About the FSE
Economic growth at any price is destroying our environment. People are left to live in abandoned rural slums without fresh water. The ecosystems that sustain us are polluted and transformed to dysfunctional wastelands. Is this an over-hyped doomsday scenario or a South African reality?
It is bitter reality in many places; a reality comfortably organized between the captains of corporate profit and under-empowered and under-motivated Government agencies.
The Department of Minerals and Energy has an attitude of promoting mining regardless of environmental cost. The Department of Water Affairs, having over-committed the country’s water resources, seems to have given up on its task of managing our scarce supplies. The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism appears to be drowning in a self-imposed powerlessness to perform vital coordination and compromise functions to ensure that development is sustainable. And while Government cats are distracted by politics and not speaking to each other, the corporate rats are having a feeding frenzy.
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein.
So we are not going to sit quietly while the rape and pillage of our natural resources takes place in front of our eyes. Our Government agencies can be held accountable for non-performance and incompetence. Princes of greedy industries can be put behind bars. Our Constitution says so. It is time to put our excellent legislation to work.
Advocate George Bizos agrees with us. He has committed himself and his colleagues in the Legal Resources Centre to provide us legal support. We have committed ourselves to do whatever it takes to repair these imbalances and ensure that South African development can pass the sustainability test.
Who are we? We are a loose Federation of concerned NGOs and community groups, determined to stop the rot and hold our leaders accountable. We need national solidarity in the pursuit of these goals. And we will need money. Solidarity will provide credibility which in turn will attract serious financial support. Our goal is an environment that is safe and healthy for every South African, conserved for future generations and able to truly sustain the development we so urgently need.
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