Climate activists protest Africa Oil vampires

Climate change and environmental activists from Extinction Rebellion and the Green Connection picketed outside the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) on Tuesday. The demonstration was organised against the Africa Oil Week taking place inside, where Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe delivered the keynote address. 

Advocacy officer at the Green Connection, Lisa Makaula said they are demonstrating in order to call on African leaders to prioritise investment in renewable energy projects. “We have seen how climate change has been causing havoc in communities, with especially poor and vulnerable people bearing the burden of that climate change. We hope that our leaders are going to start thinking of re-shifting, and prioritising investments in projects that are not going to come at the expense of people’s livelihoods. We hope the event will prioritise the move away from fossil fuels.”  

According to Makaula, South Africa is contradictory when it comes to the just transition to renewable energy. “We have seen that the president has signed the Climate Act, which forces municipalities to take climate change into consideration. At the same time, we’re seeing that there is other legislation that is there to promote fossil fuels. It’s a bit challenging to understand where we are going as a country, that’s why we would like to find a clear path from our leaders, as to where we are going in the next ten years, as we have committed to reduce our greenhouse emissions by 2050,” she said.

Extinction Rebellion is an international, politically non-partisan movement that uses non-violent and civil action to persuade governments to act justly on the climate crisis. Extinction Rebellion spokesperson, Jacqui Tooke said, “We have made the use of a vampire theme in our protest action, and there is a lady who represents Mama Africa wearing a green dress, who is under attack by the vampires. What we are trying to demonstrate through this very creative type of protest, is that the oil and gas executives who are flying here from all over the world are not bringing good news to Africa, but are actually here to suck Africa dry. They are coming here to extract and exploit. Vampires like to prey on the vulnerable, they are preying on Africa’s energy vulnerability for their own profits.”

She said they want to challenge the narrative that Africa needs oil and gas in order to develop. “Research shows that renewables are a very reliable pathway for us to drive economies. We also want to draw attention to the fact that the fossil fuel industry is responsible for 75% of greenhouse gas emissions which is driving global warming and climate instability. This leads to the breakdown of all the systems we rely on to grow our food. We need to move away from fossil fuels so that we have a future. The fossil fuel industry spends a lot of money trying to promote that they are for a fair society, but in actual fact they are doing a lot to resist any type of just transition,” said Tooke.

Different government departments in South Africa , she said, are saying different things when it comes to the issue of just transitioning. “We need clarity from the South African government, to say exactly which direction we are moving in. They must say if we are moving down the renewables path or another path. We demand clarity, so that we can move forward, because they are not really sure where they stand. We have seen with other countries that when governments provide clear regulation it shifts things towards a renewable energy path,” said Tooke. 

Currently, the Green Connection has a case in the Western Cape High Court against the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, and the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy over environmental authorisation granted to TotalEnergies for their oil exploration between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas.

Where is South Africa’s just transition?

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) have found that environmental issues are a relatively low concern for most South Africans. “Very few South Africans (9%) have heard the term ‘just transition’ and know what it means. However, a significantly larger share has heard a little bit (41%) or a lot (31%) about efforts to transition away from coal power to other forms of energy more generally,” the report states. Just over half of South Africans (51%), see the transition away from coal to other forms of energy such as renewables as a possible way to end loadshedding.

“The transition was also seen as an opportunity to grow the economy and reduce electricity prices by 41% of respondents. Less than a quarter of respondents associate the transition with health or environmental impacts, either positive or negative,” the report notes. 

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa criticised industrialised nations for their failure to meet their climate commitments. He said African countries are bearing the brunt of the impacts of global warming and the alarming climate crisis. 

On Tuesday during the conference, Mantashe said, “We have not converted fully to this thing of saying we will move from coal to renewables, We are committed to a mixture of energy sources. We think that a mixture of energy sources will help us reduce carbon emissions, in a systematic way. To us, energy security is quite critical. We are striving for universal access to energy, we are working hard to achieve this.” His concern about climate change went only so far as to remind investors of the need to balance development with whatever environmental impacts may follow.

Mantashe admitted that fossil fuels and coal are still going to be used for a long time while they are looking to new technology for cleaner energy.