Ascon offers R250,000 to each pollution-hit family |24 September 2010

Teams of officials started contacting the affected families yesterday, and if most of them want to accept the offer the government will write to the company, which will then send lawyers here to make the payments.

Minister for Home Affairs, Environment and Transport Joel Morgan gave the details yesterday, showing the local media a copy of the letter Ascon sent him, which asks the government to respond within a few days.

Mr Morgan said the offer came after hard negotiations, and although the amount is less than what was being sought it is reasonable given that the last such claim in court yielded only R150,000 for a Cascade family.

“It is two and a half times, or 250%, the R100,000 that Ascon originally offered, and we feel a legal battle for more will take longer and probably not yield better results,” he said.

He said the compensation is being offered on a “take it or leave it” basis, meaning those who do not accept the money will be free to find a lawyer and take the company to court on an individual level.

He said the government will still pay the pending R12,000 per home it promised the residents to offset the cost of boiling their water after the incident.

Mr Morgan said the government has decided to go by what most people want and not a minority who may want to seek an amount that is impossible to get.

“We feel this is the best we can achieve,” he said, adding that as soon as an agreement is reached Ascon can resume work at the La Misère residence of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, where construction is several months late.