‘Trying to quit smoking but keeping cigarettes’: South Africa’s coal dependency slammed as an addiction

A blunt metaphor in Parliament

South Africa’s fraught energy debate took a sharp turn on Thursday when a University of Cape Town law professor compared the country’s reliance on coal to an addiction. Addressing MPs, Professor Hanri Mostert told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Electricity and Energy that the problem is not just Eskomit’s the entire ecosystem of government, mining houses, financiers, and contractors that has enabled coal to remain the backbone of the grid.

“Think of coal as the addictive substance,” Mostert said. “Eskom, its contracting partners, and even parts of government are the co-dependents. Recovery feels frightening, but staying hooked is even more damaging.”

The outdated roadmap holding SA back

At the heart of the debate is the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)the national electricity roadmap. South Africa is still stuck with the outdated 2019 IRP, which leaves space for new coal, despite a draft update approved in December 2023 that shifts the focus toward renewables, gas, and battery storage.

The Department of Electricity and Energy confirmed that more than 4,000 public submissions were made on the new draft earlier this year, but until Cabinet formally adopts it, the old plan remains binding.

That contradiction, Mostert argued, is a textbook case of policy incoherence.

“It’s like someone who signs up for a quit-smoking programme but still keeps a pack of cigarettes in the drawer,” she told MPs.

The human cost of coal towns

Mostert’s analogy didn’t stop at policy. She painted a vivid picture of the communities that bear the real weight of coal dependencyplaces like eMalahleni and Kriel in Mpumalanga, where the air is choked with pollution and young people see their futures dimmed by a fading industry.

“These are not abstract harms,” she said. “They’re lived injuries, polluted water, displacement from land, and livelihoods destroyed.”

On social media, activists echoed her concerns. One environmental group tweeted: “Parliament heard the truth today, coal is killing our communities while politicians stall.”

Who’s enabling the addiction?

Mostert accused “institutional enablers” of protecting the coal system:

• Eskom’s vertical integration and long-term coal contracts,

• red tape that prevents municipalities from procuring their own power,

• and the political economy that ties mining giants, financiers, and the state together.

“Eskom is the visible face,” she said, “but the roots of co-dependency run much deeper.”

A path to recovery or relapse?

Despite the stark warnings, Mostert acknowledged signs of progress. Efforts to restructure Eskom into three separate entities, remove licensing barriers, and expand renewable procurement are “movements away from addiction,” she said.

She argued that the law itself could become a healing intervention:

• making it easier for municipalities and private producers to bring new energy online,

• forcing coal decommissioning plans to include obligations to workers and communities,

• and closing loopholes that allow policy denialism to persist.

A global struggle

South Africa is not alone. Mostert cited Poland and India, two other coal-heavy economies, as examples of nations grappling with the same dependency. But unlike South Africa, they have already taken clearer steps to align long-term policy with global climate commitments.

For South Africans weary of blackouts, pollution, and economic uncertainty, the addiction metaphor struck a nerve. It’s not just about energy planning, critics say, it’s about political will.

Until the new IRP is passed into law, the country risks exactly what Mostert described: trying to quit smoking while keeping a pack of coal-flavoured cigarettes within reach.

{Source: The Citizen}

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