A plan to set up a special council working group on "industrial buffer zones" in south Durban has renewed anxiety that many residents face relocation from homes bordering local refineries and heavy industry.

The proposal to set up the new land-use body will be debated at the eThekwini council's health and safety committee early next month.

Local community groups in the area expressed serious concern about the proposal on Wednesday and said the issue would be raised with national environment minister Valli Moosa when he visits the city next week.

Desmond D'Sa, head of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, said the proposal had major implications for residents of Austerville and other suburbs. He called for more transparent policy proposals from the council to avoid a situation of "piecemeal" relocations that placed poor communities at a disadvantage.

'The solution is to clean up the pollution'

City health chief, Dr Umi Sankar, who helped prepare the buffer zone recommendation - along with city manager Michael Sutcliffe and his deputy Sayo Skweyiya - denied on Wednesday that there was any radical shift away from the council's policy of co-existence between industry and people.

Sutcliffe was attending a conference overseas and could not be reached for comment, but Sankar said if certain industries chose to buy adjoining residential land on a voluntary basis, that was an issue between industry and residents.

She said the proposal to set up a working group was not to push for the relocation of industrial residents, but to examine the implications of all new land-use changes in the vicinity of major industries.

The proposal arose after recent complaints by Treasure Beach residents about air pollution from gas-flaring stacks at the Engen refinery.

A council report argues that such pollution impacts will be reduced over time, but would never be eliminated completely.

'We need to avoid a situation of the strong preying on the weak'

"Engen has demonstrated that it is willing (in partnership with council) to attempt to create a buffer zone around itself."

The report says plans to relocate residents of the "Barracks chicken farm" on Tara Road was one example of this. However, these moves were sporadic rather than a holistic and cohesive approach to managing land use near large industries.

The language of the recommendation appears to signal a more concerted approach by the council to grapple with the politically-sensitive debate about relocating people from certain parts of the south Durban industrial zone.

The speculation has also been fuelled by reports that Engen has bought residential plots bordering the refinery,

Engen general manager Wayne Hartmann confirmed on Wednesday the refinery owned a neighbouring house and was negotiating with a local church to acquire a second property.

Hartmann said Engen does not have any plans, or sufficient money, to buy up houses on a large-scale. But he confirmed that Engen was discussing a plan with the Wildlife Society and council to create a "green belt" linking up the Bluff and Treasure Beach nature reserves. He declined to elaborate on the company's separate proposal involving relocation of residents from the Tara Road Barracks.

"I don't think the historical jumble of industry and residents in south Durban can be unscrambled and so we have to co-exist, but I am in favour of green belts, and the notion of a buffer zone should be discussed."

Leading environmental activist Bobby Peek said he saw the council proposal as a "knee-jerk response" which failed to address the root causes of conflict in the area.

"The solution is to clean up the pollution. There will always be concerns about living next to large industries, and what happens to the people who have invested their life savings into houses bordering industry?

"We need to avoid a situation of creeping privatisation, or of the strong preying on the weak. This is very much an issue for the city to address."

• This article was originally published on page 3 of The Daily News on 06 March 2003