Why Africans don't give a fuck whether Rhinos live or die

As an environmentalists that happen to be African I've noticed the unease with which members from my family and friends greet headline news that involve the killing of the rhinos which have been gracing our television and newspapers.

It is a sad situation, one that every South African should be ashamed of as we are the stewards of the plant and animal kingdom.

Yet, I can't shake off the disdain (who-the-fuck-cares) attitude I pick from mainly African people. Let's face it, the overwhelming majority of protesters at gatherings that highlight the plight of the rhino are white.

Thousands of Marikana miners gathered for a mass meeting to air their grievances on Aug. 17, the day after the massacre. Their employer, Lonmin, the world’s third largest supplier of platinum, employs 28,000 workers, most at the Marikana mine.

There was a surge in the Rhino killings in South Africa around the same time when the
miners were striking for a living wage. Seeing one picture of Africans in solidarity for higher wages and another of white people protesting for the government to do more to protect the Rhinos in the same newspaper reminded me of Thabo Mbeki's two nations divided speech in 1998.

A more black and white picture you will not get than seeing how these two scenarios played itself out in the media.

Save-the-Rhino protest at Parliament in Cape Town

Rhinos and other members of the big five are housed in private game reserves, wild farms and national parks which is financially inaccessible to the majority of South Africans.

These wild animals roam free on land that Africans can only dream of, land which was dispossessed from them.

I realised that it is a little to much to ask of the dispossesses who many have not been compensated for their loss of land to now have to fight for the rhino to live and thrive on the land they once called their own for the benefit of the world's elite. Lets face it, accessing these wild farms for hunting or viewing purposes are for the rich.

Maslow's hierachy of needs

Even if all Africans were in a position to selfactualise I believe that their apathy towards the well being of the Rhino and other wildlife would still exist.

I find myself extremely fortunate to have experienced the wildlife because of my job, however for the majority of Africans it makes little sense to go view wild animals roaming the plains of Africa for a couple of days only to go home to poverty.

This land and the wild that roam on it are viewed as not belonging to Africans so why should they care when rhinos or any other exotic animal gets slaughtered.

Africans can't financially access the 'joy' that these animals give to tourists so why should they now go crazy when these animals get slaughtered.

The relationship between the natural environment and the people of Africa is that of mutual respect. Humans and animal lived in symbiosis for prior to colonization which brought with it the capitalistic system  that saw animals as commodities.

I am of the opinion that we need to re-awaken the relationship between animal and humans that prevailed pre-colonial era otherwise the wild animals like the Rhino will be wiped out in a couple of years.

Water Hungry Coal - Burning South Africa's water to produce coal

Getting to Johannesburg was an absolute mission in order to participate in Greenpeace Africa's protest at Meggawatt Park in Sunninghill last week. My flight was delayed by 6 hours (thanks Kulula.com) and having no no music on me did not help.

The trip from OR Tambo International Airport to Mellville was a slow and bumpy ride but I got to my destination in one piece- 8 hours later!

Changing Eskom's Management
On the day activists confronted the Eskom to publicly highlight that the utility has failed to deliver clean, affordable, accessible electricity to the people of this country, and demand a shift away from the use of coal to generate electricity.

We installed the new management members Bobby Peek (groundWork) as the new Eskom CEO, Makoma Lekalakala (Earthlife Africa) as the new Eskom Stakeholder Engagement Director, and Melita Steele (Greenpeace Africa) as the new Eskom Spokesperson.

Eskom's new management being arrested.

Eskom’s 'New Management' will listen to all South Africans, and finally put the people of this country first by:

• Ending South Africa’s addiction to coal and investing in renewable energy instead
• Providing sustainable jobs for South Africa's workforce
• Averting a water crisis for South Africa
• Providing affordable and decentralised electricity access for all
• Making sure that the people of this country do not suffer from the health impacts associated with coal-fired power stations and coal mines

 The Water Hungry Coal report is unnerving and I believe that all South Africans be very concerned because of our water scarcity status.

Tsebo and I attached to the main entrance of Eskom

Thank God I had that I was wearing comfortable shoes. Due to the inaction of the security guards, Johannesburg Metro Police and the South African Police Service we were stuck there for hours before being confronted by the Special task forces. Now being confronted by men that look as if they just came from a guerrilla war in deep dark Africa is hectic. Tsebo and I had two very different methods of handling the confrontation by dozens of heavily armed men but the end result was the same, the back of a police van.

The etv journalist who covered the story provided for some light relief with his frantic running in and out of the building trying to get as much information as possible about the story.

Kgotso confronting Eskom in Johannesburg as a bewildered Eskom employee looks on

I was a bit disheartened by the reaction of my social media friends, who have a 'television and newspaper knowledge' of Greenpeace, to the protest. My I just remind everyone that Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organization that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. Greenpeace has been working in Africa to end environmental destruction and fighting for the right of Africans to a healthy environment since the early 1990s.

Speaking truth to power with courage and imagination

Coal's Hidden Water Cost

• Kusile, an Eskom coal plant under construction, will use 2,9 million litres of water an hour! That is 173 times more than Wind power would use per unit of electricity. This water will come from the Vaal River. The closest water source, Olifants River, are too polluted for use because of coal mining and associated industries.
• Gauteng gets most of it's water from the Vaal River. Now water will be diverted away from agriculture and residential use in order to feed Kusile Coal Power Plant.
• Kusile's coal will come mostly from a new Anglo American mine. That mining is expected to have a drastic effect on local wetlands and water systems.
• Due to Eskom's reliance on coal, it's total water use is a staggering 10 000 litres per second. This is enough to fill an olympic size swimming pool every 4 minutes. In one day Eskom uses enough water to grow almost 1 million kilograms of maize.
• Eskom is classed as a strategic water user under the National Water Act meaning that the utility is guaranteed a supply of water , come hell or high water.
• The difference between South Africa's water supply and demand by 2030 will be 17%. This means that water prices could triple as water gets scarce. (Today's price of water per unit is R7-12)

Water is a critical resource and under threat. Two of the recommendations of the report is that:

1. the South African government should immediately prioritise renewable energy over water intensive coal fired electricity.
2. Kusile should be cancelled and no further investment made in coal-fired power stations. 

Environmental activists outside the Randburg Magistrate court where they appeared on a charge of trespassing

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead