Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, had to navigate through a protest to deliver his address at the African Energy Indaba on Tuesday.
This protest, which was led by Greenpeace Africa activists, soughts to highlight the impact of retaining fossil fuels in the country’s energy mix as well as Mantashe’s support of coal.
Thandile Chinyavanhu, who is Greenpeace Africa’s climate and energy campaigner, said: “Coal is a dangerous dead-end and it is pushing South Africa to the brink of destruction, yet almost all of South Africa’s electricity comes from an ancient fleet of coal-fired power stations which are literally falling apart, breaking down more quickly than they can be fixed.”
Fast tracking a shift to renewable energy is clearly the solution but the biggest blocker in the way of getting us out of the oppressive darkness of yhe electricity crisis is standing at the podium today.”
At the recent cabinet reshuffle announcement, President Cyril Ramaphosa, announced Dr. Ramokgopa as the Minister of Electricity who will be tasked with resolving the issue of loadshedding in the country. We have not yet heard of how he aims to get this done but he has promised South Africa that Loadshedding will be resolved.
