In the haste to move to a decarbonised future, we ignore the unions at our peril
Labour union leaders were understandably confused by being asked to participate in a consultation session for SA’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan after the plan had already been endorsed by cabinet and presented to the world.
It was drafted last year by the presidential climate task team, headed by Daniel Mminele who stepped down from his position after his contract expired at the end of December. The plan was endorsed by the cabinet and launched shortly before the UN’s climate conference COP27 last year in Egypt, where it was paraded in front of global leaders by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Unions and some political actors are concerned about the amount of debt SA will have to take on to implement its shift from a high-carbon to a net-zero economy. They are also worried about the cost to jobs of the pace of phasing out coal-fired power. They fear the privatisation of electricity generation in the country — a likely outcome of the energy transition.
But union leaders, who took part in one of the first of these sessions on Tuesday, pointed out that it was disingenuous to ask them to comment on a plan that has already been used by the government to shop around for funding overseas.
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