Vaalputs is the only South African radioactive waste-disposal facility, called the Vaalputs Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility, operated by NECSA. The facility is located about 100 km south-east of Springbok, in the Northern Cape. It covers an area of approximately 10,000 hectare, measuring 16,5 km from east to west and 6,5 km from north to south at its narrowest point.
Approximately 1,000 hectare is occupied by sites developed for low- and intermediate-level waste, an interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility, housing, roads, power lines and an airstrip. Vaalputs lies smothered between the Namaqualand in the west and the Bushmanland in the east.
During 1978 a programme to select a suitable site for the disposal of nuclear waste was commenced over large parts of South Africa. The programme leader had to keep a variety of socio-economic and geology related parameters in mind. Pioneer investigations indicated that the Northern Cape was the most feasible area. Supplementary studies showed that a place approximately 100 km southeast of Springbok was ideally suited for the disposal of low- and intermediate-level wastes. In 1983 three farms were acquired by the state on behalf of the NECSA, which now constitute the Vaalputs Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility. The first low- and intermediate-level waste arrived from Koeberg in October 1986.
Yeah I'm a believer, I won't be beleaguered
I give a damn, no Leave it to Beaver
With the R-E-S-P-E-C-T like Aretha
And if I don't use my feet then I won't have that either
Yes we serve, we deserve some peace
And we serve the least versed to reverse
The deep hurt that's featured
Each turn of the sheet of a learned history
Like Wall Street, the Trail of Tears and the War in the Philippines
And I wash my hands clean like surgeons in emergencies
Median on weed like conjoinment and Glucosamines
Relap the joint and wound the knee
And be like? we're not hearing a beat
From the projects like? and research
We're jumping in feet-first
Reaction on the knee-jerk
Don't let his story recur
Swipe? like a Visa
A fire doesn't need a sinkhole
Just the silence of the people
As for me, I'm gonna be free
I'm gonna be free from all of this history
Yeah, me, I'm gonna be free, I'm gonna be free
I rhyme post-post-ironic flows (homo)
I came to fuck shut up, homos
Stonewall, laugh at that, no no
Don't y'all assume that I'm straight
Cause you don't know
I'm close to the edge like Bono
Won't fall victim to the Gordian Knot
Trying to sort again rock mine
Plot lines are stretched like accordion
To Resurrect, born again, in division
Free from all the history
Beef with salt and misery
Just how it should be for y'all and is for me
That's the truth, blppppp as bald as
Mr. Clean, spit it like Listerine
'Till my lips are stinging hot, scalding, blistering
I'm composting primitive thoughts
And prayers what we want most
? lock the prison with God's forgiveness
It's it a bunch of?
Touchdown like Broncos
The song goes on like ponchos
As for me, I'm gonna be free
I'm gonna be free from all of this history
Yeah, me, I'm gonna be free, I'm gonna be free
And if we can start a riot (well what can we really do?)
If we can tear a city down (what can we really do?)
Crush enemies, cause casualties
If we can start a movement
If we can lift a city up
If we can heal the wounded
Feed our families, face history
As for me, I'm gonna be free
I'm gonna be free from all of this history