The debate over renewable energy in South Africa is complex – many thousands of workers remain dependent on the coal industry, and some of the investors profiting from Eskom’s renewable energy IPP programme at present are the very same capitalists who are also profiting from mining, such as Patrice Motsepe.
Even so, the state has an urgent moral duty – to the planet and the workers alike – to transform our energy economy, and to work out a plan for a just transition for affected workers and communities to ensure that no livelihoods are lost.