheard.

Shell has asked residents to sit on advisory panels.

But Mr Lakhani says that “no-one has wanted to, or been able to, put enough resources in to properly canvas the views of communities.”

“Fracking has to be explained to people, particularly in poor or rural communities without internet access and only basic education,” he says.

The spokesman for the department of mineral resources told the BBC they are “still considering and finalising” their report and that their decision will come soon.

The African National Congress government is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The problem is, inside that rock there might be gas.

INLSA

Protesters organised by Earthlife Africa Cape Town marched in Green Point yesterday to call for a ban on fracking in South Africa. Photo: Courtney Africa

Leila Samodien

KAROO-BORN Thuli January-Tshofela was excited when she first heard that “big companies” were to start fracking near her home town.

She’d moved to Cape Town to find work and believed this would be her opportunity to return to the tiny Karoo town of Pearston.

“There’s nothing there,” she said.

“Pearston is a small town. There’s no factories or shops for people to work in.”

Like many others in her town, January-Tshofela moved to Cape Town 11 years ago in the hope of securing a viable job. She now lives in Khayelitsha with her husband and two children, working as a volunteer cleaning up wetlands.

“Everyone was excited when we heard Shell was going to a farm near Pearston to look for gas, because there would be jobs for us. At first I was very excited. I thought I could go home,” she said. But after attending an Earthlife Africa Cape Town workshop in Makhaza on fracking – a means of extracting gas from the earth – January-Tshofela now lives in fear that it will be allowed in the Karoo.

“I’m very afraid and worried for my town because I know it’s very small,” she said.

“Fracking will make the water bad and I’m scared my people will get sick.”

January-Tshofela was one of some 150 people, many of them from Makhaza, who took part in a protest in Green Point against fracking yesterday.

They gathered in Green Point Park, brandishing posters that read: “Our health vs corporate wealth,” “There is no planet B,” and “Renewables Now!”.

They then marched through the park and across the promenade.

Muna Lakhani, branch co-ordinator of Earthlife Africa Cape Town, which organised the protest, said poor people and farmworkers would be the most affected by fracking, yet many of them were uneducated about what fracking was and what its impact would be.

“This get-together is to help break that barrier between poor and middle class people.

“We’re bringing poor people into traditionally white areas to show that we all stand together in the fight against fracking,” said Lakhani.

In addressing the crowd, Earthlife Africa volunteer Marina Louw described fracking as “the civil rights issue of our time”.

She said that while fracking did create jobs, this was a short-term solution to job creation, and the cost to the environment was “just too big”.

“The impact on our environment will be devastating. We want to see our government investing in renewables and sustainable energy,” said Louw.

leila.samodien@inl.co.za

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INSPIRING: Shakespeares place of birth, Stratford-upon-Avon.

SA actor Thami Mbongo has won awards for his roles on stage, and has also acted on television. He is best known for his role as Moses Gumede in the television drama series Shooting Stars.

A Brett Goldin Bursary Award recipient, he is currently artistic director of the Zabalaza Theatre Festival at the Baxter. His acting career has led to numerous trips abroad. He shares some of these experiences:

How widely have you travelled?

I have been most lucky to have travelled to several cities in the UK and also in the US through my work as an actor. My first trip was to the UK when I went to Stratford-upon-Avon as a 2008 Brett Goldin Bursary Award winner, and then again in 2009 as one of the cast members in the Baxter Theatre Centre and Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Tempest.

We toured six cities around the UK with the production, including Richmond, Leeds, Bath, Nottingham and Sheffield. I also visited London with Lara Foot’s multiple award-winning Karoo Moose at the Tricycle Theatre. In the US I went to Pittsburg for their well-known and popular Children’s Festival.

Where was your favourite holiday or time spent abroad?

SCHOLAR OF THEATRE: The worlds a stage for actor Thami Mbongo.

