Uniting for Energy Democracy in South Africa

Abstract

28 | International Union Rights | 26/4 FOCUS | CLIMATE CHANGE & TRADE UNIONS The South African electricity industry is in crisis. Although peak electricity demand reaches only 60 percent of installed generating capacity, there have been periodic episodes of ‘load shedding’ since 2008 when public utility Eskom was unable to meet peak demand and had to implement rotational cut-offs to avoid total blackout. This escalating crisis reached further unprecedented levels in December 2019. With electricity prices having increased by 356 percent over the last ten years and 43 percent of people considered ‘energy poor’, this latest episode of load shedding was met by a massive public outcry. Government response measures aiming to tackle Eskom’s capacity shortfalls have so far have been successful. In a country with excellent solar and wind resources, the obvious solution to increasing access to affordable electricity, increasing supply and reducing emissions is to tap into renewable energy sources. But currently coal provides an estimated 83 percent of South Africa’s total generating capacity. The coal-dominated energy sector also provides many with jobs and livelihoods, especially within low-income and black majority communities. Renewable energy has been introduced to the country through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Programme (REIPPPP), but the privatised nature of this electricity generation has been opposed by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). REIPPPP is a manifestation of an overall shift to neoliberal policies taking place since the late 1980s – including the corporatisation of Eskom that precipitated the utility’s increasingly unsustainable and precarious financial and governance situation. Given the myriad financial and governance problems that currently plague the South African energy system, and the current deadlock between unions and the government, the possibility of both turning Eskom into a leader in renewable energies and retaining its vertically integrated utility status will be extremely challenging. Far less attention has been paid to the role that local governments can play in relation to renewables and just transition. Municipalities, in their constitutionally sanctioned function as electricity distributors, already occupy a central position in South African energy distribution. In addition, energy sourced from renewables lends itself well to a decentralised and locally managed system of generation and distribution. Thus, getting Eskom and local governments to combine their efforts to roll out renewable energy appears as a potentially viable and effective way of increasing access to clean, affordable electricity. The idea is not to prevent community organisations, cooperatives and other forms of smallscale ownership from playing their part in renewable energy development but rather to insert these smaller entities into a well-coordinated and publicly run energy sector so as to ensure equitable, reliable and affordable access to clean energy. Eskom and local governments would subsequently be tasked with overseeing and running the process. While both the government and trade unions frequently express their commitment to renewables and refer to the just transition concept, their conflicting understandings of transition have led to paralysis. Securing a just transition to a low-carbon energy system must involve more than simply helping energy workers and their communities to transition away from coal; it must also guarantee adequate access to clean energy for all. Local governments could potentially form the basis for such a low-carbon and people-centred electricity system. However, for this to happen will require breaking the current deadlock and a radical shift in the existing power dynamics around electricity in South Africa. It will also require a concerted effort to strengthen Eskom and local government institutionally and financially. The transition to a more socially, environmentally and politically just electricity system will only happen when trade unions, environmental groups, women’s groups, youth groups and frontline community organisations unite around a common vision of a people’s energy system. Uniting for Energy Democracy in South Africa SANDRA VAN NIEKERK researches energy transitions and energy democracy with the Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC) Energy democracy is the only way to break the deadlock between government and unions over South Africa’s electricity crisis The NUM and NUMSA have been working in partnership with Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED), the Transnational Institute and AIDC under the banner of a...