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Greeff, along with others in the industrial area started a WhatsApp group, to report the odours coming from the plant, on 5 April 2022.
Many complaints about the odours were made, which Vinaqua operators said they would investigate, some saying they didn’t smell it.
At the meeting with them on 3 November many stood up to express their disappointment.
“We started this group as neighbours,” said Greeff after his presentation. “We asked long ago for this meeting so you could explain to us what is going on. Distell has been ignoring us and making silly excuses about what is going on. We’ve had patience for a year and our people have got ill.
“Methane is a dangerous gas and has been linked to Parkinson’s, not to mention all the burning eyes, and people’s chests are burning daily and the asthma of many is getting significantly worse. We don’t want to fight with you, but we keep on getting excuses.”
According to Genade, Vinaqua’s emissions are within accepted global limits.
“The claim that these odours and gasses cause illness is simply not true,” he said.
A man who was also present at the meeting said he had lived in the industrial area for 10 years before the plant was erected, but he ultimately had to move because his health was suffering as a result of the emission of gasses and odours.
“The gasses being emitted from the plant are affecting my wife’s health as well as mine, to such an extent that both our respiratory systems are now adversely affected, causing even more health issues.
“The concentrated substances giving rise to these gasses may well prove dangerous wherever they settle. We have also had special meters installed to read the levels of these gasses in the air, and on more than a few occasions their alarms have sounded continuously.”
Distell said the last time it had a positive H2s reading was in April this year, which Greeff and others at the meeting strongly disagreed with.
“We are not walking away from the problem,” Genade said.
“We think we have found the cause of the problems and it is being addressed.”
Greeff and others present at the meeting requested an independent environmental impact study to be done in the area.
“This has been the first week we have not had foul odours,” he said. “We want an environmental impact study to be done again. We want to know what the long-term effect on us is from being exposed to H2s and methane for such and extended period of time.”
Distell and Brenn-o-Kem have agreed to have the environmental impact assessment done.
