How is just transition possible when Ramaphosa is not even thinking green?

“Transition is a journey, not an event,” said Gwede Mantashe, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, about the need to transcend coal-fired energy generation.

Will this be a genuine journey of planning and the construction process of energy plants, or another profiteering journey?

The just transition framework is meant to protect workers’ rights and community livelihoods when fossil-based economies are shifting to sustainable production.

Power plants

The minister meant a journey toward building power plants. How will South Africa expand the meaning of “journey” to a broad-based just transition? South Africa is considered one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, ranked 13th worldwide.

The main contributor is burning coal to generate energy.

Pledge to SA

To decarbonise, the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe pledged, during COP26 to contribute almost 9 billion dollars to South Africa to finance the move from fossil fuels to clean energy. This partnership is meant to promote a quicker and more sustainable just transition.

Coal provides 90% of South African electricity and is a major foreign exchange and employment source. Coal was essential to the country’s economy but is now the basis for the climate crisis and pollution in Mpumalanga which kills thousands each year.

Many South Africans will lose their jobs

Over the past five years, Cosatu, Fedusa, and Nactu have promoted just transition. According to the Chamber of Mines, “in 2016, 77 506 people were employed by the coal industry, and it indirectly created 173 093 jobs in the storage and the transport sector…”. With South Africa transitioning from fossil energy to clean energy, many people will lose their jobs.

I foresee workers being unfairly dismissed just for the entrepreneurs to remain with something in their pockets.

How is just transition in South Africa even possible when President Cyril Ramaphosa is not even thinking green? The Power China International Energy Project in Musina-Makhado SEZ that Ramaphosa agreed to wants to increase emissions by 10%.

There are steps that we can and must take as South Africans to fix this. The Xolobeni residents in the Eastern Cape are currently an excellent example of fighting against extractivism (taking natural resources from the earth to sell on the world market). The Xolobeni residents are fighting two battles: against the extraction of ilmenite in the sands and against the offshore gas.

It is no longer about creating job opportunities. It is now about creating and preserving a sustainable future for the upcoming generation. People are depleting the earth of its resources and warming the globe, and the youth will be left to suffer the consequences.

-Nomthandazo Mabena is a University of Johannesburg postgraduate student.

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