Following a recent court application (brought in January 2023 ahead of the President’s SONA speech) by The Green Connection and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) – to review the President’s failure or refusal to bring Section 6 of National Energy Act, 2008 (NEA) into operation – both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister Gwede Mantashe have confirmed that they will oppose the legal challenge. Section 6 of the Act requires the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy to develop and publish the Integrated Energy plan (IEP), and review it on an annual basis. According to both eco-justice organisations, it is this lack of proper, updated energy planning that lies at the root of the country’s current energy problems.
According to SAFCEI’s Executive Director Francesca de Gasparis, “The IEP speaks directly to the energy crisis and the state of disaster that the President declared. The President spoke of an Energy Action Plan but not the Integrated Energy Plan, which is based on the government’s own legislation, and is a better way to develop energy policy.”
Section 6 of the National Energy Act (2008) was passed by Parliament but has never been brought into operation by the President. So, since 2008, decision-makers have been carrying out energy planning without a proper legal framework.
Kholwani Simelane, The Green Connection’s Advocacy Officer says, “The President of South Africa and our country’s Minister of Energy seem to oppose the idea of South Africa having a proper energy plan. The purpose of the Integrated Energy Plan (IEP) developed under Section 6 of the Act, is to integrate economic, environmental, political, and social interests and set the context in which energy-related decisions should be made. Without Section 6 in operation, a proper IEP isn’t possible.”
“At the SONA last week we heard the President talk a lot about an energy action plan, so why not bring Section 6 into operation and develop and implement the IEP from the Energy Act? The next step in this legal action is for the government to release their records of how the decision was reached to continuously delay bringing Section 6 into effect. Lack of effective energy planning is the reason we are in this mess, and as long as we continue without a plan for meeting our energy requirements, for dealing with loadshedding and unaffordable electricity prices, increases will continue. A clear plan will make sure that when new energy is being procured that it is affordable, environmentally friendly and easily accessible and be a part of a just energy transition. This would be for the benefit of everyone,” says de Gasparis.
The Green Connection’s Strategic Lead Liziwe McDaid says, “It is very astonishing that in this time of crisis that both the energy minister and the President have opted to oppose our call to have an Integrated Energy Plan (IEP). In our view, the message they are sending is that they do not want any legally binding, mandatory energy planning to help prevent that we end up in such a crisis in the future.”
Simelane concludes, “The President and Minister have failed to deliver the record showing how they reached the decision to delay bringing Section 6 into operation for all these years, and so we have now submitted a Notice in terms of Rule 30A, which gives government ten (10) days in which to produce that record of the decision to delay bringing Section 6 into operation.”
BENDING OVER BACKWARDS, DMRE GIVES KARPOWERSHIPS ANOTHER BREAK
30 September 2021 was supposed to be the commercial close – a date set by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) – for bidders in the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMI4P).
TOSACO EIA MET WITH PUSHBACK FROM CIVIL SOCIETY, TO PROTECT THE OCEAN AND SMALL-SCALE FISHER LIVELIHOODS
This week, The Green Connection submitted its comments critiquing several aspects of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, particularly the lack of procedural fairness, as well as the conclusions reached – notwithstanding information gaps and scientific uncertainty – that should form part Tosaco Energy’s request to undertake various activities in Block 1, off the West Coast.
RECENTLY GRADUATED GREEN CONNECTORS, EQUIPPED FOR THE POLLS AND READY TO WEIGH-IN ON COP26
Following their recent graduation from The Green Connection’s Legacy Champions Programme, these newly empowered Green Connectors say they feel equipped with the necessary advocacy skills to make positive changes in their communities, starting with their vote in the local elections (1 November) and weighing in on the discussions around COP26 (which starts on 31 October) – as part of their efforts to oppose oil and gas developments in the country and offshore.
GREEN CONNECTION’S ‘FUNERAL FOR THE CLIMATE’ (AFRICAN ENERGY WEEK) AND COMMENT ON YESTERDAY’S BUDGET SPEECH
This week (10 November 2021), we joined other environmental defenders in Cape Town to peacefully demonstrate outside the African Energy Week #AEW2021 conference venue demanding an end to fossil fuels and the immediate pivot toward the just transition to a renewable energy future.
CLOSE TO 200 PEOPLE RISE AT CRACK OF DAWN TO PROTEST THE ARRIVAL OF SHELL’S SEISMIC MONSTER, AMAZON WARRIOR
On Sunday morning, (21 November 2021), before the crack of dawn, nearly 200 concerned environmental defenders took to the Waterfront to get a glimpse of Shell’s seismic testing vessel, Amazon Warrior, as it made its way into Cape Town harbour. The vessel travelled down the West coast of Africa, on its way to the Wild Coast, to conduct seismic surveys for an estimated five (5) months.
ENVIRONMENTALISTS DOUBLE-UP ON EFFORTS TO OPPOSE UPCOMING AND FURTHER SEISMIC TESTING IN SOUTH AFRICA’S OCEANS
As the groundswell of opposition against Shell’s upcoming 3D seismic survey off the Transkei builds, the Green Connection – an ecojustice NGO that supports small-scale fishers in advocating for their livelihoods – reacted with astonishment to a press statement issued by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) on 9 December 2021.