Mother City News 30 July - 25 August 2020

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WARNING: May contain strong language

30 JULY TO 25 AUGUST, 2020

Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond.

Can of worms

A defamation case in the High Court airs allegations of fraud in big banks and Africa’s biggest law firm

Steve Kretzmann Startling allegations of fraudulent and criminal activity by Nedbank and Investec, seemingly aided by top lawyers at Ernest Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS), have emerged in a defamation case playing out in the Western Cape High Court.

Evidence in the seemingly simple case of defamation against Noseweek editor Martin Welz and his publishing company Chaucer Publications by ENS director Leonard Katz spans decades as it unravels stories of people being financially ruined by liquidations instituted by ENS on behalf of big banks.

Testimony in the ongoing case tracks money across the globe, from Zimbabwe and

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South Africa to the Channel Islands to the British Virgin Islands and back again as the case delves into allegations of fraudulent litigation, illegal phone-tapping, and the removal and alteration of court records as the banks appeared to benefit from liquidating their own clients.

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David faces his own Goliath Welz, who established the investigative monthly publication Noseweek 27 years ago, is being sued by Katz, who is a director at ENS - purportedly the largest law firm in Africa - and is the national head of the law firm’s insolvency and business rescue division.

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30 JULY TO 25 AUGUST, 2020

From Page 1

The Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs building dominates the downtown architecture of Lower Long Street.

Can of worms Katz, who was given the moniker ‘Lenny the Liquidator’ in a period when he oversaw the liquidation of more than 30 entities for Investec in the space of weeks in the late 1990s according to Noseweek, is represented before Acting High Court Judge Ncumisa Mayosi by ENS Senior Counsel Brendan Manca, together with junior counsel Johan Engelbrecht, supported by ENS legal services.

Welz, who is 75-years-old and studied law and completed his articles before becoming a journalist in 1975, is representing himself, with second defendant Chaucer Publications, represented by junior counsel Cei Fehr.

Katz is seeking R1m, plus legal costs, which are likely to be extensive.

After a break in initial proceedings in February this year, the case resumed from 29 June to 10 July in virtual hearings due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Katz took exception to the cover of Noseweek’s July 2014 edition, which features a photograph of himself with the heading ‘The Man who stole justice’, and two stories within the edition, namely: ‘Lenny the Liquidator makes a mockery of the law’, and ‘Then there’s Brakspear’.

In the pleadings Katz singles out paragraphs such as: “You want what can’t legally be done? Agree to pay Lennie an extra million-or-three and he will pull it off, by hook or by crook”, and that Katz’s “plan was to fraudulently manufacture a debt to liquidate Brakspear’s property”, which is in reference to Katz acting on behalf of Nedbank in liquidation proceedings against a company owned by Ian Brakspear.

The promise of a Cape wine farm During the latest court hearings, which took place from 29 June to 10 July,

Brakspear was introduced as a witness, and testified for five days until court postponed proceedings to 31 August. His testimony linked Nedbank and Katz to a chain of events emerging from the sale of a farm adjacent to the Rupert’s, in the heart of the Cape wine lands.

Brakspear was adamant throughout that the liquidation at the hand of Katz of his company West Dunes, which owned the farm, and which led to his financial ruin and divorce, was manufactured on the spurious grounds that he owed Nedbank’s international arm, Nedgroup Investments’ Fairburn Private Bank in Jersey, in the region of R7m.

Brakspear, who lives in Durban, told the court he was initially approached in 2004 by a friend, Gert Kruger, together with Tim Stevens, with the idea of buying the farm Klein Normandie, which was to be subdivided, and then selling it at a profit within two years. Brakspear, together with his mother and sister, were beneficiaries of the JAM Brakspear Overseas Trust (Brakspear Trust), which his father had set up in the Isle of Man to protect the funds from being claimed by the Zimbabwean government.

Brakspear approached his family and the Brakspear Trust trustees and it was agreed £500 000 (approx R7m) would be used as a disbursement to him in order to guarantee finance from Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) to buy the farm. Doing so would also enable his mother and sister to get out of Zimbabwe and live in South Africa.

Convoluted money-moving maneuvers Under advice from bank consultants working for Nedbank in Jersey, and auditing firm Price Waterhouse Coopers, he paid for

the creation of a company called Westley Holdings in the British Virgin Islands.

