After surviving the cabinet reshuffle, minister of mineral resources and energy Gwede Mantashe’s Tuesday morning got off to a rough start.
Environmental activists tried to upstage his keynote address at the Africa Energy Indaba in Cape Town where he defended fossil fuels as a necessary part of South Africa’s energy mix.
The event comes as government implements its Energy Action Plan during severe load-shedding, a plan that includes a commitment to renewable energy investment.
Mantashe managed to avoid getting the chop or being swapped in Monday night’s cabinet reshuffle when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as the new minister of electricity.
He told delegates that as South Africa and the African continent undertook energy transition, power poverty had to be taken into account. For instance, he said, 12% of Chad’s population has access to energy which creates a complex dynamic for their transition.
“Transition should be from what you have developed and achieved to something you are developing to achieve. That part of the transition for Africa is important,” said Mantashe.
While he was speaking, protesters appeared at the foot of the venue’s stage holding signs which read “Coal=Corruption”, “Gwede stop blocking renewables”, and “Coal=Load-shedding”.
Mantashe took the protest in his stride and continued with his speech, defending his stance on coal.
“They call me a coal fundamentalist. I don’t have a problem with that. I was a coal miner. What is important is that we are going to engage with stakeholders in the space with fair engagement and no limit on the sources of energy. We can’t transition unless that transition is sustainable and affordable for us,” Mantashe said.
The minister said African states must not be unsettled by foreign interests or undertake their energy transition “to please others” to a round of applause. Referencing the protesters, Mantashe said the activists should be left alone as they merely “wanted attention”.
“Climate change adversely affects the health of people. We are equally sensitive to the needs of society and the long-term impact of the environment. Let me say this: the Gwede who has [supposedly] blocked renewables has also done a lot of things.”
Mantashe said he allowed for bid windows 5 and 6 of the Integrated Resource Plan 2019 to be opened and bid window 7 was on the way. Despite this, he said, renewables will not save South Africa because they lacked baseload and relied on a range of other technologies.
“If you understand this, you understand coal will be with us for a long time. We can work to ensure we clean it, but we must use the endowments we have been given as a country, and that is coal. If we want to have ghost towns and therefore breathe fresh air in darkness, it is up to us,” he said.
The minister said financing Africa’s just energy transition would demand concessions that fossil fuels remain part of the energy investment due to the continent’s “endowments”. He said South Africa must focus on importing energy from neighbouring countries.
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