City Press reports that despite the theme of mining for a just energy transition at last week’s African Mining Indaba, and the just transition concept being the brainchild of workers, workers’ concerns on the transition were largely muted at the indaba.

Following a clear demonstration by workers, especially mine workers, of their unhappiness with government support of their interests by the booing of President Cyril Ramaphosa on Workers’ Day, mine workers’ issues could have been expected to be high on the agenda, but this was not the case. The importance of the wellbeing of workers and communities as an integral part of national interest was only explicitly articulated in the presidential address by Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and Ramaphosa, who was emphatic that the SA economy, in which mining continued to play a critical role, would not be sustainable if interests of workers and communities were not considered and the benefits shared by all.  Ramaphosa said mining companies need to constructively and meaningfully engage with labour groupings and communities, driven by the intention of shared prosperity. Beyond the articulations of the two presidents, most of the sessions at the indaba did not include or consider workers’ interests in their deliberations. Workers have concerns that some stakeholders have reduced the concept of a just energy transition to immediate cessation of the use of fossil fuel energy sources, specifically coal, and replacing them with renewable energy sources. Although this aspect was partly dealt with in the session on the future of coal, it lacked authenticity as it was not put across by workers themselves. Workers’ issues that should have been dealt with at the indaba were unfortunately silenced at last week’s event. In future, this should not be the case.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Martin Kaggwa at City Press (subscriber access only)

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page