Local activist takes up fight against chemical plants
A Durban environmental activist - who's now part of the team that'll advise government on South Africa's climate change response - says he hopes to strengthen the fight by poor communities.
Bobby Peek has been appointed to the Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Commission.
"To make sure that the president knows about it and his action on climate change considers the poor first before considering cooperates."
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Peek, the director of environmental group GroundWork, has been at the forefront of health awareness campaigns in the South Durban Basin also home to petro-chemical plants and production facilities.
He says the Commission will look at how it can move forward with the Engen Refinery - is set to close in 2023.
"A decision has to happen, not tomorrow. It has to happen now. Engen is going to close in two years time.
"How do you deal with situations when big fossil fuel industries leave the neighbourhoods they are working in and do they leave those neighbourhoods impoverished and poisoned.
