Last week, tons of dead fish washed up on the Umhlanga beaches and the Ohlanga River. An immediate and inevitable blame game between the UPL pesticides and agrochemical factory and the eThekwini Municipality responsible for running the sewage plants along the river started. Both admit to having discharged effluent into the river at the time. No matter whether the crumbling municipal
infrastructure or the burnt-out Indian-owned chemical factory is vindicated, thousands of fish have been poisoned and killed. People who depend on catching fish for their daily protein or livelihoods have been exposed to potentially toxic fish. Nothing will probably be done about the daily dumping of harmful substances into our rivers and oceans.
In the time of Jesus, it was possible to take fish directly from the lakes or sea
and to grill them on the shore. In a broken-down industrialised economy, this would be hazardous and foolhardy. The safety of the water and the life living in it are not guaranteed. Apart from directly toxic chemicals, agricultural chemicals and sewage spill uncontrolled into our waterways making the water super-fertile. Plants can grow at such a rate that they deprive the water of oxygen, or sometimes algae blooms destroy all other life in the water. We have seen this in the Vaal River, the
Hartebeestpoort Dam, and many other water bodies in South Africa which have become ‘eutrophied’ due to human negligence.
When we dump things in the water, we think they will be diluted infinitely or carried away. They are out of sight and out of mind. But serious problems exist with societies that desecrate their water – the very source of all life. We have lost respect for the gift of creation that God has given us. As we kill
our rivers and fish, we kill other species that depend on them for life, and ultimately, we are killing ourselves. We are making bad decisions for the generations who might come after us.
Whose side do I take in the struggle between humans and creation? What am I prepared to do to make the world a safer place? Do I thank God each day for the birds, mammals, and fish that nourish me?
Reflections by Fr Peter Knox, SJ
