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Mining Weekly reports that Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday that SA’s shift away from fossil fuels must generate alternative economic activities and livelihoods in order to avoid coal mining areas such as Mpumalanga becoming "ghost towns".
He was speaking on the sidelines of the African Energy Week conference in Cape Town. More than 90,000 South Africans were employed in coal mines in 2020. The United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union last week announced $8.5-billion of financing to help SA move away from coal and ensure those who work in the industry can find greener alternatives to make a living. SA aims to use the funds to develop new sectors like renewables and electric vehicle manufacturing, which would create jobs as the coal industry is phased out. Asked about the detrimental health impacts of coal mining and combustion in Mpumalanga, Mantashe said coal provided a livelihood to thousands of people. "If we starve them to death, is that healthier?," he asked. An unpublished study by scientists working for the SA government in 2019 found that more than 5,000 South Africans die annually in the nation's coal belt because the government has failed to fully enforce its own air quality standards.
- Read the original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly
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