Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has scolded South Africa’s coal industry for remaining largely silent during national debates over the country’s energy future, saying its absence has allowed anti-coal sentiment to dominate public discourse.

Speaking at a coal industry colloquium hosted by coal advocacy organisation FFF Carbon, in Johannesburg, on November 7, he said the sector had failed to advocate for its continued role in South Africa’s energy mix.

“When there is a raging debate in the country – including on the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which is really an articulation of the mix that should undergird our domestic demand while also securing energy security going into the future – your voice was missing. Your voice as an organised group advocating for a particular energy source was absent,” he said.

Ramokgopa said discussions around energy policy had become heavily skewed toward renewables, often without a balanced understanding of the science behind different energy sources.

“There is nothing wrong with renewables. But there is something fundamentally wrong when your argument is devoid of science, when in fact, it is driven by fundamentalism,” he said.

According to Ramokgopa, the absence of coal advocates in the national conversation had created a public perception that the industry had no future.

“You must defend your bread when it is threatened. But you kept quiet, and now everyone in the country thinks coal must die. It is important that we work together to show what the advantages are, what the real technology offers, and how it fits into a decarbonisation agenda,” he said.

The Minister said that, while renewable energy had an important role to play, the country’s overreliance on it in the policy conversation ignored the reality of South Africa’s current generation base. He emphasised that coal remained the foundation of the national grid and that shutting down the industry prematurely could undermine the country’s energy security and industrial capacity.

“Everyone advocates for the demise of an industry that has been, continues to be, and will be the backbone of energy generation in the country,” he said.

Ramokgopa noted that negative perceptions of coal were also deterring young engineers from entering the field.

“From an age perspective, young engineers and scientists are reluctant to enter this space because it is perceived as ‘dirty’. We need to fund research demonstrating that coal is not a threat to civilisation or humanity,” he said.

He added that the conversation should be reframed.

“Coal is a mainstay of the South African energy complex. But it is all in the framing. The conversation is pitched as a coal problem. We do not have a coal problem. We have an emissions problem,” Ramokgopa said.

He noted that, contributing to the misrepresentation of the coal industry was the fact that organisations such as Eskom lacked a dedicated research team and called for greater collaboration between industry and government.

“We must reach that point. We do not have to duplicate efforts. If someone is already doing research, we can syndicate it and collaborate effectively,” he said.

Elaborating on government’s priorities, Ramokgopa said the Department of Electricity and Energy’s first objective was to ensure universal access to affordable, high-quality electricity. He explained that poor power quality affected manufacturers across the country, particularly in sectors dependent on precision technology.

“Even a three-second dip can cause robots to lose memory and force an entire line to restart, discarding components and resulting in losses. Last year, original-equipment manufacturers in the automotive sector lost approximately R200-million due to dips and loadshedding and R100-million in related losses,” he noted.

Ramokgopa said the second priority was strengthening domestic and regional energy sovereignty, which he said rested heavily on maintaining the coal fleet. He explained that the recent progress in stabilising loadshedding came from focusing on Eskom’s installed generation capacity rather than fast-tracking renewables.

“Using the Pareto principle, we identified six stations out of 14 that accounted for 80% of unplanned capacity loss. The engineers at Eskom resolved the issues and that’s what helped restore generation. Energy security relies on that fleet, not the speed at which renewables are added. Ensuring that what we already have runs effectively is paramount,” he said.

He further noted that industrialisation and youth development were also key pillars of government’s approach, with coal playing a vital role in supporting both employment and downstream industries.

“We cannot discard coal, not only because it is the backbone of energy generation, but also because of its wider industrial and demographic implications, which are essential for the country’s development,” he said.

Ramokgopa pointed out that coal currently contributed nearly 60% of South Africa’s installed generation capacity and about 80% of actual electricity supplied. He maintained that criticism over the pace of renewable energy rollout overlooked coal’s ongoing importance.

“The conversation should focus on additionality while acknowledging that coal remains the backbone,” Ramokgopa said.

He noted that coal’s share of installed capacity was projected to decline from 56% today to 11% by 2042, and said Cabinet had instructed Eskom to demonstrate the viability of clean coal technology.

“Once this technology proves that emissions remain within acceptable parameters, we can exercise our right to utilise our coal endowment. Coal must be part of the solution or the industry risks being overtaken by foreign interests,” he said.

Ramokgopa also reaffirmed government’s commitment to developing nuclear energy, citing growing global acceptance of nuclear power as a clean energy source.

“20 countries have publicly committed to triple their installed nuclear capacity by 2050,” he said, adding that 14 major financiers, including the World Bank, had agreed to fund nuclear projects.

“We will pursue nuclear energy. There has never been a fundamental issue with the science. The challenge has always been procurement. Our team comprises world-renowned experts respected globally.

“We deliberately did not recruit from potential vendor countries to avoid conflicts of interest. Those likely to respond are South Korea, Russia, France, the US, China and Japan,” Ramokgopa explained.

He described the latest IRP, IRP 2025, as a R2.2-trillion investment, equal to 30% of South Africa’s GDP, and said securing energy generation capacity was essential for economic growth.

“Coal has acted as life-saving oxygen for the system. We are now out of the intensive care unit and back at home, starting to run, while renewables are added gradually,” Ramokgopa said.

To drive his point home, he linked stable power supply directly to economic development.

“There are no rich countries that are energy or electricity poor. Loadshedding delivers poverty, contracts the South African economy, and suppresses growth prospects. This is why resolving loadshedding was critical, and coal has been central to that effort,” Ramokgopa said.