Climate risks, from drought to extreme floods and heatwaves that imperil lives are set to get worse, but our politicians are largely treating them as a sideshow.
South Africa’s three biggest parties have failed to tackle the biggest threat to the country’s future head on in their manifestos, activists and specialists in environmental law and climate change say.
Climate advocacy lawyer Brandon Abdinor, from the Centre for Environmental Rights, found only one positive trend: “Overall, climate change features more in the manifestos than in the past and there is some apparent recognition by most parties that it is a crisis. But there is a lack of urgency and they all fall short of where they need to be.”
A public debate between the ANC, DA and EFF on the climate crisis, organised by the Worldwide Fund for Nature South Africa and SAfm, highlighted a lack of urgency and clarity around this, said James Reeler, senior manager for climate action at WWF SA. Building resilience to climate shocks is central to development, he said. “[This] is not an election issue or an environmental problem that can be considered in a silo... addressing the climate and biodiversity crises are not a bolt-on but should be the underpinnings of our development strategy.”
If the parties in charge fail in this, disadvantaged communities will suffer most, warns Lisakhanya Mathiso from the African Climate Alliance. “We’re facing a climate crisis that’s exacerbating natural disasters, displacing communities and hitting vulnerable populations the hardest... The climate crisis is fuelling poverty, inequality, economic instability and social injustice.”
To protect vulnerable people, political parties need to commit to protecting the ecological infrastructure which enables adaptation and resilience
— Kate Handley
Youth leader Gabriel Klaasen, from Project 90 by 2030, said parties were failing to prioritise the climate crisis. “They not only understand the connection between our countries current energy production, climate change, and its impacts on the environment and people, but are doing the bare minimum when it comes to addressing these issues.”
To reduce the overheating of the planet that’s driving the crisis, polluting countries — South Africa is 14th in the world — and sectors such as energy, transport, steel and construction must reduce their fossil fuel emissions. While ending load-shedding and diversifying the energy mix get the lion’s share of attention in the manifestos, plans for urgent adaptation to the crisis and for biodiversity conservation are largely absent.
Adaptation means preparing communities, infrastructure and sectors to cope better with more intense and frequent natural disasters triggered by climate change. Abdinor said that adaptation “needs to be a central organising principle for any party in charge and it is disappointing that it is not”.
Of the three front-runners in the election, the EFF — which has unrealistic policies on exploiting coal and emissions reductions — has the most detail on “environment and climate” with 34 points listed.
These range from grand, sweeping gestures — 1-million climate jobs and nationalising game reserves — to local measures such as building recycling plants in each municipality by 2028. But the party’s muted on adaptation.
ADAPTATION GAP: FAILURE TO PREPARE FOR EXTREME EVENTS
“We have an adaptation emergency and that’s what we should concentrate on,” said Enoch Sithole, executive director of the Institute for Climate Change Communication. “We should have more [about] adaptation policies than the usual rhetoric on reducing fossil fuels.”
Cities such as Cape Town and Johannesburg are preparing for more intense heatwaves, droughts and floods while the DA-led Western Cape has a climate strategy prioritising adaptation — but in party manifestos energy tends to overshadow adaptation.
ANC MANIFESTO: Mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change, technological changes and other trends in the context of a just transition and ensure that South Africa’s transition to a low-carbon economy supports communities and workers in affected areas, particularly Mpumalanga.
Kate Handley, executive director of the Biodiversity Law Centre, said: “To protect vulnerable people, political parties need to commit to protecting the ecological infrastructure which enables adaptation and resilience. For instance, protecting wetlands and mangroves, which have natural storm attenuation capacity, would go a long way in protecting vulnerable people from the effects of flooding and storm surges (while also acting as carbon sinks, contributing to climate mitigation).”
Reeler suggested adaptation measures at a household level could include retrofitting RDP and low-income houses with roof insulation to reduce heat loss in winter and cool them in summer. Houses could also be built more sturdily.
ENERGY ELEPHANT ON THE AGENDA: ENERGY MIX & JUST ENERGY TRANSITION
Though all political parties support the need for reliable and cleaner energy, their policies lack clarity and lack internal consistency. The ANC and EFF seem to be playing it safe, making broad promises to appeal to all voters — to expand renewable energy and move away from fossil fuels, and to pursue gas exploration and “clean coal” despite their costs to the economy and environment.
For example, the EFF commits to reducing carbon emissions by 10% by 2029 but also talks about leveraging coal reserves for 200 years.
EFF MANIFESTO: The EFF government will invest in repairing the existing fleet of power generation and adopt clean coal technologies to enhance the energy availability factor. The EFF government will establish a state-owned mining company to manage coal mines owned by Eskom... will leverage 200 years of coal reserves, implementing carbon-capturing technology, and nuclear energy as the dependable energy for baseload to ensure security of energy supply.”
Sithole said the EFF advocates “clean coal” as a way of persisting with the fossil fuel-heavy structure of the economy but “even if we could build carbon capture and storage at the required scale, the costs would make our energy mix insanely expensive”.