Westley Holdings was then to be owned, through a nominee shareholder, by the Westley Trust set up in Jersey, which was controlled by Brakspear as the settler of the trust. These were vehicles to allow funds to flow from Jersey to the British Virgin Islands and thence as the purchase of shares in Moneybox, a South African company owned

by Brakspear. Moneybox then owned the majority share, and later came to fully own, West Dunes, which Brakspear and partners established as the local company which purchased the farm. The transfer to the farm to West Dunes took place in July 2004.

But by 2008 the rezoning and subdivision had not taken place and with interest on the Rand Merchant Bank’s loan mounting up, the farm was sold on auction for R18m.

Katz and Nedbank steal Christmas Then on 19 December 2008, as finalisation of the sale was pending, an urgent application was brought to the High Court in Durban by ENS, acting on behalf of Nedbank, seeking to liquidate West Dunes on the claim the revenue from the sale would not be sufficient to pay R7m (£500 000) they claimed was owing to Nedbank’s Fairburn Private Bank in Jersey.

Cutting short his holiday on the South Coast, Brakspear scrambled to find a lawyer to oppose the liquidation, on the basis the R7m had been paid to RMB by the Brakspear Trust and not by Fairburn Private Bank in Jersey. His usual lawyer had closed his office for Christmas. He was referred to inexperienced advocate Fiona Scott, who called in attorney Sydney Alberts. To Brakspear’s understanding, and as he claims is reflected in the lawyers’ bill of costs, they were instructed to oppose the provisional liquidation headed by Katz, on the grounds that no money was paid by Fairburn Private Bank, as the funds had come from the

Brakspear Trust in Isle of Man. Having drawn up his opposing affidavit, he returned to the South Coast on 23 December, only to discover the provisional liquidation order was granted in court that day. Matters progressed to the final liquidation order and appointment of liquidators, headed by Katz.

This, he said, was a conflict of interest as Katz was acting for Nedbank against West Dunes, as well as being able to influence which creditor had a legitimate claim against West Dunes. One of those claimants was Brakspear himself, for the millions it had cost to run the farm for four years, but his claim was denied.

Court records mysteriously disappear At a later stage, when he approached the Master of the court for clarity on how a liquidation order came to be granted against West Dunes, he testified how it came to his attention that Scott and Alberts had not represented him when the provisional liquidation order was granted, despite having been paid to do so.

When he went to the Durban High Court to check this against the court file, it stated he had been represented by advocate Manca, with Nedbank represented by ENS. At the time, Brakspear did not know who Manca was, and that he worked with Katz.

Infuriated, Brakspear went straight to Albert’s office and had a showdown. He said he got so angry security was called.

“I had to leave the building because I was getting cross and people were called. So I went … was not a good day,” Brakspear told the court.

He later decided to try obtain the recordings to see what was said in court.

“My main focus was to prove that the £500 000 was never ever paid by Fairbairn Private Bank in Jersey on behalf of Westley Trust.”

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From Page 2 Investec have changed their name to Ninety One and are changing the signage on their building in the CBD.

When he pulled the file again, Manca had been crossed out, replaced, he said, with either Scott or Alberts’ name.

Some time later, he approached the registrar to obtain the court recordings.

When she tried to call up the file, it was missing.

She then called for the book in which all court cases are registered, and found the page to be torn out. She observed it was the only page missing among 20 years of entries, Brakspear said.

The registrar then gave Brakspear permission to listen to the recordings on the central database.

“So they typed the case number into the court system and it was not there.”

He said they listened to the entire day’s proceedings and his case did not appear. The registrar then suggested it could have been heard in the judges chambers, in which case it would be recorded in the judge’s bench diary, but there was nothing noted there either.

During cross examination of Welz days earlier, on 29 June, Manca put documents to Welz in order to ascertain there was insufficient basis for Welz having concluded in his article that the provisional liquidation order was a fake.

The Bankers Book, the Panama Papers, and personal ruin Brakspear said his mother, Dorothy Brakspear, took the matter up in Jersey. He said if it could be shown on bank records that Nedgroup’s Fairburn Private Bank in Jersey had paid the money to Westley Trust they would accept it and walk away. However, he said the books showed money flowed from the Brakspear Trust in the Isle of Man via Fairburn Private Bank on the Isle of Man

- a separate entity to the Nedgroup one in Jersey - to RMB. The Panama Papers revealed that C.M.B.S Nominees Limited were listed as the shareholders of Westley Trust, not the nominee Brakspear thought was appointed. C.M.B.S Nominees Limited were shareholders of Tomas Consolidated Properties, which had the The Law Trust Limited as its intermediary, which in turn was intermediary for 79 other entities.

