Part of a multipoint plan by the Department of Environmental affairs and Tourism (DEAT), and conducted by the University of Natal and co-researched by professor Tom Robbins of the University of Michigan in 2001— revealed strong links between pollution levels and the incidence of asthma. The study, conducted at the Settlers Primary School, located within 2 km of SAPREF, Engen, Mondi and Sasol Fibres Industries, showed that of the 273 people who participated, 56 percent had asthma. The world average is 20 percent. In the light of these health risks, why do people live there?
The answer reflects South African history and encapsulates general world trends in regard to the people versus profit equation which underlies government decisions the world over.

Many of the children in South Durban are serious asthmatics

The pre-apartheid Durban Council began plans to segregate people as early as 1931 along the lines of colour to provide cheap labour for industry. These plans were initiated by the local Chamber of Industries who imposed an industrial zone on an already settled residential area. It was not long before the apartheid government's Group Areas Act forcibly removed thousands of “black” people and resettled them in areas “downwind and downstream” from polluting industries. (Durning 1990:17).

Now, after generations, established communities and family networks are reluctant to leave all they have built up. Apartheid has left its mark but even in the new democracy, this community is an example of a pattern which is repeated world wide: “ Environmental racism is class-based as apposed to race-based as happened in the past, because people who can afford it will move away.” Explains Dr. Seetharam — a G.P at the Meremed Clinic in South Durban.