Members of a coalition of civil society bodies, community-based organisations, labour unions and social movements that engage on energy issues, known as the South African Energy Caucus, have called for open discussions and engagement with government about South Africa’s energy future and security.

This was revealed during a workshop hosted by the Institute for Security Studies’ (ISS’) Corruption and Governance programme, in Cape Town, this week. 

Several of the presentations delivered during the two-day workshop highlighted the fragmentation and confusion around energy planning in South Africa, the ISS reported, adding that participants raised concern about the exclusion of citizens in decision-making that will determine the country’s economic pathway for the next two to three decades.

The participants noted that renewable energy technology was proven to be cost-competitive against coal and to be cheaper than nuclear, however, power utility Eskom’s new build projects focused almost entirely on coal and nuclear, with marginal attention to wind and solar.

“This is despite the very damaging impacts of burning coal on air quality and climate, the impact of coal mining on water security, the astronomical cost of nuclear technology, and the complete lack of capacity or technology to deal with nuclear waste,” the ISS said.

The development of nuclear energy in South Africa, whether through the Department of Public Enterprises or Eskom, will mean that taxpayers will fund the construction, maintenance and decommissioning of nuclear plants, which are the most expensive forms of energy generation known, the group said.

“Citizens are excluded from the decision-making process, despite being responsible for the high costs. There are also enormous concerns around the potential for corruption given that the potential deals run into trillions of rands, and the process is closed with decisions being made without consultation from civil society,” it stated.

Further, it highlighted that over ten-million South Africans are still without access to electricity, while at least 25% of electricity is wasted because of inefficiency.

“If strong energy efficiency measures were implemented, an additional 20 000 MW of capacity would not have to be built, resulting in a cost saving of R600-billion to the economy. The total cost of Eskom’s New Build (mainly coal and nuclear) is R1,3-trillion – without energy efficiency,” the caucus highlighted.

While a significant part of the country’s electricity needs could be met by renewable energy technology, this has been vastly underfunded and under-researched by Eskom, the members added.

The group argued that many of these issues have arisen because of the fragmentation and lack of clarity around the role of government institutions in ensuring energy supply for the country.

These factors led to a suggestion from the group that there should be an open and challenging review of institutional planning and arrangements with regards to energy, the governance of Eskom, its commercialised status, and the development of the country’s energy future.

“The group considers it vital that civil society is directly involved in determining South Africa’s energy future, with engagement at all stages of development of the strategy and not only as part of an end process through public consultation,” the caucus said.