Cape Town - Greenpeace Africa activists called for the fast tracking of the shift to renewable energy when they disrupted Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe’s opening address at the Africa Mining Indaba on Tuesday.
As the minister was delivering his keynote address at the Cape Town International Conventional Centre (CTICC), a group of about six activists held up banners, with messages including “stop blocking renewables” while mobile speakers played messages from the South African public expressing their outrage at the government’s action on the electricity crisis.
They were removed from the venue.
Greenpeace Africa’s climate and energy campaigner, Thandile Chinyavanhu, said: “Coal is a dangerous dead-end 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 the electricity crisis is standing at the podium today.”
“Minister Mantashe together with the fossil fuel industry are colluding to force South Africans down a devastating and depressing pathway to spiralling rolling blackouts, a jobless economy, catastrophic climate change, and continued toxic air pollution. A just transition to renewable energy is the best and most immediate solution to South Africa’s energy and unemployment crises,” Chinyavanhu said.
Continuing with his speech, Mantashe said with about 600 million Africans lacking access to electricity, energy poverty is a dilemma that must be collectively resolved as it impedes Africa’s economic growth, resulting in poverty and inequality.
“This includes lack of access to electricity, unaffordability of energy, and, in our case, electricity interruptions (load shedding). Another challenge that not only beset our continent but the world, is the climate change that adversely impacts on the health and wellbeing of the people. We are very alive to these challenges, hence, in our resolve to address energy poverty, we are equally sensitive to the needs of society and the long-term impact on the environment,” he said.
The Indaba is set to take place for the next three days with energy experts and activists in attendance to discuss the security of energy as well as environmental sustainability amidst the country’s current crisis.
Cape Times