Racing to the Top?

Abstract

Sans Fibre, a large chemical industrial textiles firm in Bellville, Cape Town, was a heavy environmental polluter during apartheid times (Héritier et al. 2009, Bray and Thauer 2014). The surrounding neighborhoods suffered badly from the Sans Fibre factory’s industrial fallout, effluents, uncontrolled hazardous waste disposal and emissions. With South Africa’s full transition to democracy, the local community would not take it any more. Citizens rallied together against the business. To force the company to reduce its pollution output, inhabitants organized a series of actions. A media campaign was launched; protests were organized in front of the factory gates; and local politicians and state representatives, who in South Africa often lack the capacity to enforce environmental laws, were pressured to take action against the pollution of the firm. As a consequence, the firm agreed to establish an environmental forum as a conflict mitigation mechanism. In the context of this forum, Sans Fibre was forced to negotiate pollution reduction measures with the local community. Today, the firm is in the process of ISO 14001 environmental management certification, and has significantly mitigated its negative impact on the locality.