Honest Mhungu

Many reasons and arguments are brought forward by scholars in order to justify why the trajectories that African countries have towards industry must change. It is argued and evident that the majority of the current African industries are causing pollution, thus damaging the environment. 

A good example is that of Chinese-managed mining industries in Zimbabwe and elsewhere on the African continent which are leaving gullied, degraded and deformed landscapes that are costly and almost impossible to rehabilitate for agricultural or other uses. 

In addition, other fast-growing electronic industries, especially those producing smart phones, computers, televisions and refrigerators are also producing e-waste with high-content mercury, lead, chromium, arsenic and chlorofluorocarbons with widely-reported dangers to human health. 

This problem is exacerbated by developed countries shipping their disused and old electronic equipment as charitable/philanthropic donations to the developing world. Agbogbloshie (Ghana) is a typical West African example of the sequelae of these philanthropic efforts. 

Poor humans who scavenge in these dumpsites are in immediate danger, but the landscape is left inhabitable for future generations. Some dumpsites even end up polluting the water supply for large communities that go unchecked for decades by incompetent local authorities. Some e-waste are burned in a bid to release ‘valuable’ minerals, but obviously also releasing dangerous fumes into the atmosphere. 

There is an urgent need for dialogue and debate, from community level all the way to the global stage, to address these current problems faced by the developing countries. Platforms for evaluating and mapping out the future of developing countries with regards to industry-related pollution and land degradation are an urgent necessity. 

Questions worth addressing are whether the benefits of developing countries receiving donated electronics outweigh the dangers later posed by the disposal of these equipment and gadgets; and whether developing countries recklessly mining for precious minerals whilst leaving inhabitable landscapes polluted with dangerous and often lethal chemicals spell any future at all for these countries. 

There is a need for the development of local, governmental, regional and global policies to outlaw this wanton, inconsiderate approach to environmental resources and handling of e-waste.

*Honest Mhungu is a sociologist, decolonial scholar and former University of Namibia student.