Los ‘Horns’ They believe that their ancestors inhabit the Sacred Ocean that Shell wants to pierce. In court a Battle between profit, environmental protection and ancestral culture.
The indigenous community that lives South Africa Wild Coast Fight in court against the powerful petrolera Shell for wanting to carry out Petroleum and Gas Prospects in the Sacred Ocean of the ‘The horns’.
For these populations the lucrative exploitation of its coast is inconceivable by the damage that Shell would cause about his people and the environment to which they are intimately linked. The indigenous peoples of the Wild Coast in South Africa They fight one Judicial battle against the Shell oil company to defend his land and his sea.
The wild coast is a protected natural area
The Wild coast it’s a Protected natural areaa chain of virgin beaches and hectares of natural forests that converge in the Indian Ocean. His environmental value It is incalculable.
Dolphins, hobby, sharks and whales of Bryde gather before the immense bank of sardines that reach these natural coasts. Millions and millions of these fish, in the largest animal migration in the world, feed the predators who, from the bottom, the surface of the sea or the sky they throw themselves into the delicacy.
Bruce Mannof the Oceanographic Research Instituteknows that Wild coast It is very productive for communities that live along the coast, since it is essential for fishing. Along with this, he insists on the “importance of preserving this area because it has a high proportion of Endemic species that are not found anywhere else in the world, ”he says. But, in addition to the great ecological and economic importance of the wild coast, the indigenous people who inhabit it maintain a Very special connection with your sea.
The ‘amampondo’ firmly believe that the spirits of their ancestorsthe guardians of indigenous knowledge, They rest in the ocean waters. They get there through the Rivers where they go when they die. That’s why, For the ‘Amampondo’, the sea is a sacred place in which healers or blood performs their rituals and ceremonies.
The ‘Amampondo’ against Goliath
The Shell Petroleum Company With the support of the South African government they tried to carry out a seismic prospecting to map the sailor of the wild coast in search of oil and gas deposits. The indigenous communities closed in band and did not accept that the sea of their ancestors was perforated. “Definitely, our ancestors are already crying,” he says Thanks Thanksleader of the Amadiba Crisis Committee.
Together with a group of lawyers and environmental activists, The ‘Amampondo’ demand the oil giant. His goal: “That Shell Do not do prospects in our ocean, that is, ”explains the director of the ecological and conservationist organization Sustaining the Wild Coast, Sinegugu Zukulu.
“If we do not act now, it will be too late,” says the activist Nigh who says he is willing to sacrifice his life for his people. Amampondo are a incredibly brave community which has already fought battles on multiple fronts. Known for their culture and spirituality, intimately linked to their land and their sea, they were one of the few communities that They managed to resist to the forced expulsions of the Government of Apartheid.
Their value and their tenacity have taken them, this time, to fight against the oil giant to protect the land and seas of their ancestors. “Everyone told us: You can’t beat Shell”, Reports Emmithuma.
However, the population continued with its claims on the customary rights that these coastal communities possess such as fishing right, as well as the constitutional right to have a safe, healthy and protected environment. “
We want things that improve our life, not things that only benefit you, ”he warns I will appear directing to Shellat the same time that he denounces with forcefulness that “we cannot wait for someone to impose their plans.”
Now, according to the lawyer Wilmien Wicomb, who represents the indigenous people of the Wild coast“When you face a company like Shell, You face huge resources. ”
Everything is in the hands of justice
The legal action of the ‘Horns’ taken to courts denounced failures in the procedure, the irreparable marine deterioration that would generate prospects and, consequently, the negative impact, in relation to livelihood and cultural and spiritual damage of this native community.
These are rights that force the ‘amampondo’ to take responsibility for caring for the environment as their ancestors before. It was the legacy that they transmitted to them and that, now, they must go to the following generations.