End ‘free market economics, deregulation and privatisation’, say climate activists at energy protest in Sandton

The ideological divide between the fossil fuel industry and climate activists continues to grow.

A multi-organisation protest on Tuesday outside the African Energy Chamber in Sandton turned up the volume as protestors looked to drown out the endeavours of private business interests.

The target of their angst was the African Energy Week (AEW) conference, the United States consulate and businesses promoting “fossil-fuel imperialism”.

Voices for the neglected

The 1,000-member protest claimed to be representative of at least 250 African civil society organisations that signed a letter stating their four primary demands.

The protestors want an immediate end to African Energy Week, as well as a government boycott and severing of ties with the African Energy Chamber.

Additionally, they called for a continental rejection of fossil fuel expansion and for multinational corporations to pay reparations to exploited communities.

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Zaki Mamdoo, the StopEACOP campaign coordinator, labelled the business people of Africa’s richest square mile “corporate criminals”.

“We see the unapologetic violence, destruction and war-mongering of American imperialism and the corrupt bolstering of it all by the sinister African Energy Chamber fossil fuel lobby group,” Mamdoo said in a statement he shared with The Citizen.

The African Energy Chamber was contacted for comment by The Citizen but no response was forthcoming by the time of publication.

Fighters for the global south

Yegeshni Moodley, Senior Climate and Energy Justice Campaigner at GroundWork accused the fossil fuel industry of disguising development as colonial entrapment.

“We, as Africans, don’t need dirty energy, crippling debt, and carbon bombs. We demand clean energy, debt cancellation, and climate reparations,” said Moodley.

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Powershift Africa, Fossil Free South Africa, 350Africa.org and the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa all added their voices to the protest.

“[We] strongly rejected the policies pushed by AEW—free-market economics, deregulation, and privatisation— which are designed to entrench debt, underdevelopment, and exploitation,” they said in a joint statement.

Where does SA rank on the global polluter scale?

Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) is the fossil fuel emission targeted by climate activists, with Africa producing less CO₂ than Europe and both North and South America, as per Our World in Data.

As of 2022, the continent produced 1.42 billion tons of CO₂, but still trailed India and China which produced 2.83 and 11.4 billion tons, respectively.

ALSO READ: Global CO₂ emissions to drop 4-7% in 2020, but will it matter?

South Africa is the second highest producer of CO₂ emissions per capita on the continent, with the country’s 2022 figure being 6.7 tons per person compared to Libya’s 9.2 tons per person.

In terms of global contribution of CO₂ emissions, China topped the charts with 30.68% of global output, compared to the United States’ 13.62%, which had been cut from 55.43% in 1945.

South Africa’s global contribution is minimal, registering 1.09% of global emissions as of 2022.

A graph showing the world’s greatest emitters of CO₂. Picture: Our World in Data