A groundswell of discontent against government’s proposed energy policies has emerged, spearheaded by the Climate Justice Coalition and its array of civil society allies. The group of South African trade unions, civil society and community-based organisations is preparing to take to the streets in a unified display against the government’s draft Integrated Resource Plan energy plan.
The group said the IRP favours the elites and corporations over poor and middle-income South Africans who would be subjected to “unreliable” and “unaffordable” energy. “They are the ones who have an increase in electricity costs. They’re going to be stuck with paying the bill for government’s expensive and dirty plan.”
Lenferna said: “Study after study has shown SA could have ended the load shedding crisis years ago by investing heavily in renewable energy and storage and properly maintaining the existing energy fleet.