Mamoleki, Maila2024-08-062024-08-062023Mamoleki, Maila. (2023). The socio-economic impact of Eskom’s Just Energy Transition on the town of eMalahleni, Mpumalanga Province [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40000https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40000A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established the need to reduce global warming by lowering temperatures. This involves the reduction in fossil power plants which are a major source of global warming. South Africa (SA) relies heavily on fossil power plants and Eskom is now transitioning toward the reduction of fossil energy generation. However, the impact of this transition is not yet understood fully. This calls for research into the socio-economic impacts of the transition, specifically in the town of eMalahleni, which is the largest source of coal in SA. Understanding these impacts will therefore assist in designing a transition which minimises the negative impacts and maximises positive impacts. The study adopted a qualitative approach with a case study to understand the socio-economic impacts of the Just Energy Transition (JET) in eMalahleni. Descriptive and thematic analyses were utilised. The study found that this JET would result in a loss of income and jobs, increase social ills and the expansion of ‘ghost towns’ in SA. The results suggest that this impact could be mitigated by using the gradual approach, upskilling plant employees, providing financial support and ensuring fairness between those who will lose their income and jobs and those who will gain jobs and income thus the losers can be compensated. It was concluded that the negative socio-economic impacts of the JET in eMalahleni are inevitable. People of eMalahleni are going to face the negative consequences from the energy transition. It was also concluded that there are positive impacts on the people of eMalahleni from the energy transition such as the improvement in the environment and health of people due to less carbon emissions. However, there are ways to mitigate these impacts, which are far outweighed by the positive impacts the change in power generation would bring. From the research, it is clear that a slow transition would ensure fairness and justice for all employees involved.en© 2023 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Just Energy TransitionFossilEskomDecarbonisationSocio-economiceMalahleniUCTDSDG-7: Affordable and clean energyDissertationUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg