Sasolburg: A Town Built Around the Chemical Industry Suffering Under Poor Governance and Its Environmental Legacy

Sasolburg is one of the ‘new towns’ in South Africa developed during the 1940s and 1950s to house employees at nascent industrial and mining locations as part of South Africa’s industrialisation drive. It is linked to the petrochemical industry, specifically the development of Sasol, which refined the coal-to-oil process and is now the leading petrochemical manufacturer in the country. Although Sasol has played a pivotal role in the development of South Africa and is considered the industrial hub of the Free State, it is also the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the country. This article traces the development of Sasolburg from its inception to its current situation within the Metsimaholo Municipality and its continuing dependence on the petrochemical industry.