UPL slams Creecy’s report into Cornubia chemical spill
A company at the centre of a criminal probe following the riots and subsequent toxic spill in Durban has defended operations at its Cornubia chemical warehouse.
UPL says government's report into the pollution and damage, after looters and arsonists ran amok in July, failed to address how businesses had to fend for themselves during that period of chaos.
It says the document shed little light on the company's efforts to contain and clean up the spill.
The multinational group's added it doesn't admit to any environmental non-compliance, as alleged in the report, which it says it received a day before government went public with it on Sunday.
But Environmental Affairs Minister Barbara Creecy says the chemical spill and fire caused the most serious environmental catastrophe in recent times.
Tonnes of marine life perished at the Ohlanga tributary, the Umhlanga estuary and Durban's northern beaches.
She says evidence shows that the entire ecosystem, affected around the coastline, may take years to recover.
“In the days following the fire, the air quality in the immediate facility was also affected.
"Beaches along this stretch of the KwaZulu-Natal north coast remain closed, and subsistence and recreational fishing, as well as the utilisation of any marine living resources in the area remains prohibited.
"The impact on ecotourism in Umhlanga, and the reserve, will be felt for a considerable period of time."
Creecy says they've opened a criminal investigation into UPL.
She says they found that UPL had been operating unlawfully and when the riots struck, the appropriate steps weren't taken.
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