After West Dunes was liquidated, Brakspear was sequestrated as he had stood surety of R3m for West Dunes. He told the court his wife left him when their belongings were “thrown in the street” and his mother lost her “lovely home” and now lives in “a make-do garage” at his Sister’s house in London.

Manca, in cross examining Brakspear, produced correspondence stating Westley Trust received the £500 000 from the Nedgroup subidiary, Fairburn Private Bank in Jersey, and appeared to assert that ENS was acting legally in the interest of their client. He also, in matter related to details of the sale of the farm, called Brakspear a liar.

Investec and illegal phone tapping During court proceedings in February, allegations of illegal phone tapping on behalf of Investec were put before court through testimony by two witnesses called by Welz.

The first witness was retired SAPS majorgeneral Leonard Knipe, who was in charge of serious and violent crimes before resigning and working as a private investigator.

He said in 1997 he was hired as a private investigator by Laetitia Peyper’s domestic partner after Peyper, who was the division head of Investec’s Metboard division, had

been charged with fraud by her employer.

Investec had merged with Metboard – a trust company – in 1986.

Knipe said he discovered Peyper’s telephone had been bugged by a person working on behalf of a company called Associated Intelligence Network.

Manca objected to parts of Knipe’s testimony relating to the phone tapping as hearsay, and thus not admissible as evidence.

As to what role or knowledge Katz had in the phone tapping, Knipe answered in crossexamination that as far as he knew, Katz was “the attorney of record”.

A second witness, Lesley Haupt, against whom disciplinary charges were laid when he was manager of the Investec division Provincial – formerly Provincial Building Society – also testified his home phone was tapped. Haupt said he was alerted to this by someone who used to work for AIN, and who provided 90 90-minute tapes of recorded conversations from his home telephone.

Manca put to Haupt that when he confronted Katz about the tapes, he was seeking financial compensation and effectively seeking to blackmail ENS. Haupt vigorously denied this accusation, saying he was seeking an explanation and apology.

Haupt said after meeting Katz, Katz told him if he tried to sue ENS “you will lose even if you win”, implying the matter would be dragged through court so long that the legal fees would exhaust his private resources.

Katz then cut all contact with him Pouncing on Plettenberg Bay A further notable witness called by Welz in February was Justin Lewis, who stated the liquidation of his company Midtown Building Systems was orchestrated by Katz in 1999.

Lewis said at the end of 1998 when his company faced a cash flow crisis due to sale proceedings from a number of sectional title units, which was expected to be resolved withing three months, a Mr Gottlieb at Investec offered a R100 000 loan to ensure staff salaries could be paid.

He said he received the offer during an unsolicited call from Gottlieb on a Saturday while watching a rugby match with his son.

Just three days later, on the Tuesday, the R100 000 was called in and he was told failure to pay would result in liquidation.

There were then three days of meetings in which relationships turned acrimonious and liquidation proceeded.

Katz had the liquidation papers ready on the Wednesday, four days after he was offered the R100 000 loan, said Lewis.

Welz on the stand Manca focused on whether Welz had been in possession of documents providing alternative views on some of the matters Welz dealt with in his editorials, which he inferred Welz ignored as they did not favour his view of Katz. Manca also went into the details of various liquidation judgements in a bid to show Katz was acting within the law, contrary to Welz’s assertions.

Welz has successfully defended himself in defamation suites in the past but should the judge not rule in his favour in this one it will, by Welz’s own admission, spell the end of the irreverent pioneering investigative publication which has exposed corporate skulduggery since its inception in 1993.

The matter is expected to resume in the Western Cape High Court on 31 August.

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30 JULY TO 25 AUGUST, 2020

Food review

Lemon in a jar Lemon trees are the best. Even if you live in a flat, as long as you have a little balcony, you can have a lemon tree in a large pot and you’ll be rewarded with fruit, as citrus don’t seem to mind being being potted. There is also the bonus of having citrus swallowtail butterflies pay a visit and lay some eggs, which results in gorgeous caterpillars that shoot out these intensely lemon-scented horns if you bug them. They’ll munch the leaves of course, but that only seems to spur new growth in the spring.

Anyhow, earlier this year we had more lemons than we could eat and our friends were tired of finding bags of lemons on their doorstep, so we decided to preserve some, which is really simple: Juice a few lemons, cut others into quarters but leave the quarters attached at the bottom, open them out and heap on about a couple of tablespoons of salt. Put a tablespoon of salt in the bottom of a sterilised jar, squish the lemon in, add more salt, add another partially quartered and salted lemon, more salt, more lemon, until the jar is full.

