A new research report estimates air pollution from the Secunda energy complex causes about 23,800 years of life lost annually. Tulani Ngwenya investigatesFor decades residents of eMbalenhle, a large township in Govan Mbeki municipality in Mpumalanga, have lived and died in the plumes from Sasol’s Secunda plant. At the heart of the Secunda complex is a process that turns coal into synthetic oil. Prof Harro von Blottnitz at the University of Cape Town’s department of chemical engineering told #PowerTracker that every year about 35‑million tonnes of coal are fed into massive gasifiers, which break down the coal into gas. This gas is cleaned with some of the carbon removed as carbon dioxide and then converted into liquid fuels using a chemical process called Fischer‑Tropsch.The plant also produces by‑products such as ammonia, but it releases harmful pollutants such as hydrogen sulphide, the gas that smells like rotten eggs. “Every now and then, when the unit dealing with this is not working and the wind blows from the east, this can be smelt in Johannesburg,” Von Blottnitz said.In the end, Secunda refines about eight-billion litres of fuel each year, meeting nearly a third of South Africa’s demand, while its coal boilers generate enough steam and electricity to power a medium-sized city.Activists Fana Sibanyoni and Khehla Mahlangu of MS Environmental Projects with Sasol’s towers dominating the horizon, showcasing daily life lived under the shadow of coal‑to‑liquids power. Picture: (Tulani Ngwenya) The human cost A new report released on September 7 by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea), a global independent research organisation, estimated the air pollution from the Sasol Secunda complex causes about 1,000 premature deaths every year, corresponding to 23,800 years of life lost annually.“Air pollution from the complex is estimated to have imposed a substantial public health burden over the 2024/2025 financial year,” Crea said in the report titled “The hidden cost of coal-to-liquids in South Africa: Health impacts of air pollution from Sasol Secunda”. Crea estimated Secunda’s pollution results in people living with serious illnesses every year. In total, it adds up to about 2,600 years lived with disability annually, including 600 years from chronic lung disease, 1,600 years from diabetes and 400 years from stroke. These figures show how the plant’s emissions don’t only cause deaths but also long‑term illnesses that reduce quality of life, the report stated.It is estimated there are 260 new cases of childhood asthma annually, with 1,300 children living with asthma due to exposure, alongside 820 low birthweight births and 1,100 preterm births each year. Acute impacts are visible in health-care data: 2,030 asthma emergency room visits annually, including 930 among children aged 0 to 17. “The facility’s [Sasol Secunda] emissions contribute to a health burden that begins early in life and can have consequences beyond the immediate period of exposure,” Crea warned. The report calculated 468,000 sick leave days are taken each year due to pollution-related illness, costing the economy about $1bn (R16bn) a year. “The health and economic costs of the pollution are borne largely by society rather than the polluter,” Crea said in the report.Daily reality#PowerTracker spoke to residents of eMbalenhle for whom Secunda’s emissions are a daily reality. “The emissions are harmful to our health and for everyone in this community. It is a common occurrence that children will constantly miss school days due to respiratory sickness,” said Khehla Mahlangu, chairperson of MS Environmental Projects, a local NPO. Another member of the organisation, Fana Sibanyoni, said: “People have to undergo medical examinations before they can be employed at Sasol, and this becomes a drawback for them because they fail the medical tests, so it affects their daily lives and source of living, and most of them are unemployed.“Most of the education and awareness campaigns that have been done by the corporates are just ticking-the-box exercises.”For Martha Nkosi, the toll is written on her body and that of her child. “We have challenges with breathing, smells, headaches and sinus. I am partially blind because of air pollution. You swell up, you vomit, and you develop headaches and shortness of breath. We have also learnt this air pollution causes miscarriages,” she said. The residents of Azania settlement say many of them are suffering from respiratory-related illnesses due to pollution from Secunda. Picure: (Tulani Ngwenya) “Hospitals and clinics do not have medication; they only give you painkillers. My child could not eat for two weeks, and they said he has fungi inside his intestines and skin. Even now he is not eating properly, and it was all caused by the air pollution,” Nkosi said.“If you plant anything in the ground, it dies. If spinach grows, it has no taste and takes a long time to be cooked. I am afraid and scared because my death is close. I can pass on any time,” she said.Rotten eggsOupa Hans Mdluli, another eMbalenhle community member, recalled his childhood in the 1980s: “I used to smell something like urine or rotten eggs. There are many smells we endured while I was growing up, and we could not understand what was going on.” Over time, the link became clear. “People got sick without knowing what was responsible. When you go to the doctors, they tell you you have asthma because of the air.”Community responses to awareness campaigns such as Umoya Wethu, a civil society initiative to educate households about air pollution and health risks, have been mixed, Mdluli said. “People did not respond in the manner we were expecting because they wanted jobs. They were asking us, ‘Are you going to give us a job? Are you going to give us anything to live by?’