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Definitely Stratford-upon-Avon. After all, as an actor, spending a whole month in the place where William Shakespeare was born was really inspiring. It is a small and beautiful town, very gentle and very popular with local and international tourists. I would stand outside The Courtyard Theatre – one of the RSC’s venues, just across from the Avon River, and listen to the sounds of the swans, geese and nature – it was so inspiring. It was also a great honour to meet some of great stage and theatre legends like Cicely Berry, John Barton, Patrick Stewart, David Tennant. It is amazing to be up close and personal with these world-famous actors and teachers.

Your worst experience on a holiday?

My trip coming back from the US, without a doubt. I was supposed to fly from New York City to Heathrow Airport and had to wait for 16 hours for the flight back to Cape Town. By then I had no money and my per diem (daily allowance) was depleted because I spent so much money on connecting flights. What with the rand/dollar thing going on, I had no money left, so I had to call my agent for assistance. Emma Ress is the best. She transferred money into my account so that I could finally get home.

What do you avoid on holiday?

Well, I have a confession to make. My sense of direction is non-existent so I do tend to get lost easily in new places and especially in a foreign country. So I avoid going out on my own. I always ensure that I am with people all the time.

Your favourite restaurant and food during your travels?

I am a very simple person. I love cheese in the morning and during the course of the day. For supper, it’s meat.

So I generally go to places where I know that I am going to be able to order those two food types. I am not terribly adventurous – I eat what I know I love.

Your favourite place for sundowners?

I no longer drink alcohol – not even socially. But when I used to drink, I used to make sure that I went to any place with an SA vibe, whether locally or abroad. I always do research before going to a new city – I seek out venues which have an SA feel or connection.

I also visit many theatres so in the past I would enjoy a drink at the different theatres.

Any travel tips?

Avoid getting involved in arguments, always have a small map with you.

If you want to party, make sure it’s close to where you are staying, and be certain that it’s in a safe area and with reliable company.

Always be friendly and be willing to learn from others. And never forget the reason you are there in the first place. – Weekend Argus

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KOCHVILLE TWP. – A museum in a remote village in South Africa’s arid Karoo, where even in the 1970s Afrikaners — South Africans of European descent — didn’t have running water and electricity, showcases the work of a woman considered an outcast in her day.

And Friday, March 23, Saginaw Valley State University’s theater department tells the reclusive Miss Helen’s story, one that has caught the attention of Broadway in recent months through Athol Fugard’s “The Road to Mecca.”

“Her husband passed away 15 years before the story takes place, in August of 1974, and she started making art, filling her yard with statues and her home with broken glass and mirrors that reflected the candlelight at night,” said director Tommy Wedge, an adjunct professor at SVSU as he works on his masters in fine arts degree from the University of South Dakota.

Apartheid was in full swing, though it’s not specifically mentioned in Fugard’s work, Wedge said. But the attitudes prevail, almost invisible to some extent, Wedge said, because they’re simply accepted as the way things are, as recently seen in “The Help” as well.

“They are so oblivious to how discriminatory it is, almost as if they’re color-blind,” he said. “It’s not as if Miss Helen’s crusading against it but she’s not really propagating it either. Nothing here is black-and-white; you find out in the course of the play that there is no good or evil.”

And Wedge has further distanced himself from making his production a period piece on South African politics by casting Ashton Blue, an African-American student, as the conservative Rev. Marius Blyeveld. As the play unfolds, Blyeveld tries to move Miss Helen (Kiri Brasseur) to a home for the elderly while school teacher Elsa Barlow (Mykaela Hopps), her only friend, fights to keep her at home.

“When I first read the play, I honed in on apartheid,” Wedge admitted. “But in auditions, I told the students that the roles would go to the most qualified, and that was Ashton.

“We made some slight changes to the script, and delved into the relationships Miss Helen made, the two people outside of a neighbor and her husband who she considered friends.”

The story is one that already resonates with people — Wedge said he heard of a similar woman in Midland who isolated herself with her art — and opens itself to a study of light and darkness as Elsa’s friendship becomes as important to her as her art.

