04 September 2020

Community leaders in Berea, a ridge above the city of Durban, have railed against a proposed government law that would allow network service providers to build 5G towers and other electronic communication devices on any private and public land.

The draft proposal, which was gazetted by Stella Ndabeni-Abarahams, minister of communications and digital technologies, is part of the government’s expansion into the 5G network.

Heather Roos, chairperson of Umbilo Community Policing Forum, said the policy would represent an infringement on people’s rights. “This is taking away people’s rights to privacy on their property,” she said. “This is so unfair. What about health risks as this has been a huge issue in the past with cell towers etc. It seems that as citizens in South Africa, we do not have any rights anymore.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO), which established the International Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) Project in 1996 looking at potential health risks from cell phone towers, found no health risks associated with 5G.