The Lack of Access to Clean and Reliable Electricity: The Section 24 Constitutional Right to an Environment That Is Not Harmful to Health and Well-Being Is Up in Smoke

Abstract

Eskom, currently South Africa’s sole electricity supplier, has been faced with severe electricity shortages exacerbated by its ageing coal-fired power stations (‘the current fleet’). Load shedding has been implemented for several years to prevent grid collapse, which would cause socio-economic disaster and immense human suffering. The electricity shortage was found to be a problem of the State’s own making for failure to ensure that sufficient (and cleaner and cheaper) electricity generation was established when there were alternatives, such as renewable energy, readily available. In turn, the current fleet is also causing illness and death of certain residents in South Africa and the continued operation of the current fleet (as is) will exacerbate climate change, which inherently poses a threat to humanity. The objective of the study is to prove that the unjustifiable infringements of the right to life and to an environment not harmful to health and well-being could have been avoided if the State utilised the abundance of renewable energy sources available at its disposal instead of ‘weaponising’ national electricity grid failure. The conclusion of this discussion is that South Africa can no longer justify sacrificing lives for electricity security; a rights- aligned future lies in replacing the current fleet with renewable energy.