Mantashe Takes Slight U-turn on Coal, Now Says Just Energy Transition Is Key to SA’s Future

• Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has changed his tune on South Africa's energy transition
• Mantashe has called for a shift to lower carbon emissions and endorsed the energy transition away from coal
• This lies in stark contrast to the minister's claims that an energy transition would cause economic devastation in SA

DURBAN - Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has had a change of heart about the energy transition in South Africa.

Mantashe said an energy transition was the future for South Africa while speaking at the Council for Geoscience Summit on Tuesday, 25 October. The energy minister added that the trajectory of the global economy demands a shift away from coal.

Mantashes comments starkly contrast with the many instances when the minister insisted that decarbonising South Africa would spell economic devastation.

Read also

Will Africa's metals boom suffer the same curse as oil?

Most recently, Mantashe declared that hunger kills faster than fossil fuels in an address at the 2022 Africa Oil Week, where the minister called for a gradual energy transition.

Though Mantashe's new statements about the just transition do not indicate that the minister is ready to transition away from coal completely, Mantashe is calling for lower carbon emissions, News24 reported.

The energy minister, however, still holds out hope that the clean coal hypothesis will hold water so that coal can remain in SA's energy future in some form.

Mantashe said:

"Our transition from high- to low-carbon emission might be achieved with coal as part of the solution, if the hypothesis of clean coal is proven."

According to the Center for Environmental Rights, the clean coal theory is a myth that relies on unproven technology to recapture carbon emissions released from burning coal and store it in the ground.

Read also

'We don't eat lithium': S. America longs for benefits of metal boon

Workers downed tools in protest of unfair practices ahead of Ramaphosa’s Redstone thermal solar plant

In another story, Briefly News reported that efforts to add renewable energy to South Africa's power grid are not without their fair share of problems.

Over 200 Redstone Therman Soal Plant workers downed their tools in protests of unfair practices and outright racism.

The protest coincided with President Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to the Postmasburg solar farm on Thursday, 20 October. According to Free State Central News, President Ramamphosa was at the solar farm to conduct a site visit.

Source: Briefly News