Johannesburg – Africa needed to chart its own path in ending energy poverty, Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday.
He was delivering the keynote address, at the Africa Energy Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The indaba comes just as the country grapples with the Eskom energy crisis amid calls for a just transition to renewable energy.
Mantashe, who was disrupted by environmental activists during his address, was adamant that coal would be part of the country's energy source for a long time.
He said it was important that the continent be allowed to align its technological innovations with prevalent energy sources on the continent, adding that Africa must lead and take full responsibility for its energy development and the direction this would take.
"We must address energy poverty. The worst thing that happens in Africa is that people speak on behalf of Africans. We must be, as African leaders, duty bound to self determination to resolve intricate problems that beset our continent, without pressures to please others first.
“We must be pragmatic in our approach to low emissions and the eradication of energy poverty," he said.
"Energy poverty is one such dilemma that we must collectively resolve as it impedes Africa’s economic growth, resulting in poverty and inequality. This includes lack of access to electricity, unaffordability of energy, and, in our case, electricity interruptions (load shedding)," Mantashe said.
He urged African leaders to remain steadfast and respond directly to the needs of their citizens rather than the needs of the Western countries, which want to dictate matters on the continent.
"Our approach must be premised on an ideology derived from a common identification of our continental needs and goals. The African aspirational goal of achieving universal access to electricity must be achieved. It is not either/or, but it requires a pragmatic approach that balances planet and human imperatives.
"About 600 million Africans lack access to electricity, which explains why Africa remains underdeveloped. We must, therefore, work together and mobilise financial support to solve Africa’s energy challenges, which include a lack of infrastructure," he said.
He said Africa must expand its capacity to generate power in order to continue to industrialise its economies.
"We must expand our grid capacity to enable generation, additional connections, and transmission. This will enable Africa to generate enough electricity to power its economies, including industrialisation, manufacturing, and the processing of its natural resources.
"It is pleasing that Africa is uniting on the principle that the energy transition must be people-centred, take into consideration the socio-economic conditions of communities that will be affected, and take Africa’s developmental needs into consideration.
“Such a consensus found expression at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26 and 27), resulting in a resolution to phase down unabated coal power rather than the view of lobbyists who called for an abrupt phase-out of coal use," he added.
Recent developments in Europe, China, the US, and India have vindicated the pragmatic position that African states have taken. Going into COP 28, Africa’s position must continue to be pragmatic “as we move from high carbon emissions to a low carbon emissions future”.
The Star