Then top up with lemon juice and seal.

Tip, if using old peanut butter jars like we did, put wax paper over the top of the jar before screwing the lid on. This prevents the salt from corroding the metal lid and destroying the flavour.

Then, turn the jar once or twice a day for about five days before storing in the fridge, where they can keep for six months or more.

Great. Now you have preserved lemons.

Which is fantastic if you want to cook certain Moroccan or Turkish dishes, because there’s not much else you can do with them.

We came across an easy recipe for lamb with preserved lemons and olives on dianahenry. co.uk. Diana, by the way, is also the author of a fantastic book of recipes and menus called How To Eat a Peach.

Anyway, the recipe suited us because due to an old Darling connection, we happen to have a bucketful of olives that have been pickling away under the counter for years.

Here’s Diana’s recipe, which we decided could possibly reduce the stock from 700ml to 500ml unless you want to simmer and reduce for longer than the hour suggested, especially, if, like us, you used about half the amount of lamb recommended: Ingredients: · 6 tbsp olive oil · 25g butter · 1.5kg lamb shoulder, in 5cm chunks · 2 large onions, finely chopped · 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped · 3 tsp ground ginger · 2 tsp cayenne · ½ tbsp ground cumin · good pinch of saffron threads · salt and pepper · 700ml lamb or chicken stock or water · 1 large or 2 small preserved lemons · 225g green olives in brine, rinsed · 2 tbsp each roughly chopped flat leaf parsley and coriander Method: 1. Heat the olive oil and the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan and brown the lamb on all sides. Add the onions, stir them round in the juices and cook for a minute, then add the garlic, spices and seasoning (easy on the salt as the preserved lemons make the dish salty later on) and cook for another minute.

2. Add the stock or water, bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Put the lid on the pan and reduce the heat to very low.

Cook for 1 hour, stirring from time to time.

3. Discard the preserved lemon flesh and cut the rind into shreds. Take the lid off the pan and add the olives and most of the lemon. Cook for another 15 minutes, during which time the juices will reduce.

Check the lamb: it should be tender. Stir in most of the herbs, sprinkle with the remaining lemon and herbs and serve.

*We tried to find the most ethically farmed lamb we could, and thanked it for nourishing us.

Wine

Booze ban a reflection of our behaviour Sadé Allcock Between a rock and a hard place is, I believe, the correct expression for how we currently find ourselves with regards to the booze and wine industry. On the one hand, allowing alcohol sales to continue means risking filling hospital beds with victims of violence related to alcohol abuse – of which there is much in the Western Cape.

Public hospitals are wont to experience an influx of stabbings, shootings, car accident, and domestic violence victims on a Friday and Saturday night. I have witnessed this first-hand. On the flip side, reinstating the ban on alcohol sales puts in grave danger a multi-million-rand industry that provides thousands of jobs to people who would likely otherwise be unemployed. At what point are we forced to put livelihood before lives, when they are so intertwined?

Many otherwise law-abiding entities have resorted to bootlegging in order to stay afloat.

What has emerged is an upmarket, or white collar trade on leafy suburban WhatsApp groups on the one hand, while in poorer areas established criminal gangs profit from a booming black market trading unlabelled, unlicensed liquor that could be potentially dangerous to drinkers as there is no way to

be certain of what each bottle really contains.

Thankfully, unlike lockdown level 5, exports have been allowed to continue, granting a small modicum of income to those who exported their product prior to this worldwide pandemic. For those who only sell on the local market however, future prospects of recovery look dim.

Truthfully, I have no answer to the conundrum of alcohol sales or no alcohol sales, except to say the way we as a society behave when we drink is a reflection of the violence and anger that simmers within our nation suffering trauma accumulated through centuries of exploitation, and reveals the need to collectively heal from our past and

continued trauma.

If we could do this, perhaps we could enjoy the pleasure of alcohol without unleashing violence, especially against women and children, and indulging in stupid behaviour such as driving while drunk. If this was possible, the ban on alcohol would not be necessary in the first place.

30 JULY TO 25 AUGUST, 2020

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Book Reviews

The Nix: Prescient of Portland Steve Kretzmann What’s going on in Portland USA today, and elsewhere in the ‘States – the teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets shot at protesters by armed men in riot gear - is on a line tracing back through Occupy Wall Street in 2011, the LA uprising in ‘92, the anti-war protests at Chicago’s National Democratic Convention in ‘68, and keeps going, probably all the way back to the founding of the nation.

