Can there be a ‘just’ transition?
The case of the Somkhele mine in KwaZulu-Natal raises awkward questions about what happens when legitimate environmental concerns run up against a community’s need for jobs. And while this case is very much a specific legal battle, it’s a clash that may foreshadow further battles to come, as South Africa goes through the painful shift away from coal to renewable energy
13 July 2023 - 05:03
On the 30-minute drive from Somkhele mine to the northern KwaZulu-Natal town of Mtubatuba, the fruits of the open-pit anthracite operation are evident: expensive houses line the hillsides around the mine, and there are spaza shops, a clinic, a brickyard and a health research institute.
Look closer, though, and the signs of dilapidation are starting to show. The grass at the health institute is uncut, the shelves of the spaza shops are half-empty, the brickyard is devoid of any bricks...
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