“Nothing about us without us”: Fishers fight TotalEnergies exploration plans
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Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-03-24-nothing-about-us-without-us-f…
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25 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.
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“Aukotowa Fisheries, The Green Connection and Natural Justice asked the Western Cape Division of the High Court in Cape Town to overturn the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s 2023 decision to grant TotalEnergies environmental authorisation for offshore exploration in the Deep Sea Orange Basin.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim.
“The case is about more than who gets to drill where, but pits the government’s and TotalEnergies’ strategy bid for petroleum resource identification against the livelihood concerns of small-scale fishing communities, in addition to climate change and environmental considerations.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim.
“Fishing communities and community members held a protest outside the court, calling for more consultation.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim.
“Walter Steenkamp, chairperson of Aukotowa Fisheries, stated that the community wanted the right to self-determination and that the minister overruled their decisions.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim.
“The DMRE failed to conduct a proper 'need and desirability assessment by exploration, which is linked to production, and the climate impacts of future gas extraction should be assessed now.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim.
“The environmental authorisation was granted based on the fact that a blowout would be 'highly unlikely', without sufficient justification, and that spill modelling underestimated the impact on marine protected environments.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim.
“The Socioeconomic Impact Assessment was not properly assessed, and failed to account for the survival risks to small-scale fishing communities that depended on marine resources.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia entries on IPCC reports, risk assessment, and social impact assessment are general and do not directly address the specific claim about the DMRE's failure to assess socioeconomic impacts in this case.
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— The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the sixth in a series of reports which assess the available scientific information on c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPCC_Sixth_Assessment_Report
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPCC_Sixth_Assessment_Report
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wikipedia
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— Risk assessment is a process for identifying hazards, potential (future) events which may negatively impact on individuals, assets, and/or the environment because of those hazards, their likelihood an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_assessment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_assessment
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wikipedia
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— Social impact assessment (SIA) is a methodology to review the social effects of infrastructure projects and other development interventions. Although SIA is usually applied to planned interventions, t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_impact_assessment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_impact_assessment
“The DMRE failed to consider the impact of exploration on coastal public property, as required by Section 63 of the ICMA.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim.
“Port Nolloth is a small coastal village in the Northern Cape, the largest province in South Africa with the smallest population, and has an unemployment rate of 27.1%.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim.
“Fishing has become a cornerstone of employment in Port Nolloth, which was once a diamond mining hub in the 1920s but transitioned to fishing after the diamond boom declined.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in cross-references, web search, or Wikipedia to confirm or refute the claim.
“Fishing is central to the life, culture, and heritage of the Port Nolloth community, representing a fundamental way of living.”
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“The applicants argued that the Environmental Impact Assessment rated the effect of a blowout as 'high' or 'very high,' deeming the risk unacceptable.”
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“TotalEnergies' counsel argued that the statistical probability of a blowout was 0.0143%.”
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“The government stated that 358 offshore wells had been drilled in South African waters with zero recorded blowouts.”
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“The Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred on April 20, 2010, resulting in 11 fatalities, the rig sinking, and a catastrophic oil leak of over 507 million liters.”
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“Mark Cohen and Alan Krupnick argued that Deepwater Horizon risk assessments did not account for water depths or volumes, leading to underestimated spill impacts.”
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“The Deepwater Horizon disaster prompted the creation of the South African Interim Incident Management Organisation and the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) to enhance preparedness.”
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“A process involving the government, insurers, and TotalEnergies would be initiated to determine economic effects and issue compensation in case of an oil spill.”
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“TotalEnergies EP South Africa (Teepsa) maintains it is fully insured and that any loss of earnings by small-scale fishers would be fully compensated.”
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“Environmental groups and Aukotowa Fisheries expressed concern that the compensation process would have limited efficacy in the short term, leaving fishers destitute.”
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“Walter Steenkamp expressed concern that while compensation is needed, it would not prevent destitution if fish and income are lost.”
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“Environmental groups and fishers argue that exploration cannot be decoupled from production, and the DMRE cannot authorize exploration without assessing the environmental consequences of burning the extracted gas.”
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“The State maintains that exploration (Section 79) and production (Section 83) are distinct phases, with exploration being a three-year information-gathering process and production a 30-year commercial endeavor, making it legally impossible to assess production impacts during exploration.”
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“Judgment in the Orange Basin case has been reserved for a later date, with the case defining the boundaries of administrative action in South Africa’s energy transition.”
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“Walter Steenkamp concluded the interview with the statement, 'Nothing about us without us.'”
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Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.