Author Nathan Hill doesn’t write of Los Angeles but links Chicago 1968 and New York 2011 with a depth and dexterity that expands through his characters to present a national psyche as complex as an encryption wrapping the United States up in a riddle of contradictions. His debut novel, The Nix - published 2016 - unlocks the code such that in hindsight the current state of the country is as legible as the alphabet. A leads to B leads to C… His ability to capture and present the nation’s soul through a handful of characters is what has earned his work the accolade of a Great American Novel by The Guardian, even though the accolade feeds the very national hubris the novel eviscerates.

The hubris of polarisation, a way of life played as a zero sum

game. Call it the unresolved consequences of a civil war, but it’s all in there, zoned in on specific time periods which were periods of epiphany for his characters.

And also through the news broadcast, with which chapter 1 opens in late summer 2011: a new Republican presidential candidate has been attacked!

On an unscheduled meet-andgreet through the park.

Others have been injured!

He had handfuls of gravel thrown at him!

By a 62-year-old woman.

A video emerges (revealing a devastatingly insightful interaction that strips away the patriarchal wiring of our infotech society with its dialogue of anger and annoyance and entitlement met with an indifference born of the desire to placate with as little effort as possible).

Matters escalate. We are introduced to Samuel. Still late summer 2011.

Then we see a childhood, late summer 1988, much of which sets us up for 1968, and so this novel rolls three decades through narrative that is as gripping as it is unsettling. There is a haunting within the main characters; Samuel and his mother, Faye Andresen-Anderson. An

expression behind the eyes through which we engage in the events of ‘88, ‘68, and 2011, the present.

The brilliance of The Nix also lies in the secondary, and even minor characters, who act as catalysts and occasional drivers, providing a granular clarity to a very specific view, such as a Democratic presidential candidate at the Chicago ‘68 Democratic National Convention.

And then he takes this character he’s been putting together piece by piece and wades her right into the student protests and the cops swinging at them with batons, and the threats and conspiracies and battle-lines drawn, and there’s a sense of deja vu as you look at Federal cops swinging batons on your newsfeed and realise the whole idea of there being such a thing as a Great American Novel is at the root of the eternal conflict of ever-rising stakes: to be Great as a nation is to be better than, hence the near mania for a winner, not considering every winner creates a loser, and thus systemic failure is written into the cultural DNA. There should only ever be a North American Great Novel.

The Nix certainly is one, and even better than that: it is a Great Novel.

Writers and Lovers Bina: A Novel The City We

by Lily King in Warnings by Became by NK Anakana Schofield Jemisin

Really loved this novel. Casey is in her early 30s, has been working on her debut novel, is working as a waitress, is grieving her mom’s death and pretty soon meets two different guys and is kind of dating both. Lots going on, but I loved the central character, her messiness and coolness. It’s undemanding, well written with a fabulous feel good ending.

A bit of a weird one, but I really liked it.

It’s got a bit of Jenny Offill’s fragmentary style and Ottessa Moshfegh’s dark and grimy subject matter and characters (especially Death in Her Hands), and a grim Irish feel. It features an old woman who has been accused of a murder, and the book is her writing her own account on bits of scrap paper, haphazardly revealing her story.

The City of New York is about to be ‘born’, and its avatars are people representing NY and its five burrows; but it is also under attack by an alien presence. I had a lot of fun reading Jemisin’s personifications of various NY neighbourhoods, and though I thought her metaphor of the enemy represented by globalization, gentrification and the alt right was a bit heavy handed, I still thought it was apt. Fun read. Recommend for people who like Terry Pratchett style fantasy, and for those of you who liked Akwaeke Emezi’s Pet.

Blowout

by Rachel Maddow A look at big oil and democracy.

And other things. Each chapter focuses on a particular bit of the history of energy in the USA. There some history (Rockefeller and the oil crisis in the 70s), a bit about fracking, ExxonMobil, Russia, Putin, Ukraine, troll farms, etc. Basically, big oil has captured (parts of) government, and Russia and America are having a literal power/energy struggle, with knock-on effects for the rest of the world. Long story short, the presence of oil hardly ever translates to more wealth for the citizens of a country. It’s pretty interesting, and troubling. Maddow has a very American, witty way of writing that makes it feel like the book is trying to be a bit like an American comedy news show.

Recommend to people who like hearing what a bad guy Putin is.

Short reviews supplied by staff of The Book Lounge, the best indi bookstore in Cape Town.

