ENVIRONMENT-MALAWI: Villagers Between a Rock and a Hard Place?

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Charles Mkoka

BLANTYRE, Feb 27 2004 (IPS) - A group of villagers in Malawi is taking on the management of a quarry near the commercial centre of Blantyre, because of alleged noise and dust pollution from the quarry.

The suit was scheduled to be filed in the Malawi High Court Friday (Feb. 27) by Greenwigs, a group of environmental lawyers acting on behalf of the plaintiffs. Njuli Quarry is owned by Terrastone Limited, a construction company.

In a letter addressed to Terrastone’s managing director on Jan. 14, Greenwigs gave the firm 21 days to address the problems reportedly caused by rock blasting at the quarry.

“The dust and noise has had adverse effects not only on the people’s health and general well being…Their agricultural activities have also been considerably affected and their crop yields substantially reduced over the years,” says the letter.

Adds Mambala Kumbemba, who chairs a local committee that looks into these grievances, “Our crops, maize, beans and everything are all thickly coated with high levels of dust and we don’t even eat fresh vegetables from the garden.”

The Greenwigs letter goes on to say, “Many of the people around the Quarry have suffered and continue to suffer from frequent coughs, tuberculosis and other respiratory ailments. Further, whenever there is a blast at the Quarry (which is often) the people have to run from their homes to escape injury from flying rocks and noise.” The 21-day ultimatum has since expired.

However, the managing director of Terrastone – Jose Da Costa – told IPS in a telephone interview that the quarry had observed all the safety procedures required by law, and that it had been given a clean bill of health by the Department of Mines two months ago.

“We got environmental studies done. The Department of Mines came to inspect the quarry in December, and found everything in order,’ said Da Costa.

He acknowledged that there were concerns about noise emanating from the quarry, but said management was trying to buy adjacent land to ensure villagers did not live too close to the quarry. Da Costa said these property deals were being supervised by a local government official, the district commissioner.

Kumbemba told IPS that he had refused to sell his land: “When I was approached to sell my land to the quarrying company, I asked for two million Malawi kwacha (just under 20,000 dollars) as compensation, and the authorities from the quarry denied (the request).”

Villages that are said to be affected by the operations of the quarry include Chikusa, Ulunga, and Layiti – all of them in the Chiradzulu district about 40 kilometres from Blantyre.

Greenwigs says Terrastone’s activities contravene the rights of people living around the quarry to exist in a healthy environment, as expressed in a section of the 1996 Environment Management Act.