“We would tell them it is all about teaching you how to prevent this situation. Sasol did not tell you what was going on, and we are coming to give you the information that will save your life.”Sasol has badly affected people in the area, he said: “They are cutting corners. They never give people solutions. They are only interested in making profits.”Sasol announced on September 1 that its annual profit rose 9% from a year ago to headline earnings of R38.31 per share, buoyed by higher crude oil prices and increased fuel sales volumes. It also announced it would be investing in its coal-mining business to secure feedstock for Secunda, with production rising to 7.2-million tonnes in 2026, and reducing external coal purchases.Carbon intensiveResearchers at the University of Cape Town’s Energy Systems Research Group found in a 2026 study that Secunda operations are far more carbon intensive and generate more pollution per unit of fuel than normal refineries.According to Von Blottnitz, the operations are carbon intensive because half the carbon in the coal is removed and released as carbon dioxide in the coal-to-liquids process.In 2022, Sasol reported 63.9-million tonnes of carbon equivalent emissions, with 80% to 85% coming from Secunda alone, making it the world’s largest single-site emitter of climate-warming gases.According to the Crea report, the plant released 112,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide (SO₂), along with large amounts of hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) and other harmful gases in 2024. The government has allowed Sasol to operate under weakened SO₂ limits. South Africa’s legal limit for SO₂ is 1,000mg per m³, but Sasol is allowed to emit 1,700mg at one stack and 1,400mg at another. By comparison, the limits in the EU are 70mg, in China 26mg, and in South Korea 89mg.In 2022, Crea noted Sasol applied to replace the rule that limits the strength of pollution in its smokestacks with a system that only measures the total amount released, and when the national air quality officer refused, the environment minister overturned the decision.“Compliance with an alternative licence limit does not mean the remaining emissions are safe,” Crea warned. NGOs Just Share and GroundWork have described this “obstruction pattern to dilute the Carbon Tax Act and delay the Climate Change Act” by Sasol and allied industry associations as “economic hostage‑taking: inflating their contributions to society and ignoring the damage they cause, while creating a false dichotomy between climate action and economic prosperity”.“South Africa’s emission standards are already weaker than those in other developing countries, yet Sasol Secunda has been allowed to operate under limits that are even more lenient,” Robyn Hugo, director of climate change engagement at Just Share, warned in a press statement.Deadly airThe Crea report referred to the so-called Deadly Air judgment, first handed down by the Gauteng High Court in March 2022, which declared poor air quality in the Highveld Priority Area breaches the constitutional right to an environment not harmful to health or wellbeing. On April 11 2025, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the ruling, confirming the minister of environmental affairs has a legal duty under section 20 of the Air Quality Act to prescribe regulations to implement and enforce the Highveld Priority Area Air Quality Management Plan. The Crea report called for tightening of Sasol’s alternative limits to align with international benchmarks, with clear triggers for stricter controls if health milestones are not met. It urges improved emissions reporting and independent monitoring, including public access to real‑time data and independent audits. It further calls for strengthening air quality regulation to remove loopholes and prevent further weakening of the minimum emission standards, especially in pollution priority areas. Crea insisted affected communities must be centred in enforcement, with timely alerts, access to data and involvement in regulatory decisions.“Regulatory decisions should prioritise measurable, enforceable reductions in emissions to protect public health and uphold constitutional rights,” the report noted.Right of replyIn preparing this investigation, #PowerTracker extended the right of reply to Sasol, the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment (DFFE), and the department of mineral and petroleum resources (DMPR). Detailed questions were submitted covering emission standards, enforcement capacity, constitutional obligations, community health impacts and the availability of meteorological data for dispersion modelling.Sasol’s Secunda complex processes about 35-million tonnes of coal a year into synthetic fuel, producing around eight billion litres annually. Picture: (Tulani Ngwenya) The DFFE confirmed it had not independently verified Crea’s estimate of 1,000 deaths annually linked to Secunda’s emissions but outlined regulatory frameworks such as the Second‑Generation Highveld Priority Area Air Quality Management Plan and proposed amendments to emission limits. It highlighted a 40% reduction target against 2019 baselines by 2030, a memorandum of understanding with the South African Medical Research Council to strengthen health environment collaboration, and draft regulations to tighten H₂S limits with no alternative limits permitted beyond March 2030.The department acknowledged community health concerns in eMbalenhle and pointed to partnerships with the department of health and the South African Medical Research Council and quarterly stakeholder forums and public access to real‑time air quality data via the South African Air Quality Information System.The DFFE defended Sasol’s exemptions as part of a “balanced approach” between economic development and environmental imperatives, further stating enforcement is carried out through atmospheric emission licences, municipal inspectors, and environmental management inspectors.Sasol and the DMPR did not provide answers to the questions submitted.To verify independent findings and test the transparency of enforcement, Oxpeckers filed a formal Promotion of Access to Information Act request with the DFFE. The request sought inspection reports, enforcement records, notices of non‑compliance, penalties issued, and correspondence between the DFFE and Sasol relating to Secunda’s emissions. It also asked for Highveld Priority Area air quality management plans, monitoring data and compliance assessments from 2015 to the present.The DFFE acknowledged receipt and confirmed processing, but no records had been released at the time of publication.This investigation by Oxpeckers associate Ngwenya is part of the Oxpeckers #PowerTracker programme, supported by the New Economy Hub and Ford Foundation.Business Day