The government of the People’s Republic of China has confirmed that it will no longer be funding a new 1 320MW to 3 300MW coal-fired power plant for the controversial planned Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ), which includes various heavy industries.

This follows the announcement by Chinese Premier Xi Jinping at the UN on 21 September that China would no longer finance new coal power abroad.

Special economic zone will request the government to intervene on funding.

The public purse and natural treasures will pay for the sweeties dangled to tempt foreigners to invest in the new industrial zones.

At a webinar held on Monday, convened by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), conflicting views were expressed in the discussion of the latest report by Dr Munnik, of the Society Work and Politics Institute at Wits University, titled: Water for the EMSEZ mega-project at all costs — a report on the absence of water governance in the Limpopo River Catchment.

A coalition of South African environmental advocacy groups has welcomed a pledge by Chinese President Xi Jinping not to build new coal-fired power stations abroad, saying this will likely halt a proposal to build a Chinese-backed coal power plant in Limpopo.

The fanfare had been carefully calibrated: there was one specific group the Limpopo Economic Development Agency did not directly invite: a loose coalition of developmental activists, affected communities, environmental NGOs and lawyers who make up the MMSEZ interested and affected parties (I&APs).

The findings of a second research report dealing with the water requirements of the proposed Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) was recently made available during a virtual media launch on 12 August. The report once again highlights the fact that the MMSEZ developers refuse to acknowledge that just not enough water is available in the area to support a project of this magnitude.

Special economic zone punted by the government seems totally at odds with its own efforts to safeguard steel industry,

Scaling back on the size of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) and the negative effects it will have on the environment is not good enough, say opponents, who are calling for a new environmental impact assessment (EIA) for site clearance.

The headline, “The Musina-Makhado zone puts people first, says its chief executive”, is to be questioned. If people were put first, the MMSEZ state-owned corporation, along with the Limpopo Economic Development Agency (Leda), would have ensured more inclusive and thorough EIA and public participation processes. Instead, prescribed timelines have not been adhered to, and scant effort appears to have been made to ensure that a broad range of stakeholders is meaningfully informed about the potential environmental impacts.

On 1 September 2020, the draft environmental impact assessment for the R145bn Musina-Makhado SEZ was released for public comment. What followed, given the absolute devastation that the project would visit on the Limpopo River basin, were delays and about-turns that often verged on the unlawful. But on 19 May 2021, the local implementing agents for the China-backed initiative may have crossed the point of no-return — a high court review is almost certain, it now seems, with the law as clear as day.

In 2011, South Africa demonstrated its commitment to sustainable development by hosting the 17th session of the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the seventh Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP17).

On 22 April this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa used the virtual Leaders’ Summit on Climate convened by the United States President Joe Biden to articulate South Africa’s commitment to sustainable development.

Until last week, the scale of the envisaged Musina-Makhado metallurgical zone (MMSEZ) was mind-boggling: an 8 000 hectare dirty industry complex with a 3 300 megawatt (MW) water thirsty coal plant at its centre. Fortunately, criticism from interested and affected parties during and after the public participation process turned the heat on the Limpopo local and provincial governments to rethink the footprint of the special economic zone.

The Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Limpopo has indicated that the infrastructure development is expected to commence this financial year.

Heavy industry projects in the Musina Makhado SEZ threaten to syphon water from a dry region and push South Africa’s carbon budget into the red.

NGOs, academics and concerned citizens have teamed up to publish an open letter to the South African government voicing their misgivings about a proposed special economic zone (SEZ) in the northeast of their country near the border with Zimbabwe.

The signatories say the Musina Makhado SEZ (MMSEZ) carries grave environmental and social risks, and has lacked public participation and transparency.

Proposals for a coal-powered industry hub in lush Limpopo promise jobs, but opponents say it will destroy pristine habitats, hike emissions and harm residents' health.

The draft environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on the controversial proposed Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone was released on 1 September, and public participation meetings started in Limpopo and Tshwane in the week of 14 September 2020. Input from community members and other interested parties saw powerful questions and concerns being added to the sensible and potentially prohibitive ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ raised by the report’s expert authors.

In 2017, because of its need to appease the SA government, a local company agreed to ‘conditionally withdraw’ its objections to the Chinese-funded Special Economic Zone in northern Limpopo. But on the day that Daily Maverick’s first article in this series was published, the company learnt that its association with the SEZ had rendered it toxic. Given its insistence that it played by the book on its R10.7bn proposal for an eco-industrial park in the province, the company has now decided to come clean with what it knows.

The development of a coal-burning, water-guzzling industrial zone is a potential threat to the roughly 18-million people in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique who depend on the Limpopo river watershed.