Info Box 5: Pollution near coal mines

In terms of a multidimensional framework of inequality, such as the one applied in this report, environmental factors are considered a ‘conversion factor’.2 This is a factor that is viewed as a key driver of multidimensional inequality. They influence the speed at which individual resources become capabilities (real opportunities) and functionings (outcomes)2. In this section, we consider both pollution and transport as two such conversion factors. When these conversion factors have less inequality associated with them, they enable better lives for individuals.

12.1 Pollution inequalities

The effects of population growth have become a global concern due to current levels of global warming. Of particular concern in South Africa is air pollution due to the use of coal power plants. South Africa has some of the world’s highest levels of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, both very dangerous pollutants.70,71 Coal power plants are typically surrounded by relatively economically underprivileged areas (such as Middelburg in South Africa), where residents face enormous health problems that remain for generations as a result.70,72 This has led to approximately 20,000 premature deaths annually.70,73 The estimated annual value of the health impact and loss of productivity is $2.4 billion.72 However, in this report, we are less concerned with the absolute levels of pollution and more about the relative effects of pollution on South Africans from different income groups. The legacy of apartheid still plays out today as impoverished South Africans, mostly Black, are still most likely to reside in areas close to mines, refuse sites, sewage sites, main transport roads and other forms of pollution.74

There is a limited amount of quality data and literature about the inequalities in pollution exposure at the end of the apartheid era. It is therefore difficult to determine changes in inequalities in pollution exposure. However, it is evident from a range of often science-based literature that strong inequalities in different types of pollution exposure exist later in the post-apartheid period. Given limited data, it is unclear whether these have increased or decreased. However, it is known from international literature that controlling for pollution exposure when calculating income inequality tends to worsen income inequality measures.75 In the United States, attaching a monetary value to air pollution creates effects similar to those of a regressive tax, so the poor lose income due to greater exposure to air pollution, while the rich gain income due to less exposure to air pollution.75

Info Box 5: Pollution near coal mines

“Thomas Mnguni often woke to find the windows and floors of his home covered in a layer of black dust. Living between two coal mines and a landfill in Middelburg, South Africa, he and his family breathed some of the country’s most polluted air.

When Mnguni’s son developed symptoms of asthma, a doctor recommended that the family move to a different part of town. Now living about six miles from the mines, the 14-year-old is doing better.”71

Despite a significant expansion of the electricity networks, many South African households still use non-electricity sources of energy for heating and cooking. More than 70% use kerosene, coal and firewood for heating, lighting or cooking.76 Continuous exposure to these fuel sources and their emissions are known to be associated with various forms of poor respiratory health,76 generating further inequalities in another dimension for these households. However, as seen in Table 12 below, there has been a marked increase in the use of electricity from the mains as a cooking source for Black South Africans. From 2003 to 2019, the percentage use of this cooking source increased from 48.4% to 73.0%. A probable cause for this is the vast expansion of the electricity networks over the years to reach a greater population. There was also an increase in the usage of gas as a cooking source, for all population groups. Wood, paraffin, and coal saw a general decline in usage over this time. This implies a reduction in pollution from households that stopped using these cooking sources.