Fracking opponent Deal expects Shabangu to lift moratorium

ANTI-FRACKING lobbyist Jonathan Deal said on Wednesday he fully expected Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu to lift the moratorium on the controversial gas extraction technique hydraulic fracturing (fracking) soon after she delivered to Cabinet a report from a task team established to investigate its pros and cons.

In several quasi-religious statements Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has claimed it would be "sinful" not to exploit SA’s untapped shale gas resources, estimated by the International Energy Agency to be the world’s fifth-largest at 485-trillion cubic feet. Ms Peters has not been alone; at least two members of the National Planning Commission have also said South Africa should at least determine its reserve.

On Tuesday Ms Peters said South Africa was at a critical point at which any means to increase energy supply should be explored. "President Jacob Zuma always speaks about overcoming poverty and unemployment. If fracking is safe, then it should be the way to go."

In May she said: "If it is proven that gas extraction could be beneficial then let’s alter the Environmental Management Act … I wish and pray on a daily basis that this report should say it. Let’s not pretend that it is there."

But Mr Deal said it was not these comments that convinced him Ms Shabangu would allow fracking.

"Her job is to exploit the country’s mineral resources. She is not concerned with water, the environment or tourism…. If she does that she opens up litigation that will involve the state, the (prospecting rights) applicants and taxpayers," he said.

Fracking in South Africa has opponents from international businessman Johann Rupert, who owns land in the Karoo, to about 300 landowners in the ecologically sensitive region and Agri Eastern Cape, which has thousands of members.

Petrochemical companies have applied for exploration rights over about 220000km² of the Karoo, and the landowners represented by Graaff-Reinet lawyer Derek Light own a "sizeable portion" of that land.

"We’re talking thousands of square kilometres … one client alone owns 35000km²," Mr Light said.

Ms Shabangu’s spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment. Ms Shabangu has previously said the report will be delivered to the Cabinet this month.

Legal experts believe a Constitutional Court ruling handed down earlier this year — which says that holders of mining rights in certain provinces cannot mine until the land has been zoned — in effect puts on hold any proposed fracking in the Karoo. This is even if Ms Shabangu grants applications for prospecting or mining rights.

blaines@bdfm.co.za