“She was really cut off from everyone,” Brasseur said. “Miss Helen was a widow who, instead of becoming one of the village ladies, was an outcast. I think a lot of that has to do with expectations; even today, some people regard older women who are single and don’t do the expected as strange.”

Brasseur began her research by viewing photos of Martins’ art work – “It’s really, really cool,” she said – and then trying to step in her shoes.

“Getting into this character is so different,” she said. “I’m enjoying this immeasurably more than anything I’ve done before. Think about it, only three people really visited Miss Helen in 15 years. If she didn’t have her art, she had nothing.”

And both Wedge and Brasseur saw the irony of turning Miss Helen’s humble Owl House into a “mecca” for art lovers once the play became popular. As Wedge says in his director’s notes, the community that scorned her now thrives on the thousands who visit her home.

Performing in the round in SVSU’s Black Box Theatre opens still more ways to illuminate Fugard’s work, Wedge said. Scenic designer Jerry Dennis has suspended more than 100 empty bottles at different heights, and there’s an owl, too, as a nod to her concrete-and-wire sculptures.

“It’s almost as if there are two different galleries,” Wedge said. “In the round, you can also see how the whole world lights up, the bottles and light creating that illusion.

“We chose to do it in the round, too, so that the audience could see itself in the course of the play, always surrounded by judging eyes.”

The play ends on a hopeful note, Wedge said, though Miss Helen’s story doesn’t. She committed suicide in 1976.

“Through theater, I try my best to educate audiences as well,” Wedge said. “This shows well how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go.”

“The Road to Mecca,” intended for mature audiences, begins at 7:30 p.m. March 23 in the Black Box Theatre at SVSU, 7400 Bay in Kochville Township. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors 60 and older. Call the box office at 989-964-4261 for ticket availability.

Here is a walking tour of the Owl House’s gardens in Karoo:

Weather

WARNINGS: 1. Extremely uncomfortable, humid conditions are possible in the north-eastern parts of Kwazulu-Natal, the West Coast District and the Little Karoo.
2. A high veld fire danger rating is expected in the West Coast District.

19 March 2012
| Sapa

GAUTENG

Partly cloudy and warm with isolated showers and thundershowers.

Expected UVB index: Dangerous.

MPUMALANGA

Morning and evening cloudy areas in the east with fog patches on the high ground, otherwise partly cloudy and warm with isolated thundershowers. It will be hot in places in the lowveld.

LIMPOPO

Morning and evening cloudy areas in the east with fog patches on the escarpment, otherwise partly cloudy and warm with isolated thundershowers. It will be hot in places in the lowveld and western bushveld.

NORTH WEST

Fine and warm to hot but partly cloudy in the east.

FREE STATE

Fine and warm but partly cloudy in the east at first.

NORTHERN CAPE

Fine and warm to hot, becoming partly cloudy in the west. The wind along the coast will be moderate south-easterly.

WESTERN CAPE

Partly cloudy and warm to hot, but partly cloudy along the south coast at first. The wind along the coast will be moderate easterly to south-easterly.

Expected UVB index: Dangerous.

EASTERN CAPE

Partly cloudy and warm. The wind along the coast will be moderate easterly to north-easterly.

KWAZULU-NATAL

Morning fog patches in the interior, otherwise fine and warm becoming partly cloudy with isolated thundershowers in the extreme west. The wind along the coast will be moderate south-westerly, becoming easterly to south-easterly.

Expected UVB index: Dangerous.

NAMIBIA

Partly cloudy in the north-east, otherwise fine and warm to hot but very hot in places along the escarpment. It will be cool along the coast with a moderate south-easterly.

BOTSWANA

Partly cloudy to warm and hot with isolated thundershowers in the extreme north and east.

LESOTHO

Fine and cool becoming partly cloudywith isolated thundershowers in the east.

SWAZILAND

Cloudy with light rain, becoming partly cloudy and warm.

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