ELA - JHB: Pictures of Johannesburg Alcan Protest

Press Release

Earthlife Africa JHB
9th of May 2007

Today, peaceful but determined protests occurred outside of Alcan Head Office in South Africa (Sandton, Johannesburg) and the Coega Development Corporation (Port Elizabeth). Attached are pictures of Johannesburg protest.

In Canada, activists have been phoning Alcan's Corporate Headquarters today seeking answers in regards to Alcan's secret deal with Eskom.

Alcan and Eskom's complete refusal to let the public know about its deal raises significant and deeply worrying concerns about the state of our democracy. Does the South African Government think that secret deals with foreign companies are okay? Isn't that what the Apartheid companies did? How is the public able to monitor possible corruption in business deals if it doesn't have the basic information about those deals? How are local businesses able to compete fairly if they don't know what the going rate for electricity to industry is?

Earthlife Africa and allies call upon Alcan to fully disclose its contract with Eskom so that the South African public can understand what is happening to its assets, and transparency and honesty become part of Alcan's dealings.

For more information, please contact:

Tristen Taylor
Energy Policy Officer
Earthlife Africa-Johannesburg Branch
Tel: +27 11 339 3662
Fax: +27 11 339 3270
Cell: +27 84 250 2434
Email: tristen@earthlife.org.za
Website: www.earthlife.org.za