The ANC is dragging its feet in aligning its decision-making with its climate policies, outlined in the Climate Change Bill. This could be signed into law before May 29, though likely with less fanfare than the NHI Bill. Divisions between Gwede Mantashe, the pro-coal minister of mineral resources & energy, and Barbara Creecy, the environmental minister who is driving the transition to renewable energy, are seen as contributing to this.
We have a health pandemic based on air pollution, clearly emanating from the current energy regime, and there is no commitment to tackle it.
— Brandon Abdinor
Klaasen said: “We cannot afford not to move away from fossil fuels, as they are not only a dying industry, but also because renewables hold a far more beneficial future as related to cost, health, safety and environmental impact.”
The ANC’s pace on climate-resilient development and “historically poor delivery on what are otherwise strong policies in some regards” casts doubt on whether it can deliver, said Reeler, who rates the demonstrated delivery of climate-smart options by the DA above that of the ruling party.
But he notes that “ANC’s policies seem better aligned to addressing poverty and inequality”. Tackling both is key to the long-term viability of developing a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy, in the view of all those interviewed.
DA MANIFESTO: To rescue South Africans from the energy crisis, we need to get the state out of the power generation business, diversify our energy mix, and encourage the emergence of private prosumers (individuals who both produce and consume electricity) so that we can bring load-shedding to an end... [Commit] to achieving net zero carbon emissions to reduce the impact of energy generation on the climate.”
Besides diversifying the energy mix, the “DA is not prioritising a just energy transition plan”, said Klaasen. Its emphasis “seems to be getting the lights to come on and stay on”.
Reeler echoed this: “The DA has a very private sector-focused approach to addressing the just transition... what is missing is a clear focus on how the party proposes to enable the justice elements of the transition.”
What South Africa needs, he said, is a “fully developed integrated energy plan” that reduces carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. “This will map exactly how the country can decarbonise our largest emissions source and will inform training and skills development as well as investment policies to achieve this critical goal.”
WATER NEEDS TO BE PRIORITY: “NOT A COMMODITY”
More than 6-million households did not have reliable access to water and 14-million people were using substandard sanitation facilities, the department of water & sanitation stated in 2017. More than a third (35%) of “water infrastructure is completely broken” said Mandy Moussouris, director of the Environmental Monitoring Group, and the rising population is fast outstripping South Africa’s water reserves.
“Climate change will exacerbate this, making it even harder to ensure access to clean, safe drinking water and making cholera outbreaks like the one in Hammanskraal more and more frequent. Water access is driven by affordability,” said Moussouris, calling for systemic changes around water access — notably missing from the manifestos.
The private sector features prominently in the DA’s plan to rescue South Africans from water-shedding, for example, “by involving private companies in water infrastructure projects through a performance-based, private-public partnership model”. Moussouris said: “Of course we need to repair failing infrastructure and leaks that are causing water losses, be waterwise and increase the capacity of dams to hold water, et cetera, but... 65% of our water is used for agriculture, the vast majority being large industrial farms, still owned by an elite group of people. Water is increasingly becoming a commodity but unlike gold we have to have water to live. It is not a commodity but a basic right.”
To bolster water resources, national programmes and partnerships to remove invasive alien plants — which create employment — could be expanded, said Reeler.
AIR POLLUTION: COMPLIANCE UP IN SMOKE
Debilitating air pollution is rampant in parts of South Africa; residents in the Vaal Triangle have lived with its impacts for decades, as have the communities surrounding coal power stations in Mpumalanga.
But air quality and pollution do not feature at all in the manifestos, says Abdinor. “This is extremely disappointing. We have a health pandemic based on air pollution, clearly emanating from the current energy regime, and there is no commitment to tackle it,” he said.
Nine out of 10 people breathe polluted air, which is linked to deaths from lung cancer, stroke and heart disease, according to the World Health Organisation. Climate and environmental watchdogs called for the enforcement of national air quality legislation.
SAVING BIODIVERSITY: WE ALL DEPEND ON IT
Large corporates need to be more accountable, said Handley. On biodiversity, they should be held to “greater accountability and disclosure” about how their operations affect people and nature. “Biodiversity supports all systems of life on Earth. We depend on it for food, medicine, energy, clean air and water, security from natural disasters as well as recreation and cultural inspiration. The ANC and DA have absolutely nothing in their manifestos around biodiversity,” she said. “At a minimum, political parties should publicly recognise the importance of conserving biodiversity... and take meaningful steps towards addressing drivers of biodiversity loss. This means parties should commit to working towards 30x30 targets, which requires 30% of our land, freshwater and marine spaces to be effectively conserved by 2030, while fully recognising and respecting the rights of indigenous people and local communities.”
South Africa committed to the Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022, which includes the 30x30 targets.
EFF MANIFESTO: The EFF government will rapidly increase the protected area network to ensure that all representative ecosystems unique to South Africa are preserved and protected.
Handley said political parties should promote “conservation and secure the ecologically sustainable use of biodiversity”.
ONLY OPTION: CLIMATE-RESILIENT DEVELOPMENT
However limited the party promises, delivery is even less certain. Reeler put it this way: “How well parties may fare once in government, addressing the multiple priorities and vested interests that pull them in different directions, remains to be seen.” What is clear, he said, is that “there is no trade-off between development and addressing climate change — in reality climate-resilient development is the only real option available for South Africa”.
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