Worldwide opposition to nuclear plant at Jeffreys Bay
The petition opposing the building of a nuclear power plant at Oyster Bay has made waves internationally with many people from all over the world signing it.
View of Thysbaai
The Supertubes Surfing Foundation (SSF) started the petition during the recent Billabong Pro surfing contest to protest Eskom’s decision to include Thuyspunt into their final list of possible sites for the 4000MW reactor.
Public reaction in South Africa prompted SABC news to visit the Kouga late last week to document why local residents and others are up in arms about a nuclear reactor just 12km away from Cape St Francis.
Dr. Richard Cowling, one of South Africa’s leading botanists explained to SABC the damaging effect the building of a nuclear plant would have on the ecology of the area, while Brenton Williams from the Supertubes Surfing Foundation stated that international surfers would not be keen to continue traveling to South Africa to surf at Jeffreys Bay which would adversely affect tourism in the Kouga. “We would prefer to see South Africa explore renewable energy options to combat the power crisis in our country”, said Williams.
Shaun Tomson, the 1977 world surfing champion who has been surfing in Jeffreys Bay since the late 1960’s said that he was opposed to the building of a power plant at Oyster Bay as he had seen many high quality surf breaks destroyed over the years and that once a mistake has been made, it cannot be rectified.
Kelly Slater also signed the SSF petition as did current world champion Mick Fanning. Wayne Rabbit Bartholomew, the 1978 world surfing champion and head of the Association of Surf Professionals (ASP) board was critical in his opposition to the proposed power and said that Jeffreys Bay was one of the most popular stops on the world tour. “I still want to bring my children to visit Jeffreys Bay one day and would like them to surf in clean water”, said Bartholomew.