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30 JULY TO 25 AUGUST, 2020

About the Koeberg Public Safety Information Forum

Section 26(4) of the NNR Act states that “The holder of a nuclear installation license must establish a public safety information forum as prescribed in order to inform the persons living in the municipal area in respect of which an emergency plan has been established on nuclear safety and radiation safety matters.”

What is the Public Safety Information Forum (PSIF)?

The PSIF is a meeting which takes place four times a year. It is used as a platform for residents within the municipal boundary of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, to enquire about and receive nuclear safety related information from the facility.

Which topics are discussed?

The forum will address any topic that the members feel could impact their health, environment, and safety from a nuclear emergency preparedness point of view.

Who should attend?

All persons living within the municipal area around Koeberg, all affected and interested organisations or parties, and any other persons concerned about their health and safety from a nuclear and radiation safety point of view are welcome to attend the forum. Persons wishing to attend are requested to register as a member.

How do I register?

Kindly email your details, i.e. full name, contact number, organisation (if applicable) or indicate whether you are a resident, to JoshuaD@eskom.co.za or contact tel. +27 21 550 4238.

When are the PSIF meetings held?

Dates for the meetings are published in the annual Koeberg Emergency Plan Calendar, which residents around the station would have received in January 2020. The PSIF meeting dates for this year are: • Thursday, 17 September 2020; and • Thursday, 26 November 2020.

Who to talk to For more information, contact Lewis Phidza, Koeberg Stakeholder Management Manager, at tel. +27 21 550 5758 or send an email to PhidzaNL@eskom.co.za. Alternatively contact Debbie Joshua at tel. +27 21 550 4238 or send an email to JoshuaD@eskom.co.za Should you not have received a Koeberg Emergency Plan Calendar and are a resident in the 16km radius of the station (Urgent Protective Action Zone), please contact the Koeberg Stakeholder Management Department at tel. +27 21 550 4238.

Eskom has made application to the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) for a Nuclear Installation Licence (NIL) to site, construct, operate and decommission a Transient Interim Storage Facility (TISF) at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station (KNPS).

Reminder for public response to Koeberg’s NNR Licence application for a Nuclear Installation Licence (NIL) for the site selection, construction, operation and decommission of a Transient Interim Storage Facility (TISF) at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station (KNPS) to replace six Original Steam Generators (OSGs).

The public is hereby reminded to respond to the application in the following way: Written representations must be addressed to the Programme Manager: Nuclear Power Plants, National Regulator and can be: 1. Hand delivered to the offices of the National Nuclear Regulator, 12 Raatz Drive, Delphi Arc Building, Table View 7441, Telephone +27 12 553 9500, or 2. E-mailed to Mr. Peter Bester at pbester@nnr.co.za

Submission deadline: All responses to be submitted by 11 August 2020.

30 JULY TO 25 AUGUST, 2020

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Toxic herbicides accumulate in Camps Bay

Toxic herbicides have been found in sea water at Camps Bay and are accumulating in marine organisms, posing a threat to the ecology of the bay, which is within a nationally declared Marine Protected Area. Photo: Steve Kretzmann

Peer-reviewed scientific study reveals herbicides banned in other parts of the world are accumulating in seaweeds and shellfish.

Steve Kretzmann Herbicides which have been banned in other parts of the world have been found to be present in seawater in Camps Bay, and accumulating in seaweed and marine organisms such as mussels, limpets, and sea urchins in the bay.

A recent study published in the international journal, Science of the Total Environment, notes the presence of five indicator herbicides in samples of seawater, sediment, sand, and marine organisms in Camps Bay. The herbicides are atrazine, alachlor, simazine, metolachlor, and butachlor.

The samples were taken on 6 September 2017, which was at the height of the drought, which makes it unlikely the presence of herbicides in the sea water was due to runoff, although historical records show there was drizzle forecast for Cape Town the previous morning.

The authors of the paper, titled Presence and risk assessment of herbicides in the marine environment of Camps Bay, state the marine outfall at Camps Bay is the likely source of herbicides entering the environment, “as very little storm water was discharged during the study period in 2017 due to the extended drought”.

The marine outfall is a sewage pipe that extends just under 1.5km out to the middle of the bay at a depth of 28 metres, where it discharges approximately 2.4 million litres of sewage into the bay per day, according to a 2017 report by the CSIR commissioned by the City. The only treatment this sewage from Camps Bay and Bantry Bay receives before being spewed out the bay, is to be pumped through a 3mm grid to remove solids.

Concerns over the sewage plume reaching the surface and being blown to the beach by

onshore winds, have been well aired.

