Marching
and protesting in Cape Town, one of the most beautiful cities in the world for a cause to
divest from coal in an area far removed from the coal miners and family’s
lives is NOT HELPING or providing SOLUTIONS to what the next steps should be
in the transition from coal to clean energy. South Africa instead, needs a
groundswell of solutions not noise, protests and divests – it needs financial and intellectual investment in sound solutions. Marchers
and protesters in Cape Town should rather put their passion and energy into finding solutions. Today, divesting
from and shutting down coal shuts down the entire country.
“Because
of massive increases in costs of coal-mining and of coal-fired electricity,
the closure of mines and power plants is not just probable, but inevitable. These
are the findings of a study released last week by UCT’s Energy Research Centre,
which came with the sobering message that it was not a question of whether
there would be closure of coal mines and power stations, but a question of
when. There are no clear paths to new jobs for thousands of coal
miners and power station workers who would be left jobless.
There’s a big call to have a just energy
transition, but without planning for the transition, without resources being
allocated to it, how is this going to happen? How do we help workers in
Mpumalanga move into other sectors? Their livelihoods are at stake. More than
80% of coal mining takes place in Mpumalanga, a province that has a higher
level of poverty and a lower human development index than the national average.
In 2015 there were 77,000 coal miners out of the entire mining sector that
employed 457,000 people. So out of a total workforce of 15.8-million people,
coal miners account for about 0.5% of the national workforce. With 35% semi and
unskilled miners, 35% mid-level skilled workers and 10% highly skilled. After
the gold mines closed in the Free State, closures were fast and there had been
no planning, it created a huge socio-economic problem from which those areas
have never really recovered. A lesson we can learn from.
The big
investment in renewables would have positive spin-offs, including cheaper,
cleaner electricity and the creation of jobs. But it stressed that there was a
risk to coal miners and staff of coal-fired power plants if there was no plan
and resources to help them in the transition away from coal. Nicole Loser, an
attorney at the Centre for Environmental Rights, said the report highlighted
the benefit of taking steps now rather than later, in order to ensure that the
energy transition away from coal could be just and inclusive. “The transition
away from coal is now the least-cost option for South Africa. Attempting to
keep the status quo as ‘business as usual’ will ultimately be
worse for South Africa’s economy.” Studies show there are numerous options
available to make the transition happen in an economically and socially
feasible way. It is up to governments to make it happen. As the UCT study says,
the energy transition needs a plan. Which coal-fired plants and mines are going
to close when? Who can be redeployed and who retained? And who pays? These are
all considerations that need to be addressed urgently if the energy transition
really is to be a one that is just and leaves no one behind.”
(Excerpts: “South Africa’s ‘King Coal’ sector is in
a state of crisis” Melanie Gosling - Daily Maverick 7 September 2018)
