The contradictory state: South Africa‘s varying approaches to its energy policy
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Date
2021
Authors
Mabasa, Ashley Nyiko
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Abstract
This research report addresses two main questions: firstly, do South Africa’s
environmental and energy policies contradict each other in terms of building a
sustainable and green developmental state? Secondly, is there any clear policy
coordination within the State’s departments? The research is an analysis of the state’s
energy policies addressed by the National Development Plan (2011), Integrated
Resource Plan Energy policy (2010) Carbon Tax Bill 2018, and the Industrial Policy
Action Plan 2018/2019. These policies show the link between strategies for
development and the mitigation and adaptation of programmes for building a green
developmental state.
This research report adopted a qualitative research method to explore South Africa’s
varying approaches to energy policy. The study uses several policy discussion
documents drawn up by numerous departments of South Africa’s national
government: namely, the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources; Department
of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries; Department of Trade Industry and Economic
Development; and the National Treasury. Policy produced by the Department of
Energy and Mineral Resources’ Integrated Resource Plan (2018) fail to show amply
the urgency and necessity for the so-called ‘just transition’ required for labour in the
radical shift from fossil fuels (decarbonisation) to address greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions in the local electricity industry, especially for ESKOM, the country’s
electricity supply utility. South Africa’s economy was developed within the mineral energy context: coal has,
therefore, played a significant role in its previous industrial development. After a period
in which almost no attention was paid to climate change the South African government
has succeeded in drafting policies which seek to mitigate the current deficiencies of
the present economy for the requirements of the global climate crisis: the
decarbonisation of the fossil fuel economy. However, the government has currently
not provided adequate follow-up leadership for these policies and, in addition, they
have proved contradictory. As a result, progress has been detrimentally slow in
implementation.
Fundamentally, the state has not succeeded in guiding vital economic activity by
providing subsidies to the manufacturers and consumers of clean technologies. There
is, therefore, a need to coordinate policies and have a coherent implementation
system. This study, therefore, provides an evaluation of the SA energy policy, which
should be better framed by a concern for reducing inequality in labour issues that
provide a just transition towards developing a green economy with a consistent and
rational implementation system to replace the current paralysis and gridlock.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Labour and Economic Sociology to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the
Witwatersrand, 2021