Dangerous to human health Previous studies have shown that pharmaceutical compounds have been found in Camps Bay’s waters, and industrial effluents in Granger Bay in the vicinity of the Greenpoint marine outfall where over 27 million litres of sieved sewage is pumped out sea every day. This most recently published study is the first one identifying the existence and bioaccumulation of hazardous herbicides.

The authors, Cecilia Y. Ojemaye (University of the Western Cape), Chionyedua T. Onwordi (University of the Western Cape and Lagos State University), Daniela M. Pampanin (University of Stavanger, Norway), Magne O. Sydnes (University of Stavanger), and Leslie Petrik (University of the Western Cape), found all five herbicides present in all samples, excepting for limpets, in which metalochlor and butachlor were below the level of detection. However, the limpets sampled contained high levels of simazine. Simazine was also the most concentrated of the compounds found in mussels, sea urchins, and the two types of seaweed sampled (Ulva and Codium fragile).

Simazine, which is used to kill weeds and grasses, is banned in the EU, yet the mussels tested in this study were found to contain 157.8 nanograms per gram dry weight.

Along with atrazine, which was also found in the mussels, sea urchins, limpets and seaweed, simazine is believed to be carcinogenic and both herbicides appear on the United Kingdom ‘red list’ of most dangerous substances.

According to information published by Cornell University, the USA Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a Lifetime Health Advisory for simazine in drinking water at 1,000 nanograms (1 microgram).

Thus, according to the EPA, drinking 1,000 nanograms or less of simazine a day for a lifetime does not pose any health concern. However, consuming more than this amount over a long period of time has “caused tremors, damage to testes, kidneys, liver and thyroid, as well as disturbance in sperm production, and gene mutations in laboratory animals”.

Thus eating just ten grams of mussels from Camps Bay per day would exceed the EPA health limit, and the mussels and were also found to contain the other four herbicides tested.

Atrazine, for instance, has been recognised as an endocrine disruptor, which is a chemical that mimics hormones or has anti-hormone activity, which interferes in the body’s ability to regulate itself.

But beyond human health, the herbicides entering Camps Bay “represent an ecological threat to this environment,” states study, which was led by Leslie Petrik.

Besides contamination from the marine outfall, the paper notes it is possible the local aquifer could be “contaminated by ground leachates discharged into the marine environment, and this aspect therefore requires further investigation”.

Wiping out the marine ecology The study notes South Africa is a signatory to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which was ratified in May 2004, yet in South Africa, “the public health significance of water source pollution by pesticides, particularly herbicides, has attracted little attention from government and regulatory agencies”.

There is a high focus on microbial regulation in South Africa, but there are “few standards for organic contaminants, and only one standard for a herbicide, atrazine”.

Together with other studies on Cape Town’s marine environment, as well as

rivers such as the Salt River catchment and Diep River, the authors state that “urgent regulation” need to be put in place to “mitigate the release of effluents harbouring these chemicals into the marine environment of an isolated suburban community like Camps Bay”.

This would be “deleterious for the marine biota and inhabitants of the this region”.

As long as the chemicals continue to be present in the bay, they will continue to bioaccumulate in the marine organisms, and wipe them out over time.

The main point, says Petrik, is that there are “synthetic”, “banned chemicals” and they “should not be in the ocean in an MPA (Marine Protected Area)”.

Official response The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development stated while South Africa is signatory to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, none of the products listed in the study were presently included on the convention’s list of persistent organic pollutants.

The national department spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo stated the manufacture, distribution, sales, use and advertisement of Atrazine, simazine, alachlor, metalochlor, and butachlor is governed the Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act, 1947 (Act No. 36 of 1947) together with the Agricultural Remedies regulations.

“The department may review the use of any substances should scientific basis be established,” stated Ngcobo.

Questions posed to the City of Cape Town on the use of herbicides to spray verges and parks, as well as the status of their marine outfall discharge licence remained unanswered after three working days.

Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond

We’ve reached the point where we’re only smoking what we can grow and drinking what we can brew, and the insta brag has shifted from baking stuff to displaying the two tomatoes you managed to grow in a pot in the one sunny corner of your windowsill, because they’re becoming a luxury item on the shrinking grocery list. We have also scoped out every fruit and nut bearing tree in the hood and discovered ones we didn’t realise were edible and the last thing we’re hanging onto is our wi-fi. And those of us who still receive salaries and are able to work (support journalism pleeze) feel a moral duty to donate or volunteer in food distribution networks and spend money in our own and neighbouring communities; we’re buying naartjies and avos from the vendors and thinking of how not to spend our money at the big multi-national-multi-block-parking-lot retail stores.

Art will see us through.

Big ups Local literature darling Lauren Beukes, who snagged the most prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award – which is the with a capital T award for anyone writing science fiction – for her novel Zoo City in 2011, is still churning out the hits. Her latest novel is Afterland. But the reason we’re mentioning Lauren here is because Apple has announced they’ll be making a series out of her novel Shining Girls, just four years or so after she sold the rights, which in moviemaking terms is kind of like a light speed. It is going to be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and have Elisabeth Moss in the starring role. Lauren and Elisabeth are also going to be executive producers. It’s all pretty wow and stars and fireworks and chin-chin. Let’s just hope America doesn’t implode before they finish’n.

FREE COPY

30 JULY TO 25 AUGUST, 2020

Music The drummer from the band with the best name in South Africa, Desmond and the Tutus, has branched out as Yo Grapes. Judging from what we’ve managed to hear, it’s bouncy, catchy, fun, just the kind of well-constructed lightness we need to ease the isolation blues (or make you long to be bopping along with friends – there’s that). Either way, he’s got a live show on Urban Sessions at 7pm on 31 July. It’ll cost R60 bucks to view and you can find the deets on Computicket.

One of the ‘rona perks is festivals are coming to us. We wouldn’t be able to afford to get to Lollapalooza in Chicago at the best of times, even if the USA would give us a visa. Now the four-day freak show of rock, pop, and mayhem from 30 July to 2 August is free to watch as it’s broadcast on YouTube. We don’t know exactly how many people will be in live attendance, so bare-breasted men and women and panty-throwing probably won’t be a thing, but you can still throw your panty at your screen if you like. Go to lollapalooza.com

Comedy The comedian we cannot help but laugh at despite ourselves, our special guilty pleasure, Alan Committie, has got an online show, Streaming With Laughter, on 15 August at 7pm. Tickets to watch the man who survived his first career gig at the truckers club in Brooklyn without getting moered and even getting invited back, for R80. Tickets on Quicket.

Theatre The only Cape Town theatre that has opened during the ‘rona (that we know of) is Theatre Arts in Observatory, with all physical distancing and sanitiser protocols in place. They’ve created a season of work called Two Metres Apart, for obvious reasons. There’s a line-up that starts with The Kid Who Did It For Nothing on 2 and 9 August, which is a story about returning to South Africa in 1997, with live accompaniment of traditional Xhosa music.

Afro in Soft Rhythm sees a Ghana/SA music collab between Vintani Nafassi and Papa Agyefi on 7 and 21 August. Get some rhythm.

The ‘live performance event’ Body Politic is on 8 August. It seems to be a bit of an experiment, with independent artists invited to ‘bring their investigations as they are, to be authentically witnessed’. We’re not sure what the difference between witnessing something and authentically witnessing it is, but perhaps its a matter of attention. Or is it intention? Either way, expect all norms to be chucked through the fourth wall. Ideally the kind of people who might vote Republican should go watch this, except they’d probably hate it and threaten to burn the theatre down, or shoot it up, whichever comes first.

To soothe you after having your norms riled by Body Politic, is the lovely Godfrey Johnson’s The Shadow of Brel on 13 and 15 August. We saw this show years ago in the Kalk Bay Theatre and it was the only cover of Brel’s ne me quitte pa that we have heard equal Nina Simone’s. If you know that if we were Catholic we would pray to Nina, you’d know that this puts Johnson up there by saint status.

The Kid Who Did It For Nothing plays at 3pm both days, all other shows start at 7pm, leaving enough time afterwards to dash home before curfew. More info on the shows, and to book, go to theatrearts.co.za

Movies Our much-loved, all-time-favourite movie house, The Labia remains closed for ‘rona but has made plans. You can buy a ticket for one of their great selection of alternative and independent films and documentaries, and stream them on your laptop. Check out what’s on the line-up at labiahomescreen.co.za We recommend Rams, Rudeboy and Other Music if you can’t make up your mind.

The Encounters Documentary Film Festival is following the festival trend and going virtual, which means you can watch it at home sans mask and pandemic paranoia. And if you’re one of about 3 million South Africans who has lost their job, but still have your laptop and wi-fi, viewing is free of charge, with donations welcomed if you can. It’s happening from 20 to 30 August at encounters.co.za

We buy vinyl. If you have inherited a crateful, or shifted to digital, we’ll exchange for cash. Call 083 348 4936. We’ll come to you.